(Image: gr.wa.gov)

“We encourage folks to learn how to identify ash trees and learn the signs of EAB. And if you have an ash tree that you’re worried about, contact an arborist to have it assessed.” (Image: @friendsoftrees)

A little over a month ago, the first Emerald Ash Borer, Agrilus planipennis, was found in Washington State. This is devastating news, because this invasive metallic green beetle is essentially a death sentence for the ash trees of the Pacific Northwest. It may have been inevitable, but that doesn’t mean we can’t mourn the future losses and do our best to slow the expansion of this true disaster.

For those not familiar with the story of the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), there’s a boatload of information about them online (including this, written by yours truly). However, here’s a brief recap. These little beetles were accidentally introduced to North America from Asia and were first noted in Michigan in 2002. For the past two decades they have been tearing through North America’s ash trees, both wild populations and urban street trees are being devastated by the beetle, which has no environmental controls outside its natural range (trials of biological controls like using parasitic wasps have been largely unsuccessful). Thus far, there are no permanent solutions to EAB, even insecticides are only somewhat useful.

When I call Emerald Ash Borers one of the worst invasive species in the United States, I’m not just being dramatic — millions of ash trees have already succumbed to them across the country. This topic deserves an update on Pikes/Pines because we know this will happen in the near future — earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and the climate crisis all will too, but they all feel different. We’ll see ashes decline and disappear from our urban and wild landscapes in the near future.

For now, the trees of Capitol Hill are safe, but with detections in both Vancouver, BC and now Vancouver, Washington we are hemmed in and have a pathway of both urban and wild ashes leading right to us. To their credit, the Washington State Department of Agriculture and the Washington Invasive Species Council have been pulling out all the stops possible, spreading the word, providing sound scientific information, and establishing a quarantine that aims to stop untreated firewood from entering the state. There are also pathways for both municipalities to gain assistance for urban forest planning and for citizens to contribute by reporting sightings.

To this last point, without a pair of engaged citizens, we might not yet know that EAB had made it to Vancouver, Washington. They found the beetle on their windshield on August 3rd in a small community just north of Vancouver, and after deciding it was likely the invasive pest, captured it, and got it to the State. While no one was astonished by the discovery because they’d been in the Portland area for several years, it could have been months or even longer before any other means of detecting the beetles proved fruitful. Citizen involvement in reporting potential sightings (there are several lookalikes), could be key to helping municipalities to plan for EAB impacts.

Don’t just go around squashing insects that look like they could be EABs – if you see something try to collect it, take photos, and report it. If you are wrong, no big deal. But squashing and walking away is of zero benefit. PC: Washington Invasive Species Council

For now the only option may be to turn to pesticides injected into healthy, uninfested ashes. The cocktail of chemicals used as a preventative treatment for EAB requires planning, professional application, and continual reapplication to be even somewhat effective. For the average homeowner with an ash, this might be out of the financial question. For municipalities like Seattle, starting to treat as a way to forestall millions of dollars worth of costly, dead and dying hazard trees hitting the budget all at once, it is likely the best option.

Sadly, we benefit from decades of EAB impacts elsewhere – research has demonstrated the efficacy of the various approaches. Allowing trees to become infested is a guarantee for tree death. According to the EAB Resources & Management Guide for Washington State, “the United States has collectively spent over $900 million in street tree management costs in the last 30 years due to EAB.”  Because we understand the beetle’s biology, their specific impacts on different ash species, and how treatments have worked, Seattle stands to weather the storm, even if the ash trees don’t ultimately make it long term. One thing that’s clear is that aside from pesticides, another preventative measure is discontinuing the planting of ash trees.

If efforts to stop accidentally spreading wood infested with EAB larvae are successful, it could be years before we see them on the Hill. Studies have estimated that the beetles naturally disperse at a rate between 1.6 to 12.4 miles per year, depending upon conditions and available hosts, (which are numerous — there are river valleys and wetlands full of ashes between here and Vancouver, Washington). So maybe we are at least ten years out from touchdown — assuming the beetles haven’t already inched closer than we’ve realized, which is entirely possible.

iNaturalist records of Oregon Ash, Fraxinus latifolia, between Portland and Seattle. (Image: iNaturalist.org)

