When I was a boy learning about life and community in a poor area of Milwaukee, I saw and experienced eating dirt. Although I don’t recall if there were specific ages when we were inducted into the practice or were no longer eligible for it, I do remember what it looked like. The boy expected…
Fictions are remembered, too, and they are not stored any differently in the mind from other experiences. They are experience. Siri Hustvedt, Living, Thinking, Looking: Essays For many years I have wondered how poor and working class people in the U.S. can be so regularly persuaded to vote against their own self-interests. Election after election we…
Memory, like perception, is not passive retrieval but an active and creative process that involves the imagination. We are all always reinventing our pasts, but we are not doing it on purpose. Delusion, however great, is not the same as mendacity. We know when we are lying . Lying is a form of double consciousness.…
In 1969, (I know, readers thought I was going to write “Stonewall,” but I am not!) I started student teaching with Florence Atu-Yarney and Ann Jo Carter. The two semesters I spent with them at Lincoln Junior and Senior High School were transformative in ways that I am still trying to untangle in my mind.…
Thirty-one years, 11 months, and two weeks ago, Paul and I met for the first time. In the ensuing years I have said countless times, “I never had a chance.” Several weeks ago I downloaded a count-down app to my phone. Every few days I change the music it plays while a counter shows how…
There have been big swaths of my life when I felt like I was leading from behind. I suspect that many, many others have felt the same way, though they might not have named the phenomenon thus. Here are some examples: Having more experience and information than anyone else in a group, but not being…
Only a couple of weeks ago, I remarked how a few fireflies in my backyard made me a time traveler. Dexter and I both spotted their greenish glow. You know how they are: the first one or two make you wonder for a moment if you actually saw them. You look where the tiny beam…
One of the things I noticed as a new staff person at Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin in the early 1980’s was that both government and foundation staff were very helpful. They wanted Planned Parenthood programs to succeed. They valued sexuality education, clinical services, and advocacy. They got the point that to make every child a…
The countdown to my encore launch has begun. At 5:00 PM Central Time July 31, 2015 I am closing the door on this chapter of my life as the President and CEO of Diverse and Resilient. The following Monday, I will be attending more specifically to my work in community development with projects in Milwaukee and…
The Fourth of July is a nostalgic time for me. I remember with pleasure and wonder blankets under the sky at Jackson, Mitchell, Wilson, and Juneau Parks. I recall parades and curbs and decorated bikes. While there were traditions like soupy Jell-o and potato salad that needed monitoring for temperature, there were also steady changes…
Creating Community for Everyone 