Marion Davis

@marionsd

Writer, editor & comms strategist focused on climate, sustainable & inclusive development, livable cities. Costa Rican in New England. Hiker, nature lover, sci-fi fan, 🐈‍⬛ mom, gardener.

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Marion Davis@marionsd· 22d

Whew! Within a couple of minutes of calling 911 (though after at least one car fell into the open hole but fortunately could get out) a city worker came and restored the cover.

Marion Davis@marionsd· 22d

Holy cow. Manhole covers opening and shutting in the rain and wind in Union Square, sounding like church bells. Seems a bit risky tbh? @311somerville.bsky.social

Marion Davis@marionsd· Jul 11

It looks female. The males enjoy showing off their superior plumage. I photographed this one before he fully puffed up and came at me.

Marion Davis@marionsd· Jun 26

Two potential versions of the project: 6 or 8 stories. Jonathan Francisque (right), project manager, says they're keen to draw on community wishes to understand how to build a better project.

Marion Davis@marionsd· Jun 26

At Connexion to learn about SCC's "Casa East" project in the long-vacant Patsy's on East Broadway. They flyered in the neighborhood and there are about a dozen residents here. I live very close myself. Bonnie Bastien, Community Building Manager, leading the meeting.

Marion Davis@marionsd· May 30

On this cold, gray day, my gift to you is Phoebe napping on Ninja. She looks tiny, but she's >7 lbs now to his 12, just very good at curling up. The old grump who hissed at her for months is now thoroughly tamed.

Big gray cat asleep with a mottled kitten using his back as a pillow.

Marion Davis@marionsd· May 21

How good are your city's green spaces at mitigating the urban heat island effect, and how equitably are those cooling benefits distributed? Working on a project, I encountered this paper, which includes an amazing data table with cities worldwide. I picked out a few. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Green-and-white table showing city, efficiency, capacity, benefit, and pop. density for 13 US cities and 3 Canadian cities.
Atlanta, GA -0.101 6.11 6.48 7.3
Boston, MA -0.112 7.01 5.99 11.7
Charlotte, NC -0.119 8.10 8.20 4.8
Dallas-Fort Worth, TX -0.101 4.47 4.37 9.5
Detroit, MI -0.069 3.19 3.86 7.3
Los Angeles, CA -0.152 3.87 3.49 16.4
Memphis, TN -0.122 6.90 7.85 7.7
Miami, FL -0.088 3.46 3.25 12.9
Minneapolis/St. Paul -0.104 6.37 6.64 6.3
New York/Newark -0.081 4.48 3.47 20.0
Portland, OR -0.121 6.29 5.62 9.7
San Francisco, CA -0.081 2.56 2.23 16.9
Seattle, WA -0.124 6.43 5.67 8.6
Montreal, QC -0.079 3.82 3.52 18.3
Toronto, ON -0.082 4.07 3.50 15.8
Vancouver, BC -0.094 4.43 3.63 16.1

Text underneath:
Source: Li, Y., J.-C. Svenning, W. Zhou, K. Zhu, J.F. Abrams, T.M. Lenton, W.J. Ripple, et al. 2024. “Green Spaces Provide Substantial but Unequal Urban Cooling Globally.” Nature Communications 15 (1): 7108. doi:10.1038/s41467-024-51355-0 (supplemental data table).
Note: Efficiency measures the extent to which increasing the green space would reduce temperatures. Capacity is the efficiency x actual green space, measured in °C. Benefit is the cooling benefit received by the average city resident, reflecting differences between the distribution of green space and population. Population density is per km2 and is for the metro area, not just city limits.

Marion Davis@marionsd· Apr 22

So if your tastes run a little more like, don't kill a bunch of beautiful old trees, don't build car-centric development literally RIGHT NEXT to the T, etc. etc., you might want to pop into this meeting at 5:30pm: www.somervillema.gov/events/2026/.... #somervillema

Table showing the overall evaluation of the two projects, with 45 possible points and 35 awarded to Wood Partners vs. 27 to North River.

Marion Davis@marionsd· Apr 15

A little hometown pride: Alessandra Seider, chair of the #SomervilleMA Pedestrian & Transit Advisory Committee, and Brad Rawson, head of the @cityofsomerville.bsky.social Mobility Division, receiving the @walkmass.bsky.social Golden Shoe Award.

Woman at podium, in black top, giving award acceptance speech as others stand behind her.

Man at podium, in suit, giving award acceptance speech as others stand behind him.

Marion Davis@marionsd· Mar 30

Honesty in street signs. Refreshing! Washington St. near the East Somerville station entrance. @311somerville.bsky.social

Tipped-over pedestrian sign at a HAWK light suggests a person falling on the ground.

Marion Davis@marionsd· Mar 16

To Be Taught, If Fortunate, a gorgeous novella by Becky Chambers, is on sale right now on Kindle for just $1.99. Snap it up! It's so cool. a.co/d/05HFN0YW

Cover of "To be taught if fortunate," showing a woman floating in space looking back at Earth.