Losing street trees is a shame, but the real horrific future is one without our native Oregon Ash, Fraxinus latifolia, the only one we have. Trying to imagine our riparian ecosystems without Oregon Ash is gut wrenching because EAB impacts are not just about impacts on trees. Oregon Ashes are vital members of wetland and riparian communities across their range, they are food and shelter for countless species. Indigenous peoples have deep relationships with this tree as well. (The decline of other ash species across the US has taken a heavy toll on various cultural practices most notably in the case of their use in basketry.) We aren’t just losing a tree, we are losing a point of connection, a member of complex communities. It’s hard not to feel helpless knowing that while we might be able to run around and inject street trees to keep them going, we’ll never be able to save entire forests full of Oregon Ash. The repercussions are yet unknown but in places with high densities of ashes (like so many lovely rivers and lakesides across Western Washington, including the watery edges of the Washington Park Arboretum), could see large changes in water and soil chemistry, increased invasive species presence, and declines in native fauna that rely on the trees.

Ecological horrors have already been inflicted upon our region, but I find it very difficult to just sit and bear witness to an essentially inevitable wave of beetles approaching us. I also think it’s important to realize that this isn’t about demonizing the organism, invasiveness is a symptom of globalization and capitalism — the beetles aren’t evil, they are just beetles being beetles. Knowing all this, our job is to stay vigilant, report potential sightings, and stay up to date. There is a strong chance this won’t be the last time I write about Emerald Ash Borers, which is ironic because I have never met one in person. Unless I am somewhere in Eastern Asia, I truly hope I never do.

How to report

• Online at invasivespeciaswa.gov
• The Washington Invasives app available for free on Google Play and the Apple App Store.
• Email screenshots, links, and as much additional information as possible about reports made on social media or other platforms such as iNaturalist or Nextdoor to invasivespeciesinfo@rco.wa.gov.
• Preserve physical specimens as you are able by placing the insect in a plastic bag and freezing it. You may also place it in a vial with ethanol or isopropyl alcohol. Please write your name, the date, and where the insect was sighted (GPS coordinates preferred) on the container.

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With the right icebreaker, even people who have known each other a long time can find a glimmer or two of newness. Icebreakers offer people an informal way to open up about themselves. They can put people into the right frame of mind for a productive retreat. They help shake off the chill of an early Monday morning meeting. Why are they often the first thing to come out of a packed meeting agenda? Some ideas why:

• "They're a waste of time." Icebreakers don't have to be throwaway questions. An engaging and fun question keeps people from tuning out as soon as they sit down or sign on.
• "I see these people every day. We already know each other." Icebreakers help people connect to each other as human beings with opinions. They can break people out of the boxes or cliques they came in with. There's almost never a right answer to an icebreaker question. Unless of course the question is "what's the best season?" and the correct answer is "Fall" (or "cardamom" if you misunderstand the question).
• "We don't have time for games." Icebreakers can ease folks into working on the hard stuff. Connect the icebreaker to the day or meeting's purpose. This gives people a lower-stakes way think about and engage with the themes ahead.

I group icebreakers into two categories: relationship-building and purpose-building. Sometimes an icebreaker can be both. Here are some ideas for icebreakers that you're free to adapt for your next gathering.

relationship-building questions

(for people getting to know each other)

Preferences/Trivia

• How do you like to treat yourself after a long day (or week)?
• Picture yourself wearing a name tag that says “ask me about (blank).” What would the (blank) be for you?
• Who is a person you admire?
• What's your favorite meme (or emoji)?
• What does this season we’re in (or entering/leaving) symbolize to you?

Introspection/Goals

• What’s an intention you have for the year ahead?
• What’s new in your life this year?
• What’s something you want to help make happen [with this group] this year?
• Who is a person that's been on your mind lately?
• How do you typically learn new things? What is something new you’ve learned recently?
• What’s an experience that shaped how you approach this work (or perceive the world)?

purpose-building questions

(for people to make meaning of the work ahead of them)

Establishing rapport with new groups

• Watch Taiye Selasi's "Don't ask me where I'm from, ask where I'm a local" with the group or send beforehand. Introduce yourself and tell us where you're local to.
• How did you travel to this meeting today?
• What brought you here today?
• What motivated you to sign up (or join / agree to attend)?
• What does [doing this work] mean to you?
• What do you hope it will feel like when we’re done?

