I walked into the kitchen and had to squint. The morning sun was shining brightly through the door. It’s been a challenging winter; judging by the number of people walking and running outside yesterday, we’re ready for it to end. The cardinals, goldfinch and house finches are emptying my bird feeders again. I’m itching to get back into my garden—fantasizing … Read
Start with Hope
I met with a colleague this morning; she’s launching a freelance career in marketing and communications. We talked about our Be the Change dinner discussion series, and what we hope to accomplish. I’ve thought a lot about how hard it is to communicate in concrete terms, but I came a little closer this morning. I often feel overwhelmed and helpless … Read
Let’s Talk Activism
What does activism mean to you? Is it writing letters, lobbying, picketing, boycotting, community building? Maybe it’s volunteering somewhere or meditating on peace. Most people don’t even consider themselves activists. I think we are lucky, if at some point in our lives there is at least one issue important enough to spur us into action. Why do I say lucky? … Read
Hope is a Verb
It’s hard to be hopeful when we’re bombarded with news 24/7. Sometimes it’s next to impossible to scare up the courage just to go out into a world where it’s ok for almost anyone to carry an automatic weapon. Much less to speak up about what we believe, whether it’s a big issue–climate change or a small one. Well, after … Read
Work for Equality
My mom was born in 1915, five years before women got the vote. She was a working mom when it wasn’t so common and I took care of my brothers, loosely speaking. Many a time I was asleep in my Dad’s armchair when mom got home with no idea where the boys were. But as I got ready for college, … Read
Remember Evelyn Davis?
I started working in Des Moines in 1980 when I was fresh out of graduate school. Iowa State University Extension hired two urban 4-H professionals to fill one position. The Polk County Extension Director’s reaction was not warm. “There’s no such thing as a free puppy” was his frequent response to our requests. Extension negotiated with Evelyn Davis for free … Read
Celebrate Service
With Martin Luther King Jr. Day coming up in a week, I want to put something out there about service-learning, and how important it is to upcoming generations. This video is taken from my radio show, “We’re Entrepreneurs. We Can Help.” It features Nikola Pavelik and Lucy McCormick. Lucy is teaching humanities at Hershey Montessori School in northeastern Ohio and … Read
Scratch a Woman
“Scratch a woman; find rage” a counselor once told me. Scores of reasons can excite feminine rage, but the one scratching at me now is the social conservative labeling women who need birth control sluts and whores. The same party that screams “Second Amendment” when asked to control automatic weapons, legislates to limit abortion rights. What’s going on? My theory is … Read
Get Healthy
Driving to Florida for vacation, we listened to three books–Connected, Thrive, and Switch. I learned about all of them when I worked with Healthy Polk 2020 last summer. My task was to gather a group of experts around the priority, “Empower more people to take more responsibility for maintaining their health.” My team thought the wording of the priority judgmental. … Read
Reflect on Service
I love service learning. It’s fun to help kids help people, in preschools, retirement communities, parks and gardens. Service learning is a respected way to get kids involved in their own educations. But it’s not just about doing projects that help communities. For service learning to be valuable to young people as well as to the people they work with, … Read
