On Mothers’ Day

My youngest sister just posted this on facebook. Every single person in the picture is a mother now – a fact both astonishing and not.  In this photo the mom is my mom, our mom.  Here, somewhere in a field in south central Texas, she sits forever 33 with her four little girls, lined up by age.  I’m the oldest, the one in all yellow. Also in that forever way, I know… Read More

Game Change -or- Change the Game

“It might feel good it might sound a little somethin’ but damn the game if it don’t mean nothin what is game who got game where’s the game in life behind the game “ Public Enemy Since the dawn of the species – a moment we can only approximate since the missing link is still…well…missing — human beings have had stories.  Stories help us know how to live, how to endure.  Through… Read More

Georgians in the Radical Act of Listening

I want to tell you about the last three groups to hear about 100 VOICES – AMERICANS TALK ABOUT CHANGE.  Night before last in a Decatur, GA neighborhood, about 20 women who know each other from the Presbyterian church they all attend gathered the way they do every month.  They come for dinner, community and inquiry at the home of Kent Leslie author and scholar.  Most of the women are in their 60’s… Read More

EX:Change Gift Idea — 100 VOICES

Listen to the voices of your neighbors.  One hundred voices from across the U.S.  All talking about change.  All speaking their dreams. Give the book to yourself, to friends or family.  Join us in the EX:Change as it continues to offer its invitation to all of us — Listen to each other.  See what is there in those with whom you think you have nothing in common.  See what is there in… Read More

Marsha and Nancy — How We Occupy Change

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the idea of having guest bloggers write to the original three questions of EX:Change and the 100 Voices. (EX:C blog, “These Questions Belong to You Now,” 10-22-2011) When you say the word change what do you mean? Alongside change, what is important to have remain the same? What would be concrete signs that positive change was occurring? Then I got email from Marsha Cuyjet – voice #48…. Read More

Onward

Several years ago I became aware of a newly formed nonprofit organization called Onward Oregon http://onwardoregon.org/. Shortly after learning of the organization, I received an e-mail inviting me to be on their mailing list. In that introductory email, following the words “What We Believe” came this: “We inherit the good that flowed from the people who came before us and the societies they created and will continue building on that foundation. The… Read More

“I have had a lot of change lately”

In a few days, when 100 Voices: Americans Talk about Change hits book stores, Marjan Baradar’s voice will be #91.  Back in 2009, Marjan spoke of her optimism alongside her fear of the polarities in the country – she mentioned specifically the violence that can come of that.  She spoke of the power of civic engagement and indicated her sense of such participation as a responsibility, a natural expression of being an… Read More

Sister Story

There’s a spirit of listening – an inclination to learn – and for all but the most shy, a powerful desire to make social contact, to communicate, to hang out.  EX:Change and the 100 Voices book (www.loudmouthpress.org) turn out to be living records of this spirit.  I thought I was starting a project to learn about change – about what a popular word in a particular time meant to the people using… Read More

Soldiers Step to the Front

A young woman in camo was in front of me in the TSA line at the airport.  It was a long line.  I asked if she was headed home.  “Furlough,” she said.  “Afghanistan.”  We talked families and weather.  She said she’s in her second tour of duty.  Back to back.  “The reason I re-enlisted,” she went on, “well, it wasn’t because there’s any glory in it or anything.  It’s pretty much hell. … Read More

“I’m not done yet.”

My friend Murry is in a protracted conversation with esophageal cancer.  He knows all too well that his condition didn’t come from nowhere. The president spoke yesterday to matters in the Middle East – to the changes signified with the public uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia.  He spoke to Israel and Palestine– to that protracted conversation.  We all know that none of that came from nowhere. Today I took a photo of… Read More