Temperature check with a low-trust group or before a weighty topic

• What's a word (or emoji) that represents how you're feeling today?
• Trust is an important part of our work. How do you see or would like to see trust-building happening?
• Share the book 7 Forms of Respect before the meeting or watch this video together. Which of the Forms of Respect feel most important for you to receive right now?'
• Think of a time you felt welcomed (or another group value)—how did that feel? What actions by others allowed you to feel this way?

Deepening the meeting's theme

• For a group of food bank leaders. Describe for us one of your favorite foods. For folks on the call, raise your hand if you have some of the ingredients in that dish at your food bank right now.
• Adhering to group agreements. Review the group agreements together. Which of the agreements do you find the most challenging to keep? Which one is the hardest to notice in yourself or others?
• Keeping group values present. Review the group's values together. Which value do you want to hold or represent throughout this meeting? Which value do you think is most important as we begin this work?
• At the start of a long project. How do you like to celebrate when you achieve something big?
• For groups with a lot of ideas. What would make your participation today meaningful? What do you hope we get done today?

a good closing (icemelters?)

I like to end meetings with another opportunity for group sharing. These questions can help people start to make sense of the time they spent together. Closing actions or commitments can keep momentum going into the next meeting. Here are a few I love using.

• What’s one word you’d use to describe the day (or how you’re feeling)?
• What’s something about our time together that you’d like to acknowledge?
• What’s one action you’d like to take before we meet again?
• What is one topic you think we should address in our next (or a future) meeting?
• As we leave today, what’s something you’re curious about?

Every meeting is about more than the business we discuss. As someone who works from home most days, I relish the in-person time I have with my colleagues. Icebreakers and thought questions can help bridge those moments.

Let your icebreakers be more than wasted air time. Treat your opening activities with meaning and intention. Thank your participants for sharing time and space with each other. Help people find another reason to value their work and the people who do it alongside them.

Milli by Metric opened a year ago and pours some of Chicago’s tastiest coffee. Unlike the company’s tiny first space that only offers scant sidewalk seating, Milli has plenty of tables and strong Wi-Fi, making it an ideal place for remote workers.

Earlier this year, Milli implemented a weekday laptop policy, making the cafe “a laptop-free space” after 2 p.m. on Friday through Sunday, their busiest times of the day. Co-owner Xavier Alexander helped found Metric Coffee in 2013. He tells me Milli was often “covered in laptops” and felt too much like a coworking space instead of a cafe. A cafe can’t survive if multiple customers are squatting at tables for multiple hours and only spending $5 on a single cup of coffee while customers willing to spend more are turned away, Alexander says. After a year of operation, Milli has broken even financially.

“If customers want independent spaces like ours to remain in their neighborhoods, those spaces have to be economically sustainable,” he says. 

Before the cafe opened in 2025, Alexander told me he envisioned a spot for community and conversation. He’s spent a lot of time in New Orleans, and wanted a space to serve wine at night in the same vein as Bacchanal Wine, a wine bar that features a great selection of wine and live music: “That vision was never to create a digital farm filled with rows of people staring at screens,” Alexander says.

He adds that Metric’s not anti-technology or against remote work. They never intended to be a coworking space, even though Milli has taken on a life of its own. But now, Milli’s staff finds itself in the uncomfortable position of enforcing the policy. 

I think many people genuinely don’t understand the economics of operating an independent café

“That emotional labor is real. Baristas should be focused on hospitality and making great coffee, not acting as security guards or negotiating over whether someone has the right to occupy a table indefinitely,” Alexander says. “A clear policy gives our staff something consistent to rely on and lets them know that ownership supports them.”

Laptop policies are something sweeping the nation. New York bakery Librae has labels on tables prohibiting laptops and tablets. Axios reported how New York’s coffee chain Devoción limits laptop use to two hours a day during the week. The same story checked in with Detroit shop Alba, which has banned Wi-Fi since it opened in 2023. So does LDU Coffee in Dallas, and it goes one step further by making the dining rooms of its shops not comfortable to be in for more than the time it takes to drink a coffee, and naming its shops "LDU Coffee To Go" on Google Maps. The ownership of Middle Grounds Coffee in Dallas has also been candid online about the challenges: 

“Our Wi-Fi password is 'BuyAnotherLatte'. Stop squatting on one espresso for six hours, Kevin. We see you. 👀”

By now, everyone knows how work from home surged after the peak of COVID in 2020. Coffee sales dropped, but work from home was a positive as laptoppers helped shops keep afloat. Some shops continue to lean into their roles as places to be productive. Several have installed those phone booth-style spaces so customers can take video calls in private without annoying other folks in the shop.

