Tickle · the · Pear

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Retail is fragile because it is dependent on different combinations of variables, many of which are unstable or even volatile. Unlike leases, where rent can be negotiated on a long term basis, retail can change based on different economic conditions that can change quickly. The threshold logic - how much a retailer can “clear” or profit after rent and other fixed expenses - cannot be easily modeled or smoothed out.





colab notebook file


I would recommend a government subsidy based on an economic feasibility study of the community which would also include key demographic indicators such as household income, educational attainment, and house ownership. I also would take into account other factors such as access to transport. For example, I would invest in the Riggs Park/Fort Totten neighborhood as it includes several anchors such as the metro station, a UDC campus, a school/community center, a library; a high percentage of families and home ownership; and a major transit corridor (Riggs Rd./SD Ave.).

This week we are on spring break, which is a little discomfiting because my spring break is different from Z's (which is around Easter) and we also have an Easter break. I am trying to be "of good cheer" given recent events but it is hard and exhausting. It feels like every moment of joy (US women's hockey team winning Olympic gold) is cancelled out by a moment of horror (US men's hockey team acting like ***holes).

Ramadan started last week. Z is of age to start fasting but he's not interested. We have a cute Ramadan banner and calendar that we had purchased from Crate and Barrel in 2020 but that's it for 2026 decor. When Z was smaller we used to have a felt countdown garland (you take off a loop for each day) and book Advent (we read a book about Islam each evening). The calendar has little pockets for each day and the first year I put in a Hershey's kiss and then discovered that Z had gone through and eaten all of them. So that's not happening anymore. Alternatively we could put in a slip of paper with some sort of service activity but I just don't have the energy.

At least Z's summer plans are set. Due to budget, time, and availability he's only doing soccer (three weeks) and learning how to row crew. He might go to Morocco or he might go with Mo to see World Cup stuff. I'll be taking two classes and hopefully working.

I can't believe I started this blog twenty years ago.

My first entry:
https://ticklethepear.livejournal.com/2006/01/24/

My 2006 self would never have foreseen what 2026 is like now.

I was emailing with someone at an organization in the UK whose work I admire (urban planning responsive to adolescent girls and young women) and I was really tempted to type, YES WHAT YOU SEE ON THE NEWS IS REALLY HAPPENING but I refrained.

For my commute to class I switch from the Metro to a local bus. The Metro stop is a transfer point as well as the center for a very lively part of town, so there are always people around. Including, as of last August, fully armed National Guard and other law enforcement in tactical gear. Last week there was a huge police presence at the fare gates inside the Metro and outside at the bus stop. I saw several individuals surrounded by police officers who were issuing citations for...fare evasion. At $50 a pop. Do you really need to surround an elderly Black gentleman with five armed officers because he got on the bus without tapping a Metro card? I had my iPhone out in case I needed to start recording and I noticed that a lot of other pedestrians were slowing down or pausing to watch. As far as I can tell (until I got on my bus) nothing happened.

I had cancelled my Kindle Unlimited along with all our other Amazon subscriptions but re-subscribed with the "$0.99 for three months" offer. It's so frustrating because so many of the "emerging" authors I've discovered are on KU and don't have the infrastructure yet to sell books on their own. I do purchase directly from authors if that's possible - Kait Nolan, Kate Meader, Mari Carr, and Tessa Layne have established storefronts but they are also established writer with long backlists and regular publish, like at least annually.

My year in reading definitely reflected the trauma and corresponding need for escapism during the dumpster fire called 2025. This year for the first time I tracked my reading on StoryGraph. I have a Goodreads account but never use it, and the previous attempts at using a spreadsheet (ugh) and screenshots (double ugh) were untenable.

In 2025 I read…327 books. That’s a lot, and not counting grad-school related works like The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs or Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design by Charles Montgomery (both of which I recommend for non-specialists).

Instead of simply listing out my favorite reads, below are books in genres that I never thought I’d read but ended up enjoying nonetheless, plus some random recs. I also read quite a few works on Wattpad and Archive of Our Own.

Paranormal/Fantasy:
Once Bitten by Heather Guerre
Wraith Kings series by Grace Draven
The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen
Reclaimed Luna by Ivy Myst

Historical:
Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase
The Highwayman by Kerrigan Byrne and Seducing a Stranger by Kerrigan Byrne
anything/everything by Tessa Dare
Again the Magic by Lisa Kleypas
The Raven Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt
Exit, Pursued by a Baron by Aydra Richards
The Heather Wife: The Laird's Redemption by A.M. Kray

Romantic Suspense:
Linear Tactical series by Janie Crouch

BIPOC authors:
Madison Diaz
Everalda Ocampo
S.T. Moors

Favorite new author: Raegan Salander

Reliable favorite authors who publish regularly, including in 2025:
GK Brady
Mari Carr
Lauren Fraser
Kate Meader
Cate C. Wells

