Glimpses of the Rural/Urban Thing in the U.S.

Most Februaries I spend bemoaning rain, rain, rain, while walking around my everyday life in Portland, OR.  In February 2009, I was on the EX:Change road trip – cruising down the west coast and taking a left so that by Valentine’s Day, on the interstate from Tucson to Albuquerque, I was pushing 80 mph behind an 18-wheeler named for that very day (really…see EX:C blog photo, 2-18-2009, Cattle Trail).  Now it’s February… Read More

Only a Person

Yesterday evening I walked into the little Whole Foods in my neighborhood.  It was actually more like late afternoon on a typically chilly, misty and too-soon-dark December 1 in Oregon.  But, I needed B vitamins and am always looking for a motive to get a bit of walking. I walked into the warmth of the store, headed toward the supplement area and turned a corner to see an older Tibetan man adorned… Read More

Gratitude and Coherence

“Often I can hardly hear what another says because of the internal noise that goes on in the judging of them.” David Brandon Zen and the art of helping. I’m reading about rhetoric – about the way words are used both to make sense of and to form our realities.  I could be reading a novel or watching a movie.  It is after all, the Thanksgiving holiday.  Still, I’m captivated by the… Read More

Here in the Waning Days of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

I was raised by straight parents.  I benefited from that.  I continue to benefit from living as a heterosexual adult. People don’t ask about my sexual orientation or identity, but there’s no law saying they can’t.  I can write this stuff down here and not offend any law or anyone at all.  I’ve never been afraid or harassed because my romantic affections go to men.  Every bit of that is privilege. Today… Read More

Working Change

“We have an amazing work ethic in this country. We’re not all working in the same direction, and that’s normal to some point.  You’re not supposed to always be working in harmony, but I hope the work ethic and the sense of shared humanity in that continue.” Lena This morning in the New York Times, Paul Krugman, an esteemed if controversial economist, forecast again the third Great Depression for the U.S. economy… Read More

Change: Who Cares?

So here we are, lots of us feeling somehow betrayed with many of the most vocal folks on both ends of the conservative/progressive spectrum heavy into tape loops of public diatribe.  The change just isn’t right.   It falls short.  It isn’t giving the same feel we signed on for during the campaigns. The pressing issue here in the middle of the EX:Change project is finding the right words to answer a question… Read More

Graduation Season: Your Tax Dollars at Work

“It will be good change when any person in the country has a right to get a good public education and to go as far as they want in advanced education.” Sue Klapstein It’s that time again.  May and June – when here in the U.S. the landscape is dotted with the cheers and colors, the pomp and circumstance of graduation ceremonies. Across the country schools, families and communities take the opportunity… Read More

Oil Spills, Financial Crises and the EX:Change Voices Who Will Inherit It All

This morning I had tea in a coffee shop in the Oakhurst neighborhood of Decatur, GA.  Yep, back in Georgia.  In fact, as I type, I’m sitting in front of the courthouse in the photo atop the February 27, 2009 blog entry from the EX:Change Road Trip (EX:C blog, The Heart of Dixie).  Family lives here.  I’m visiting.  Thus tea in Oakhurst. I sat at the table with a grandmother, two moms… Read More

Be the Change

“We need to ‘be the change,’ – Gandhi – ‘we want to see in the world.’  I think we’re ready.” Tara Loyd Remember Tara and Brett from last week?  You already know they are good at listening to one another even though they often don’t agree – especially on matters political.  A thing they did agree on was the necessity for being active parts of the public changes they want to see. … Read More

Listening Across Difference – We’re All in This Together, Pt.1

“We’ve been majoring in the minors instead of the majors. We can get back to the little stuff.  Right now we need everybody together to deal with the big things.”  Tommy Business Consultant, Baptist Church leader, Republican Kerrville, TX  In the next few days, I’ll meet with two talented and otherwise fabulous grad students who have volunteered to help me with the ethnographic coding and analyses of all of these interviews.  While… Read More