Podcast appearances and mentions of Joan Blades

On the radio show this week, we cover how Musk, Trump, and Republican leadership actions are causing chaos and undermining our economy; we dive into what's at stake in immigration policy; hear about a program to build community and democracy; and find out how education is under attack along with hear ways to push back.    SPECIAL GUESTS: Derrick Johnson, NAACP, @NAACP; Beatriz Lopez, Immigration Hub, @USImmHub, @usimmhub.bsky.social; Joan Blades, Living Room Conversations, MomsRising, MoveOn, @LivingRoomConvo, @MoveOn,; Beatriz Beckford, MomsRising, @MomsRising, @momsrising.org.

In this podcast episode, we bring on the founder of Living Room Conversations, Joan Blades. Make sure to check them out here: https://livingroomconversations.org/. We speak about the value of conversations when discussing political topics, the importance of building trust in elections, and how we do it.

In this podcast episode, we bring on the founder of Living Room Conversations, Joan Blades. Make sure to check them out here: https://livingroomconversations.org/. We speak about the value of conversations when discussing political topics, the importance of building trust in elections, and how we do it.

Ever since women won the right to vote in 1920, women leaders and their allies have sought to pass an Equal Rights Amendment to drive total equality and justice for women into the U.S. Constitution. It did pass in 1972, but fell three states short of ratification. Today's next wave of the women's movement might finally make the ERA a reality. Why is Constitutional protection so crucial? Join leading advocates Joan Blades (MomsRising co-founder), attorney Kimberle Crenshaw and Jessica Neuwirth (ERA Coalition President) to learn the true story of what's at stake and how life would be different and better for women and men. To learn more about Kimberle Crenshaw's work, visit the African American Policy Forum.  You can follow Joan Blades work at MomsRising, and Living Room Conversations. Follow the progress Jessica Neuwirth and others are making with the ERA Coalition. See related media in our Green New Deal Media Collection. This is an episode of the Bioneers: Revolution from the Heart of Nature series. Visit the radio and podcast homepage to learn more.

Catherine Gray, the host of Invest In Her, interviews Elisa Parker.  Elisa connects people through the power of story, partnership and solutions to amplify women's leadership and close the gender gap. She has served as the founder of cutting-edge organizations and programs, a nationally acclaimed radio host, producer, coalition builder, strategist and visionary for equity and social justice. She currently oversees Equal Voice | Equal Future, a new gender justice media hub championed by the Fund for Women's Equality and its sister organization, the ERA Coalition. Moving from silos to solidarity through partnership development, programming and hosting the Coalition's new podcast, Equality Talks, she is intent on spreading the word of the Equal Rights Amendment to ensure the 28th Amendment is published in our Constitution. Elisa is the founder, director and host of the award-winning media program and organization, See Jane Do, co-founder of 50 Women Can Change the World in Media & Entertainment, Indivisible Women and 100 Women Change Hollywood. Other notable works include creating the Passion into ActionTM Women's Conference, TEDxGrassValley, Raising Jane and the See Jane Do Media Lounge. She's spoken at events such as, The United State of Women Summit, UN Commission on the Status of Women, TEDx, The Women's March, March for Civility, The Power Women Summit and Netroots Nation. She reaches thousands through partnership with like-minded organizations and develops organizational-wide initiatives, communications strategies for events and digital media campaigns that support gender equality, diversity and inclusion. For over 17 years she has served as an award-winning talk radio host and DJ for KVMR and hosted and managed the Wild & Scenic Film Festival Media Lounge, the largest festival of its kind. Her interviews include luminaries such as Lily Tomlin, Gloria Steinem, Eve Ensler, Melissa Etheridge, Shawn Colvin, Mick Fleetwood, Donna Karan, Geena Davis, Patrick Stewart, Debra Winger, Yvon Chouinard, Jennifer Newsom, Michael Franti, Kathy Griffin, Krishna Das, Joan Blades, Indigo Girls, Sandra Bernhard, Monique Coleman, Simrit Kaur, Terry Tempest Williams, Helen Reddy and other positive deviants across the country who have taken a left turn and are creating new models, programs and systems to create positive social impact. Elisa is a recipient of the Jody Fenimore Award for Public Affairs and Osborn-Woods Community Service Award. She served on the KVMR Board of Directors and the Advisory Committee to SheAngels. Elisa is an alumna of the Women's Media Center Progressive Women's Voices program, Take the Lead Women and the Vote, Run, Lead Go Run program. She holds a BA in Communications from San Francisco State and a MA in Organization Development & Leadership from the University of San Francisco.   seejanedo.com 50womencan-media.com EqualVoice.org eracoalition.org www.sheangelinvestors.com

On the radio show this week we dive into a new study about how people can (and can't) get access to paid family/medical leave in every state – and how to get national coverage; we hear an update about the fight for a care infrastructure and why it matters to everyone; we tackle the importance of conversation to combat loneliness and to save our democracy; and we cover a powerful deliver of stories to every single member of Congress and how your experiences can build change.   *Special guests include: Sharita Gruberg, National Partnership for Women & Families, @npwf; Josephine Kalipeni, Family Values at Work, @FmlyValuesWork; Joan Blades, Living Room Conversations, @LivingRoomConvo; and Felicia Burnett, MomsRising, @MomsRising

