“White people elected Trump.” Over these last 10 days, these words are showing up everywhere. Mostly because they’re true. And white progressives actually helped. Among most white people I know who think of themselves as social progressives and who, like I, have had loads of access to privilege – aka education, careers, financial literacy, problems of identity that way outnumber problems of monetary survival – reactions to the election of Donald Trump… Read More
I just got a phone call from a woman I don’t know. It was my second time to hear her voice. The first time was yesterday afternoon when she called everyone in Portland, Oregon to tell us we needed to boil our drinking water. E Coli had been found in the drinking supply. We needed to be careful and via ‘reverse 911’ the officials of our city were letting us know. So,… Read More
What a week. With a 68-32 margin, the U.S. Senate passed immigration reform – a heartening step even in the face of the subsequent response by the usual suspects in the House of Representatives rolling their eyes and offering sound bites that essentially communicate (again…), “in your dreams.” In what likely stands as a more inspiring demonstration (and interpretation) of democratic action, Texas Senator, Wendy Davis together with thousands of citizens of… Read More
My sister in Gainesville, Florida is recently back from Turkey — Istanbul and a rural city where she and her daughter worked a while on an organic olive farm. The olive work was only perfect for getting to know the culture of rural Turkey a bit, but it was also the only way for these two women to travel together. The younger is a college student, the older (celebrating her 50th with… Read More
So, I got another call from Ben Merens, the host of AT ISSUE on Wisconsin Public Radio. He was inviting me to be his guest again. I said yes and it’s today — Friday, July 6. We’ll be on the air for call-in at 3:00 Central Time (WI-time), 4:00 for all you east coasters, and 1:00 here on the Pacific side. LISTEN! Call and chat. This is the url for the stream:… Read More
Here are some things I have come to know: The land of the United States remains vast and more beautiful than any imagining. The people of the United States remain more capable of wisdom, kindness and cooperation than our media and leadership lead us to believe. GPS systems can get you almost anywhere – sometimes by incessant nagging, sometime with astonishing grace. I hear there may be an annoyingly breathy replacement coming… Read More
I’ve been on a rest stop 9000 miles down the road since March 3. Whitewater, Wisconsin – a rural community between Milwaukee and Madison where the Sweet Spot Coffee Shoppe greets the morning; farms, families, schools, businesses (conventional and cyber) and a university fill the day; and the newly opened Black Sheep Restaurant brings culinary art to the evening. In the two turns of winter to spring that I’ve spent here (last… Read More
Sometimes I turn to internet sources for news updates. Huffington Post, NYT, stories posted to facebook, local papers’ websites for learning about where I am along the road. Often there are stories with photos of crowd scenes. Some are international, but I’m thinking today of domestic stories – Occupy, Tea Party, vigils, protests on the National Mall or at statehouses across the country. In the case of crowd photos from the U.S.,… Read More
Today is the third above 70 degrees in Wisconsin. Locals clearly love it. So do I. And … really? 70’s in late winter here in a U.S. state that shares a rather large lake (Superior) with the Canadian state of Ontario? Maybe it’s the Texan in me who can’t imagine anyplace else acting in total defiance of the seasons. Maybe it’s my vigilant interest in our reading the trends to avert calamitous… Read More
www.wpr.org Mar 14 ~ 5:00-6:00p.m. CDT MC ~on~AT ISSUE w/ Ben Merens … The EX:Change project and 100 VOICES – AMERICANS TALK ABOUT CHANGE debut on an hour-long public radio show this week. This is exciting, for sure! An hour call-in for chatting about listening across difference. The Wisconsin Public Broadcasting range includes Wisconsin, northern Illinois, Michigan and western Minnesota. And Ben Merens – an exceptional soul entirely devoted professionally and personally… Read More
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