Recent BI and Substack Posts

News about the Iran war, American democracy, and many other topics of interest.

Terry Kyllo has been working to bring people together across faith and other divides. He has been particularly active with the Muslim community, but his efforts work to rehumanize people of all faiths and cultures.

A lot has happened in the last week -- here are some of the more interesting things we have been reading.

The last of six posts reflecting on whether bridge building is still possible and useful, or whether bridge-builders should now focus more on fighting democratic erosion than on building relationships across divides.

The second of three responses to David Beckemeyer's post on bridges, arenas and referees, this one again featuring Kristin Hansen and Pearce Godwin.

Kristin Hansen E.D. the Civic Health Project and Pearce Godwin, founder of Listen First, share their thoughts on the role of bridging in an era when so many people would rather fight than talk.

Catching up with readings on topics other than the Iran war.

Dennis Wong talks about what Rotarian Peacebuilding is, how it is different from other peacebuilding, and why he hopes Rotary will do more peacebuilding work in the future.

Catching up on Iran war coverage--along with other things.

Anne Leslie's idea (from Dave Snowden) of estuarine mapping applies well to civic renewal, and implies a different way to plan actions and to gauge progress than many of us are using.

Here we finish up our three-post answer to David Beckemeyer who asks whether bridge-building work is still possible or even desirable given our current political situation. We add thoughts on this same topic from Bill Doherty and Harry Boyte as well.

More reading for your edification.

The second of a three-part series revisiting whether the time for bridging has passed.

Heidi and Guy respond to David Beckemeyers questions, asking whether the assumptions on which the practice of bridge-building are built are no longer valid. He thinks they are not, our answers are mixed.

This week's readings of interest (and sometimes concern).

A summary of three different articles all explaining what is being, can, and must be done to regain citizen agency and put our small-r republican form of government back on track.

Joan Blades, founder of MoveOn and Livingroom Conversations talks about why bridging is still important, and how one can advocate for progressive causes, but also be a peacebuilder with the right at the same time. (It is a question of looking short term and long term, she says.)

What might a power-with democracy look like? ChatGPT has some ideas. Can we live up to them?

The best, most important, and surprising things we've read this week.

Peter Adler reflects on what he learned years ago in the Peace Corps and how that applies to what was happening in the U.S. at the time (the late 60s) and to what is happening now. His observations are sobering.

Sanda Kaufman, Harry Boyte, and Guy and Heidi Burgess share their thoughts about Chip's Peacebuilding Starts at Home Initiative. (Spoiler, we like it...but have some questions/suggested tweaks.)

We still have a lot of work to do, but here's things to think about as we do it.

This is the second in a series on the Crane Brinton Effect, showing how it relates to the U.S., even though we haven't (thank heavens!) had a violent revolution. Considering its implications now can help prevent one.

The first of a two-part essay looking at how hard it is to bring about democracy after a revolution, and why continued oppression is more likely. Here we apply this to Iran, Venezuela, Syria, and Gaza.

The news is getting ahead of us! LOTS of stuff going on and people writing thoughtful pieces about what to make of it all.