Meet David Hudnall, The Star’s columnist exploring the ‘architecture of city life’
As an opinion columnist for The Star, I write about what I have come to think of as the architecture of city life.
Sometimes that architecture is literal: buildings, businesses, neighborhoods. Sometimes it’s the subtler framework of money, politics, and influence that shapes Kansas City.
I grew up in Kansas City and have spent most of my life here, living in different parts of town and seeing the place from a variety of vantage points. The city I know goes well beyond City Hall. It unfolds in dive bars and chef-driven restaurants, on Reddit threads and neighborhood Facebook groups, in the Plaza offices where developers and bankers move pieces around on the chess board. I try to provide that panorama for readers.
Local reporting appeals to me because local issues often exist outside the tedious red-versus-blue framing that dominates state and national politics. The questions that define a city — about housing, transportation, crime, and all the rest — rarely have simple ideological answers.
That’s where the column comes in. I aim for it to be a place to explore those questions — sometimes by breaking news, sometimes by bringing a personal or historic perspective to a topic, and sometimes by simply talking to somebody who understands a corner of KC better than I do. I want the column to feel like a dialogue with readers, not a lecture.
We live in a chaotic moment for news and public conversation. Information is everywhere, but narrative is scarce. It is harder every day to know what matters or how the pieces fit together. I see my work as a way to cut through the noise and make Kansas City feel a little more legible to the people who live here.
I fundamentally believe that cities are more alive — and better places to live — when they are buzzing with stories. Shared stories bring people together. They give us something to follow and argue about, something to bring up with a stranger in the grocery line. That’s what I’m trying to provide in my work: a version of Kansas City worth following.
