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
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
Go Ahead, Refudiate … Overly Olbermanize – But Watch Out for Momma
The 19th voice in the EX:Change was Lena Baucum. I’ve found myself quoting her often in these entries. Maybe it’s by chance, but more likely for reasons of her attentiveness. Many of the themes of the 100 voices were given first mention in Lena’s words that early February day in 2009. Just now I ran across commentary entitled The Willie Hortonization of Barack Obama. Ari Rabin-Havt’s blog responds to the effect of… 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
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.2
“We’re not as divided as the media tell us we are.” “Good luck. We need this — to know what Americans are really thinking.” baristas at the Starbucks in York, NE Only two days into the EX:Change road trip the Mini Cooper’s front end came between me and the sturdy steel pole of a highway sign. At the time, I was blissfully if distractedly motoring south on U.S. Route 97, the stretch… Read More