Still, laptop tendencies aren’t the only threat to cafe culture. As I wrapped up a recent morning visit to Milli, I stood up and noticed a table of two. Their table had filled water bottles and cups of Metric coffee; they were also locked into a day of studying or working. I also spotted a box with the words “Bad Butter” emblazoned on the top. There was nothing covert about this operation, no humility in bringing outside food — the kind of sneaking around one would do when trying to avoid price gouging at movie theaters. Bad Butter is a bakery located 2.5 miles south of Milli. It has no seating and are routinely busy with lines since it opened in April. 

I kind of stood, dumbfounded. I’ve always felt thankful that Chicago is blessed with plenty of cafes where I can grab a great cup of coffee and a croissant. But chatting with so many in the restaurant industry over the years, you notice and worry about whether a business can keep the lights on and pay its workers. Importing another bakery’s chocolate chip banana bread into a cafe that already serves its own baked goods was not respectful.

I decided to share an Instagram post about my experience, and the loudest reactions were from the folks who were justifying bringing in outside food. One follower even ripped the quality of Milli’s pastries, writing that they understood the rationale to sneak in food. Certainly, folks have different opinions on food; however, in August Bon Appétit lauded Milli’s menu. And, I must say, the ham croissant inspired by a Cuban sandwich never misses.

A café is a place of hospitality, but it is not a free coworking facility. There has to be a fair exchange.

“Bringing in outside food makes the impact even more direct. We employ people to bake and cook, and we invest heavily in maintaining a food program,” Alexander adds. “When someone buys a coffee and then eats a meal or pastry purchased elsewhere, they are using our tables, Wi-Fi, electricity, bathrooms, and staff while financially supporting another business.”

Everyone knows the cheapskate at the diner, only ordering a cup of coffee with unlimited refills, the one who stays at his table for an extended period without tipping. In big cities, diners were once a dependable space where people could congregate without spending much money and without alcohol. Everyone deserves access to third spaces, even those without huge bank accounts. But if you’re bringing pastries from another bakery, one where I spent $30 on three pastries on Wednesday morning (Bad Butter’s savory monkey bread is wonderful)… this isn’t that. I’m particularly looking at grad school students cramming for their exams. You’re smart enough to know better, but too buried in your own world to care.

Recent openings have seen bakeries like Chicago’s Bad Butter, Publican Quality Bread, Mindy’s Bakery, and Guillotine Bakery prioritize space in its kitchens so it can have a wholesale business instead of having seats for customers. The owners of Guillotine say that most French pastry shops don’t have coffee programs or seats, and they wanted to bring customers into a distinctively French experience where customers could see kitchen staff make their pastries. Some customers waiting in line often grab a coffee from elsewhere, but finish their drinks before entering.

Also worth mentioning is that part of my discussion with Metric’s Alexander involved chains and private equity. He reasoned that he and Metric co-founder Darko Arandjelovic had leveraged their life savings in establishing the coffee company. They have no investors. But the average customer doesn’t know that and conflates that hard work with that of a coffee shop backed by fat cats. That’s a point that Ravenous’s Amy McCarthy makes in her list of restaurants backed by private equity: “The very nature of private equity also means that it’s very difficult to know which financial overlords have a stake in your favorite fast-casual spot. They’re not beholden to the same legal reporting requirements as publicly traded chains like McDonald’s, and we don’t hear much about what they’re doing until the latest acquisition is announced.”

This confusion only encourages customers to harm local businesses, and that includes having zero concerns about bringing outside food and spending copious amounts of time in their makeshift home office.

“I think many people genuinely don’t understand the economics of operating an independent café,” Alexander says. “They see a cup of coffee that costs $5 or $6, but they don’t see everything that purchase has to support: rent, payroll, health insurance, taxes, utilities, internet, insurance, repairs, equipment, ingredients, cleaning supplies, credit card fees, and the cost of producing the coffee and food itself.”