Marion Davis@marionsd· Mar 10

When the demographics of your young people look like this, the biggest risk the most vulnerable face isn't that they'll fall into crime for lack of police intervention, but that a federal government that proudly persecutes BIPOC kids will target them next. Sad that Councilor Strezo doesn't see it.

Table of Somerville Public Schools enrollment by race/ethnicity, 2025-26, showing 6.0% of kids are Asian, 8.4% are Black, 38.4% are Latino, 7.2% are multiracial, and 39.7% are white.

Marion Davis@marionsd· Feb 19

Whatever's on your schedule today, make sure at some point you get as much pleasure and joy as Phoebe in the afternoon sun.

Photo of a young cat belly-up on a sunny rug. Her belly is white and the rest of her is a mess of black and brown spots. Her face is tucked partly behind a paw.

Marion Davis@marionsd· Feb 5

Looks great, but how will you demonstrate to your cat that he's the center of your universe? We've been trained to constantly refill a mug next to the sink.

Marion Davis@marionsd· Feb 1

Kids today have no respect for their elders, or for personal space.

Picture of a black and white kitten with a gray tuxedo cat next to her who's pulling back a little and looking at her with disapproval.

Marion Davis@marionsd· Jan 29

The Corridor of Death is a little accessibility-challenged right now. This is on the Assembly side; the crosswalk button in the middle is a bit better but also surrounded by a snow pile. How many more days do people who walk need to wait? @311somerville.bsky.social #SomervilleMA @massdot.bsky.social

HAWK signal button surrounded by a tall pile of snow

Marion Davis@marionsd· Jan 28

Ok, @311somerville.bsky.social, here's what Union Square looks like (intersection with Warren Ave). Bike lane just randomly ends, and to reach the crosswalk you have to go over a mou d or else walk around the side and on the road, definitely not passable by a wheelchair or pram.

Marion Davis@marionsd· Jan 28

So here's a terrible idea: Buy or borrow "Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng" by Kylie Lee Baker and read it in bed at night. Smart, incisive, very well done, and disturbing and scary as hell. Would make a fantastic horror movie. #booksky www.kylieleebaker.com/bat-eater

Cover of the book "Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng"

Marion Davis@marionsd· Jan 27

Mark your calendar for NEXT TUESDAY! Traffic camera legislation that protects people without sacrificing privacy. Let's pass this ASAP! #mapoli t4ma.org/building-kno... #mapoli @walkmass.bsky.social @mikeconnollyma.bsky.social

Save the Date flyer: Mark your calendar and get ready for 2026 MA State House Day of Action for Safety Cameras. Join T4MA, MA Vision Zero Coalition & Families for Safe Streets for a State House Day of Action. Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026 at 10am, State House Room 428

Marion Davis@marionsd· Jan 26

Sisterhood is purring loudly when this happens.

Picture of a black and white kitten who's climbed on top of her calico sister, covering her almost entirely. You can see the calico's front left paw and her scrunched-up face, her eyes closed.

Marion Davis@marionsd· Jan 24

Your daily dose of kittens.

Adorable kittens, one black and white and one a messy calico, together on a couch with a blanket.

Marion Davis@marionsd· Jan 22

Someone made an utter mess with the kitty ink and now we have this.

Photo of a very mottled calico kitten sprawled on a blanket.

Marion Davis@marionsd· Jan 12

Why is CBP even in Minneapolis? The city lies outside the 100-mile "border zone," so even the absurd rules that apply in places like LA, Chicago, NYC and Boston don't apply there.

Map of the 100-mile border zone, which includes all the major cities of the Eastern Seaboard, the entire state of Florida, all major West Coast cities, and a big chunk of Minnesota (including Duluth, not shown), but not Minneapolis or Saint Paul.

Marion Davis@marionsd· Jan 7

The data show Somerville is losing its kids (< 18) and youth (18-24), as well as prime parent-age adults. I can't imagine the market finding construction of affordable 3-4BRs particularly profitable, but we sorely need them. So how do we facilitate more nonprofit construction of family units?

Bar chart showing that small (1-2 person) households far outnumber studio/1-bedroom units, owned and rented, while 2- and 3-bedroom units far outnumber 3- and >4-person households, respectively.
The text below reads:
It shows that though Somerville has a higher share of smaller housing units compared to the county, the state, and surrounding communities as mentioned in the 2021 HNA, the city also has a larger number of small households (two or fewer persons) than small housing units (studios or one-bedroom units). In addition, household size has been decreasing in Somerville, following a statewide trend. There have been concerns raised during housing stakeholder interviews that the city may need additional smaller housing units such as one-bedroom units, as the lack of them can theoretically result in smaller households occupying larger housing units meant for families if they have no other options or push these smaller households out of the city. This is somewhat echoed by the 2021 HNA as well. However, data and stakeholder interviews suggest that the shortage of larger units, especially those subsidized and affordable to households earning at or below 50% of the AMI, is more significant compared to smaller units.
Large family households are more likely to experience more housing problems in Somerville, though a significant portion of households facing housing problems are nonfamily renter households

Marion Davis@marionsd· Dec 17

Wow, this photo. This is what they *want* to look like? www.vanityfair.com/news/story/t...

