Category: community
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Add To Our Basic Needs: Balance
I am traveling today, so rather than post a lengthy article, I’d instead like to point you to a friend’s piece from earlier this year. One of my favorite thinkers on public life (and a good friend and colleague), John Creighton, wrote a wide-ranging essay as the new year turned about the mood of America.…
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A Call For Rhetorical Nonviolence: It Starts With Me, Not My Enemy
The tragic events in Arizona may well be a turning point. Many are calling for changes in policies, and many of these changes may well make sense. Many are also calling for a scaling back of the vitriolic political rhetoric that has marked public life these days. There is much blame being directed at political…
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Writing For The Christian Science Monitor: In Praise Of An Editor
Early in my career as an independent consultant, I began writing specifically to be published in the mainstream press. I began pitching various pieces to op-ed editors. Of all the news outlets, the one I really wanted to write for was The Christian Science Monitor. I thought there was the best fit between overall editorial…
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We Belong To Each Other
My cousin Jessica recently shared this quote from Mother Teresa: If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other. It got me to thinking about the webs we create between one another — whether we mean to, or whether we recognize them, or not. Think about all…
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About Wicked Problems
Yesterday I gave a presentation introducing a new discussion guide designed to help people deliberate over the issue of childhood drinking. I am happy to say the event went very well and there were a lot of people in attendance (more than 125, by my count). I opened the talk with a discussion of wicked…
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Will You Support Me In Running For Annie?
As you may know, the Marine Corps Marathon is coming up in October — October 25, to be exact. I plan to run in it again this year. I am excited! Last year I came very close to my goal (I finished at 4:13:58). This year I hope at least to beat last year’s time,…
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On Mannakee Circle
I live near a crossroads of sorts in our town. It’s a large traffic circle at the intersection of two residential roads that serve as thoroughfares. It’s not a big Boston rotary, it’s more like a village square – only round. There’s a park in the middle that was recently named for a longtime resident,…
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Ordinary People Stepping Into Public Life
Yesterday, I described one way in which my local blog, Rockville Central, is different from our local newspaper, even though my blog contains “news.” The key lies in the purpose behind the blog, which is to improve community life in the town I call home. In essence, with Rockville Central I am trying to open…
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Against "Scale"
The White House announced yesterday that the Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation “would fan out to every region in the country” (according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy) to search for worthy recipients of the $50 million social innovation fund created by the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act. The idea is to find…
Brad Rourke 