In the Weeds Book Club

In the Weeds Book Club is brought to you by Green Bicycle Co. in collaboration with Paradigm Coffee & Music, Sheboygan Active Transportation, and Mead Library.

This is a book club that is meant to get “into the weeds” on topics of interest to our community. We read thought-provoking books then meet each month for 4 months per book, to discuss the themes and examine how they might be applied to ideas and actions for the City of Sheboygan. The book is available to borrow from the library or purchase from Green Bicycle Co.

Our first book started in November of 2022 and based on enthusiastic requests for continued conversations, subsequent meetings are scheduled for 2023. Organizations are also invited, when appropriate, to share how ideas and impact can be made through their organization. With that in mind, Bay Lakes Regional Planning Commission joined us in February and will join us again in March for a discussion and feedback on their Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) that includes the Metropolitan Planning Area - at the heart of which is the City of Sheboygan. The report details traffic analysis, existing conditions, future projections, and recommendations that impact how the City evolves. Conversations will continue in March and April, and the City Department of Public Works will share their work on a Complete Streets Policy for us to discuss and provide input in addition to the LRTP and other urban planning topics like housing, zoning, and parking.
 

Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity by Charles Marohn Jr.
The book discusses urban design and will help us dig deeper into why inducing growth and development has been the conventional response to urban financial struggles along and how cities can focus on bottom-up investments to strengthen the community financially and improve people's quality of life.

Remaining Meeting Dates:

• March 9, 2023, 5:30pm - 7:30pm, The Loft
• April 13, 2023, 5:30pm - 7:30pm, Rocca Room

Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds by adrienne maree brown
Inspired by Octavia Butler's explorations of our human relationship to change, Emergent Strategy is radical self-help, society-help, and planet-help designed to shape the futures we want to live. Change is constant. The world is in a continual state of flux. It is a stream of ever-mutating, emergent patterns. Rather than steel ourselves against such change, this book invites us to feel, map, assess, and learn from the swirling patterns around us in order to better understand and influence them as they happen.

• May 11, 2023, 5:30pm - 7:30pm, Rocca Room
• June 8, 2023, 5:30pm - 7:30pm, The Loft
• July 13, 2023, 5:30pm - 7:30pm, The Loft
• August 10, 2023, 5:30pm - 7:30pm, The Loft

Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life by Eric Klinenberg
We are living in a time of deep divisions. Pundits and politicians are calling for us to come together and find common purpose. But how, exactly, can this be done? In Palaces for the People, Eric Klinenberg suggests a way forward. He believes that the future of democratic societies rests not simply on shared values but on shared spaces: the libraries, childcare centers, churches, and parks where crucial connections are formed. Interweaving his own research with examples from around the globe, Klinenberg shows how “social infrastructure” is helping to solve some of our most pressing societal challenges. Richly reported and ultimately uplifting, Palaces for the People offers a blueprint for bridging our seemingly unbridgeable divides.

• September 14, 2023, 5:30pm - 7:30pm, The Loft
• October 12, 2023, 5:30pm - 7:30pm, The Loft
• November 9, 2023, 5:30pm - 7:30pm, The Loft
• December 14, 2023, 5:30pm - 7:30pm, The Loft

Organizers, Presenters, Facilitators, and Promoters

Heather Cleveland is a compassionate listener and visionary that quickly sees processes and systems and finds inspiration and challenge from different viewpoints and experiences.

Braden Schmidt is a Sheboygan resident, local organizer and 'young professional' who is passionate about empowering people to create the community they want to live in.

Kate Krause is a spacemaker and community connector. She tries to remedy things she's cranky about... ope, passionate about.