One thing we’ve been hearing a lot about since the quadruple pandemic hit is the hope that instead of trying to restore our civic and market systems to their former flawed and inequitable state, we should see this enforced pause as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make essential change. People see the opportunity to strengthen democracy, …
Over the last week or so, both my colleague Francois Matarasso in Europe and I have published excerpts from our dialogue about past public service employment programs in the US and UK. Yesterday, we discussed it all on Zoom with folks on both continents, and I want to share that conversation with you. (But first, …
NOTE: I’m delighted to be once again cohosting a “virtual residency” with my friend and colleague Francois Matarasso on my blog and his. (You can access the previous residencies here: on ethics and on the future of community arts.) Starting 29 September, we’re publishing excerpts from our dialogue on public service employment past, present, and …
NOTE: I’m delighted to be once again cohosting a “virtual residency” with my friend and colleague Francois Matarasso on my blog and his. (You can access the previous residencies here: on ethics and on the future of community arts.) Starting 29 September, we’re publishing excerpts from our dialogue on public service employment past, present, and …
After working with nonprofit organizations for a zillion years, I don’t put much faith in mission statements, for one simple reason. The process of articulating identity and values can be exciting, fun, and satisfying; to be sure, living the examined life is as important for organizations as for individuals. But most of the time, once …
Sometimes the memory is so fleeting I can’t quite bring it into focus, but most of the time, memories flow like a river carrying everyone I’ve ever known, everywhere I’ve ever been. It started a few weeks into the pandemic, and it’s been keeping a steady beat ever since. In the space between laying my …
Seven weeks ago I published two essays on the way U.S. arts advocates—the established institutions in particular—responded to the pandemic. The first one criticized the narrow, economistic, and backward-looking calls for funding issuing from red-carpeted marble halls. The second one called for very different statements and actions, grounded in social benefit, with investment in jobs …
Where is the boundary between what’s called implicit or unconscious bias—internalizing and enacting beliefs about specific groups without being consciously aware of doing so or the harm it causes—and culturally encoded entitlement, the conviction of having the prerogative—even the duty—to exert authority over others? Hint: the answer definitely can be found on YouTube. We are …
If you’re ever on social media, you’ll see that people are up in arms over #IMPOTUS’ stated plan to hold a campaign rally (unmasked, at close quarters) in Tulsa, OK, on June 19th. This is a holiday called Juneteenth, commemorating the long freedom struggle of African Americans. The timing is one flashpoint. The rally’s planned …
Months before the 2016 election—but just a few days after police officers killed Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge and Philando Castile not far from the site of George Floyd’s murder—I wrote about the call to abolish the police. Two readers challenged me, the first to write next about her contention that “white people have no …