{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Mr. Cool","description":"It\u2019s been a busy couple of weeks here at Mooallem SuperValue\u2122 (That\u2019s my private nickname for myself when I\u2019m working hard to meet deadlines, and when I feel less like a human writer than a scrupulously-optimized, prose-production corporation\u2014you know, checking facts and cashing checks, etc.) I was working so hard, finishing a big magazine story and the book simultaneously, that I didn\u2019t have an opportunity to go for a single walk\u2014or for much self-reflection of any kind--and didn\u2019t even realize that until the work-week was over. By Friday evening, I was beat, and settled in to read the local paper. There was an obituary for a longtime islander I\u2019d never heard of, a man named Gale Cool. \u201cGale Cool was a visionary,\u201d the notice began. I read that Gale Cool was an architect and developer, with an energetic commitment to showing people the value of \u201cliving in nature not next to nature.\u201d In an era when everyone was starting to build big homes on small lots, he started building small homes on big lots, and clustering them together, to show humans their relative size on the landscape of the island. He did this for a while. Then, something happened. Mr. Cool was an avid salmon angler, and he noticed it was getting tougher to catch fish; the local fisheries were declining. He \u201cdeclared he\u2019d never build another building,\u201d the obituary said, and became a self-described \u201cundeveloper\u201d instead. \u201cHe assembled 80 acres of land, dug ponds, raised the water table with a weir, and reintroduced beavers\u201d\u2014that land is now a city park. Then he revamped an estuary not far from my house, gradually drawing in waterfowl and seabirds, and salmon that spawned. It\u2019s gorgeous there\u2014I walk by it often. I had no idea that it hadn\u2019t always been so beautiful, or so full of life. The morning after I read the obituary, I got up at dawn and headed out for a walk. I was thinking about change\u2014how it happens; who makes it happen; the blurry line between making it happen and letting it happen. I didn\u2019t come to any great conclusions, except that I ought to make this episode a little tribute to Gale Cool. This week\u2019s walk is brought to you by Jamie Lowe on behalf of the podcast Food on Franklin, where there is always stimulating conversation about food on Franklin Ave. Have a listen! ","author_name":"The WALKING podcast","author_url":"https:\/\/www.jonmooallem.com\/","html":"