Recent BI and Substack Posts

Another set of readings suggested by Guy, Heidi, and our readers.

Many avenues are available for citizens who want to influence or change government. And AI may bring us even more if it is used wisely.

Citizen efforts to work around dysfunctional government can work in some contexts, but ultimately one usually needs to get the government involved in some way. So figuring out how to work with and improve government is also key to making democracy work for its citizens (using the term "citizen" to mean all people who live there).

Catching up on reading from the last two weeks.

Many of us treat Memorial Day like a big party to mark the beginning of summer. It is (and should be) much more than that.

Surprising, important, and some hopeful readings for this week.

The second of two newsletters on Braver Angels' concept of "courageous citizenship," talking about the courage it takes, and how it was done before in the U.S. Civil Rights Movement.

The first of two articles explaining what the Braver Angels' term "courageous citizenship" means to Guy and Heidi Burgess, and why we think the concept is so important to civic health and democracy.

Colleague, news, and opinion items of interest for this week.

Guy and Heidi Burgess interview journalist Gideon Lichfield about journalism, democracy, AI, and how all of those (and more) are intertwined.

A reader shared his query to Claude (and its response) about the future of AI--what are the commonalities, the differences, and how to address those differences between its strong supporters and its strong critics. It is interesting reading.

This week's readings: sobering (as always) with a dash of hope.

Excerpts from a conversation with Better Together America co-founders Jacob Bornstein and Caleb Christen talking about how they've grown and where they hope to go in the coming year. It's inspiring!

Can Claude see opportunities to constructively address our most challenging conflicts that we ordinary humans don't see. Maybe!

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.