Everyone in the romance world read this so I read it too: These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean

Most thought-provoking: Red Flags by JE Rowney

Most unhinged but also hilarious: Due at the Same Time by Katie Landry

Books I didn’t expect to fall in love with:
The Finest Print by Erin Langston (all her books honestly)
Carry the World by Susan Fanetti (I cannot express how much I was floored by this book)

Books where the heroine purposely but non-fatally shoots the hero:
Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase (pistol)
Ghost by Janie Crouch (crossbow)

Bonus rec (read in 2024)
Charm City Rocks by Matthew Norman (a romance that is also a love letter to Baltimore)

It looks like Mo will be in Chicago without us this year so we'll have a pretty mellow holiday season. Last year I remembered to measure the distance between the table where we set up the tree and the ceiling, so this year the tree actually fits the space perfectly. We bought the tree at the neighborhood lot that's a fundraiser for a local foundation that supports injured firefighters.

Unpacking the ornaments and other decor always brings back so many memories. Like the set of small plushies that the older couple across the hall had given us. Both of them have since passed away. Ornaments from various travels and sojourns overseas. A CD holder with music that I can now find on YouTube. Ornaments that Zacky made since he was in daycare. Thankfully I had the foresight to laminate the paper ornaments and date every holiday craft. In 2020 (holidays at home!) we started making parol (Filipino star) ornaments from a kit, so we will continue. I also have a small photo album of Z with Pere Noel every year. Z adamantly insists that this year is The Last Time, sadly. I don't know why we have multiple sets of Advent calendars, or Nativity displays, or Mr. and Mrs. Nutcracker. But I'm glad we do.

As in NOOOOOO I can't believe we're almost ending 2025! The most turbulent, distressing, and exhausting year of my life in so many ways.

Sometimes I forget that Georgetown is a Big Deal and then I go somewhere like a conference or a community meeting and am reminded. I also forget that many of my classmates moved here expressly for their studies - in the same way I did, almost 30 years ago - and that grad school is only one part of their DC experience. I am grateful for the many reminders that as much as I still grieve for my previous career, my friends and colleagues, and the communities in the Global South that we served, I know I made the right decision. Sometimes I look at the assignments and think, I used to draft talking points that pop up on C-SPAN! and then I remember that this is still a new field for me and I have so much to learn.

My new debit card kept glitching so in the meantime I've been living a cash economy which is very disconcerting. The credit union had to cancel the account so I can't do anything virtually, like order groceries, any more either. Also Z's new school charges fees for field trips and other activities and they only take checks so it's just as well.

We started this month as Rocktober and now I want to call it Lost-ober because it's already the 20th.

School is kicking my butt in a good way. I spent Saturday in the emerging neighborhood of Fort Totten for a project for one of my classes. I hadn't been there for several years, when I took Z to an Explore! Children's Museum event there, and Z had also attended multi-cultural camp hosted at a nearby school. The area has grown a lot, and continues to grow. I was especially impressed with the compact but lovely library which featured a number of outdoor work spaces.

I am slowly chipping away at the endless to do list. Of course I prioritize tasks with a due date, like the Get Out the Vote postcards I'm writing up for Pennsylvania, but that also means that there are other tasks that have been on the list since forever, or that I've worked at piecemeal but are still undone.

Yesterday we took our annual family photos in front of the National Building Museum. The weather forecast was sketchy so we had to find an indoor venue, which was more challenging since the usual favorites like the Kogod Courtyard are closed due to the government shutdown. We lucked out with a mild, breezy day and stayed outdoors the whole time.

Well, a checkpoint by masked, armed individuals (? they won't show their badges so are they really legit law enforcement?) on the next block over was *not* on my 2025 bingo card, but neither were sudden unemployment or a rapidly tanking economy or a dramatic pivot to graduate school.

We are trying to live normally, regardless of the headlines and the reality in the neighborhood. Z returned from several weeks in Morocco; he is switching schools so that means new clothes (for a different dress code), school supplies, plus dealing with the school admin, PTA, etc. I got a new-to-us desk for him for free, from someone who is moving out of the city. So many people moving out. And *my* back to school prep. Since I am required to take at least one GIS course I ordered a new laptop (thanks Costco discount!). Which of course I need to set up as well. Here's a fun video that shows some of the basic principles of urban planning.

Despite what the calendar says, the weather for the past few days have been uncommonly pleasant. I took advantage yesterday by strolling through the neighborhood to admire the murals:

Soccer City
Micro/Macro: Rooted in Space
Pepco Waterfront Substation

M and Z are in Morocco for the month so I am in turbo-charged efficiency mode, in a race to plow through my to do list before both Z and I start school. Funnily enough we have the same first day so I will subject him to the torment of a joint FDOS photo.