Portrait of key members of Trump's White House team, all with strange and creepy expressions, sitting at one end of a conference table.

Marion Davis@marionsd· Oct 29

It's also dickish and condescending towards working-class white people. It says they're just too stupid/primitive to not be racist, even if you call them out on it and invite them, in good faith, to be part of a multiracial coalition that treats EVERYONE with respect and dignity. Not OK. (3 of 3)

Screenshot of article excerpt. It is going to take hard politics. The kind that shows up in communities between elections and solves problems that don’t sound glamorous on television talk shows. It looks like facing down the Klan in a trailer park, not complaining about racism while doing far too little to avert it. It means believing that racism is not a natural condition of poverty but a political weapon that rich men use to constrain poor people’s political power. And — most critically — it looks like not wanting, even for a second, to be confused with the people who would do that. You don’t wear a red hat as a joke. You don’t fly the ironic flag of historical hate to get a rise out of people. You don’t wear the cool tattoo for over a decade that maybe, kind of, possibly, probably looks like something horrible and hateful.

It is a remarkably low bar to clear. And a white working-class aesthetic is not nearly enough to clear it. Real working-class politics does not assume the worst of working-class people’s impulses. It does not launder their concerns for political points. It certainly does not argue, directly or indirectly, that a little racism is a good thing for reaching them.

Marion Davis@marionsd· Oct 29

This reads a lot like what apologists for Plattner have been doing in recent days. It boils down to a sort of [white] "boys will be boys" that seems remarkably similar to what JD Vance has been saying about his own people. And it effectively steers Plattner away from genuine contrition. (2 of 3)

Screenshot of article segment: It is an old argument. History will tell you that negotiating with racism or fascism or authoritarianism never ends well.

It is also a cop-out that can sound like political pragmatism: The idea that we simply must learn to overlook bad behavior as mere human foibles. Who among us, it is implied, has not said or done or etched a hateful symbol of exclusion and oppression into our minds or bodies? If Democrats are to win back the “working class” that they have lost to Trump, they have to look beyond silly things like Nazi iconography or a little casual racism or a soupçon of sexism and anything else that the “woke” left of the party cares about.

I find it hard to imagine that we would be having this conversation at all were Platner anything other than a fit middle-aged white guy who dresses like a stock photo of a “real man.” Our culture is built to eternally forgive men, generally, and white men of means, especially, for their mistakes. Every single time, they were young and immature and it would be a shame to hold them accountable for anything they did wrong. The rest of us just need to be strong-armed into the forgiving and forgetting portion of the program.

Marion Davis@marionsd· Oct 27

An unfortunate exchange with someone who relies heavily on AI to write inspired me to post this on LinkedIn, and I thought I'd share it here as well. AI is so tempting, but trust me: it turns your thoughts into pink slime, neat and smooth but awful up-close. www.linkedin.com/posts/marion...

Screenshot of post by Marion Davis on LinkedIn. It says: Dear professionals with not-great writing skills: Please DO NOT get hooked on AI. I know what it looks like when you put your messy/clunky words through ChatGPT or other tools: It comes out neater, typo-free, organized nicely. Best of all, it's near-instant, such a time-saver and, unlike professional editors and writers, free! And the prompts to use AI are everywhere, including on LinkedIn.

But please, please trust me: To anyone who actually reads what you sent or posted, it's pretty obvious. AI writing has a plastic gloss. It lacks personality, is laden with clichés and empty phrases, and can't really handle complexity. Read an AI-processed text closely, and you'll often find that beneath the façade of structure and logic, it's not actually coherent. It reads like a student who didn't do the reading, but talks a good game, when called on in class.

"But writing is so hard for me, and I just don't have the time!" I get it, I really do. This is why people hire professional writers and editors to help them. A writer can take your rough notes and turn them into a polished product -- but will also alert you to gaps and inconsistencies you need to address, helping you clarify your thoughts and be more effective. An editor can show you, through tracked changes and margin comments, how to write things more clearly, how to avoid common mistakes, how to structure arguments better. Research on memory and cognition shows this is a highly effective way to learn.

Marion Davis@marionsd· Oct 24

Big kudos to Estudio Relativo for the gorgeous cover! And a data tidbit: heat-related mortality in LAC has already risen by 140% over the past two decades, and in 2023 alone, an estimated 48,000 older adults died prematurely from heat-related causes. This is serious and urgent stuff.

Bright red and orange cover with a diverse assortment of Latin American people in a city under the shade of a big tree. The title says UNLIVABLE: Confronting Extreme Urban Heat in Latin America and the Caribbean. It has the logos of the World Bank Group and GFDRR.

Marion Davis@marionsd· Oct 21

An original song inspired by immigrants' resilience in the face of adversity. The chorus in English: "Lke a resounding drum, together we are one, our hearts unite in song, 'cause together we are strong."