Brad Rourke’s Blog
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Four Weeks of Spiritual Practice
This morning marks four full weeks of daily spiritual work: prayer, reading, journaling, and meditation. I have done each of these things every morning since the year began. Here’s how it’s gone.
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Why I Want To Be A Boomerang Household
I want to be a countervailing force. I want my house to be, and remain, an intergenerational beacon.
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Immigration: Stalemate or Progress?
The way difficult issues like immigration are framed by policy leaders and experts is often at odds, or at least out of step with, the way in which people see those issues. Where the dominant political discourse frequently sees conflict, people in communities are wrestling with tensions among the things they hold valuable. The question…
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A Guide to Framing Issues for Public Deliberation
People often talk about issue framing as some kind of specialized skill that only certain people can do — or that takes huge amounts of money, people, time, and other resources. But we’ve learned that it is relatively straightforward and really just takes a careful attentiveness to a few principles and key ideas.
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Robin Williams and Ordinary Tragedy [UPDATED]
What to say about the death of Robin Williams. It is tragic and like so many I feel a deep sense of loss. It’s funny how you feel like you come to know certain celebrities solely by the cues you pick up from their roles and interviews and what is written about them. As if…
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New Report: Philanthropy and the Limits of Accountability
I’m delighted to announce the publication of a new report, a joint effort by the Kettering Foundation and Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement (PACE), of which I am the author. Philanthropy and the Limits of Accountability: A Relationship of Respect and Clarity explores how the field of organized philanthropy might think about responding to a growing movement for…
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New Article in the Chronicle of Philanthropy: The Accountability Movement and Philanthropy
In partnership with Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement (PACE), the Kettering Foundation has been working for the past year or so on a report looking at the civic dimensions of the “accountability movement” as it relates to organized philanthropy. I have been the main researcher in this work, which has involved a series of conversations…
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A Song About A Bridge
Earlier today a friend of mine was talking about a difficult time in his life and it reminded me of a song I wrote some time ago that used his experience as a starting point. My friend spent time living under a bridge after going through some difficult times. Thing was, he didn’t see his…
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Work, Art, and Leisure Collide: Remembering Two Songs By The West End
Today I happened to play an old playlist while I took a run. In the mix, a song came on that took me back and sent me on a reverie. I thought I’d share it. Some years ago I was in a band called The West End along with my good friends and neighbors Monique…
Brad Rourke 