Alexander and his staff have seen some wacky hijinks over the past year. One customer propped up his laptop on a box and then promptly went to sleep with his head on the table, staying for three hours without buying anything (a photo was shared with Ravenous confirming the incident). Others bring in full meals from other restaurants, believing that purchasing a cup of coffee gives them unlimited access to Milli’s facilities.

“We want people to feel comfortable at Milli, but that comfort cannot come at the expense of other customers or the financial health of the business,” Alexander says. “A café is a place of hospitality, but it is not a free coworking facility. There has to be a fair exchange.”

creepypasta in the form of a forum thread, don’t miss the “what’s new!” at the very end

I've been so busy this month that it feels like it's almost over. Alas. Here are a few things I enjoyed reading this month.

On Quality, by Keyana Sapp

A short essay on the undefinable word "quality" and how we all still know what that means.

A good object is a fossil record of care. Thousands of small selections made by people who could tell the good facts from the bad ones and picked the good, even when not doing so was cheaper or easier. The extra ounce of brass, the second coat of lacquer and the tolerance held a hair tighter than the drawing demanded. Every one of those selections survives for exactly one reason, which is that somebody with power over the object gave a shit.

Before You Decide, Decide How You'll Decide, by DeEtta Jones

Y'all know I love writing and reading about decision-making. This straightforward essay shows us why it's so important to create a sandbox for each decision we make together.

Decision criteria are an agreement — the short list of standards every option gets measured against. Set them deliberately, and in advance, and the decision becomes defensible, repeatable, and shared. Leave them implicit, and something else decides for you: the loudest voice in the room, the newest worry, or simply the most polished case.

My Corvid Friends-to-Be, by Jennifer S. Holland

Most people don't think about corvids as songbirds except to hate on their singing. But corvidae is a family: from the crows in my region, to the grackles of my hometown, to the ravens of the east, and so many more. I think corvids are in the running for most intelligent beings on earth. I'm not about to get on their bad side.

Not just because they can talk, crows and their ilk, including ravens and magpies, are known to be super intelligent. From a long-term study done at the University of Washington in the 2000s, we know they recognize human faces and even remember for years the faces of those who treated them badly early on. The results were hard to dismiss: While banding birds for research, students wore a particular rubber mask that the birds learned to associate with the irritation of being caught. For years after, the banded birds would punish people in the “bad guy” mask, forming small mobs and loudly scolding, and ignore people wearing other kinds of masks. Remarkably, the offspring of those original birds learned to dislike the same masked face and would join their elders in shaming the wearer.

Mexico City's Utopias, by Ashwin Ravikumar

Jamie shared this article with me about the incredible community centers, called UTOPIAs, that dot the borough of Iztapalapa. The Units for Transformation and Organization for Inclusion and Social Harmony cost relatively nothing to run, but they exceed most people's idea of what public works could be. But why shouldn't a planetarium, a zoo—an animatronic dinosaur park??—occupy the commons? I'd suggest it's a better use of land than a golf course.

Imagine that in the poorest neighborhoods of Detroit, Atlanta, and Chicago, you could find a public park with glistening swimming pools, world-class sports and recreation facilities, and spectacular landscape architecture rather than vacant lots. If you are a single mother, rather than being forced to lug your clothes blocks away to pay to wash your clothes, you can come to a public, well-maintained, space to do your laundry for free while you eat delicious food grown at the agroecological garden nearby. Meanwhile, your children can learn how to swim, attend workshops on how to grow food in the city, hit up the planetarium to learn how Mayan Cosmology relates to the Big Bang, hang out at the skate park, or take a guitar lesson.

Wild Oysters Make a Comeback in Maine, by Kirsten Lie-Nielsen

Oysters: one of my all-time favorite proteins. They are the filter-feeding keystone of the coastal ecosystem. The most I've eaten in an evening is 52. One Maine oyster farmer in particular was in the news for not-great reasons. Perhaps, like me, you think an essay about oysters heading back home to Maine sounds like a fun read. Enjoy!

Pickers can be salty characters, some of the last true foragers of the coast. They spend long days on the mud flats at low tide, bent over holes that they dig with specialized rakes, seeking out soft-shell clams, the most commonly harvested shellfish in Maine. They often gather wild oysters too; the stationary creatures can be a relief to find as they only need to be pried off the rocks exposed at low tide, rather than dug out of the thick mud.