Purple Political BreakdownHow do we build trust in Elections?In this podcast episode, we bring on the founder of Living Room Conversations, Joan Blades. Make sure to check them out here: https://livingroomconversations.org/. We speak about the value of conversations when discussing political topics, the importance of building trust in elections, and how we do it. All our Content & Information is Here: www.purplepoliticalbreakdown.comIf you want to support the show follow this link: https://purple-political-breakdown.captivate.fm/supportIf you want to get in contact with the show: TheTrendgoldandfaith@gmail.comJoin Podpage: https://www.podpage.com/?via=radellCheck out Blind Knowledge: https://www.blindknowledge.com/Check out the PodNation TV Live Broadcast: https://player.frontlayer.com/live/fl427618If you want to Follow PodNation Here: https://linktr.ee/podnationpodsThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacyPodcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

On the radio show this week we dive into a new study about how people can (and can't) get access to paid family/medical leave in every state – and how to get national coverage; we hear an update about the fight for a care infrastructure and why it matters to everyone; we tackle the importance of conversation to combat loneliness and to save our democracy; and we cover a powerful deliver of stories to every single member of Congress and how your experiences can build change.   *Special guests include: Sharita Gruberg, National Partnership for Women & Families, @npwf; Josephine Kalipeni, Family Values at Work, @FmlyValuesWork; Joan Blades, Living Room Conversations, @LivingRoomConvo; and Felicia Burnett, MomsRising, @MomsRising

This podcast is a commentary and does not contain any copyrighted material of the reference source. We strongly recommend accessing/buying the reference source at the same time. ■Reference Source https://www.ted.com/talks/joan_blades_and_john_gable_free_yourself_from_your_filter_bubbles ■Post on this topic (You can get FREE learning materials!) https://englist.me/96-academic-words-reference-from-joan-blades-and-john-gable-free-yourself-from-your-filter-bubbles-ted-talk/ ■Youtube Video https://youtu.be/vpCC4FPeS8w (All Words) https://youtu.be/3PQb4Y13RrY (Advanced Words) https://youtu.be/hg9mEYLeUO4 (Quick Look) ■Top Page for Further Materials https://englist.me/ ■SNS (Please follow!)

Rick Hanson, Ph.D. is a psychologist, senior fellow at the University of California, Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center, and a summa cum laude graduate of UCLA. He's founder of the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom. Also, the founder and president of the Global Compassion Coalition. He is the author of Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom (New Harbinger 2009), Just One Thing: Developing a Buddha Brain One Simple Practice at a Time (New Harbinger 2011), Hardwiring Happiness: The New Brain Science of Contentment, Calm, and Confidence (Harmony Books 2013), Meditations to Change Your Brain - CD Set (Sounds True 2009), Resilient: How to Grow an Unshakable Core of Calm, Strength and Happiness (Harmony Books 2018), NeuroDharma: New Science, Ancient Wisdom, and Seven Practices of the Highest Happiness (Harmony Books 2020), Making Great Relationships: Simple Practices for Solving Conflicts, Building Connections, and Fostering Love (Harmony Books 2023) and Meditations to Change Your Brain - CD Set (Sounds True 2009)Interview Date: 4/10/2023 Tags: Rick Hanson, listening, dialogue, disagreement, conflict, values, lying, Living Room Conversations, Joan Blades, arguing, no-win dialogues, progressives, compassion, kindness, bridging differences, gun violence, self-righteousness, argumentative, persuading, persuade, vote, voting, Global Compassion, Coalition, Stone Age conditions of humanity, Relationships, Psychology, Philosophy, Social Change/Politics

E 41- Media Literacy 102: Disinformation, propaganda, and conspiracies... oh my! Media literacy is an essential skill in our world today and one that needs to be addressed in the English language classroom!

Watch this episode to hear a passionate progressive political activist make the case for listening to "both sides." Joan Blades is the co-founder of LivingRoomConversations.org, an open-sourced effort to build respectful connections across ideological, cultural, and party lines while embracing our core shared values. In this episode, she explains why she felt compelled to launch this latest start-up (she also co-founded MomsRising.org & MoveOn.org) and describes the power of dialogue. She also shares how she's forged many surprising friendships across the divides. 00:00 Introduction 00:23 About Joan Blades 01:53 What is a "living room conversation”? 04:43 How to change people's minds? 06:31 Who participates in "living room conversations” and how does it work? 10:02 Joan's backstory 14:00 Building bridges across the political left and right 15:45 The impact of social media on political polarization 17:47 Exploring “The Power of Empathy” as one topic for a "living room conversation" 21:31 How has Joan's activism impacted her personally? 25:26 Differences and similarities of values among political divides 26:56 Potential applications of "living room conversations" 33:24 Joan Blades' Purposeful Empathy story CONNECT WITH JOAN BLADES ✩Website LivingRoomConversations.org ✩ TED Talk https://livingroomconversations.org/video/lrc-at-ted-free-yourself-from-your-filter-bubbles/ ✩ Forgiveness conversation highlights https://livingroomconversations.org/video/forgiveness-living-room-conversations-highlights/ CONNECT WITH ANITA ✩ Email purposefulempathy@gmail.com ✩ Website https://www.anitanowak.com/ ✩ LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/anitanowak ✩ Instagram https://tinyurl.com/anitanowakinstagram ✩ Twitter https://twitter.com/anitanowak21 ✩ Facebook Page https://tinyurl.com/PurposefulEmpathyFacebook ✩ Facebook Group https://tinyurl.com/PurposefulEmpathyCommunity ✩ Podcast Audio https://tinyurl.com/PurposefulEmpathyPodcast This episode was brought to you by Grand Heron International REACH THEM AT ✩ Website www.grandheroninternational.ca; www.ghi.coach ✩ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/grand-heron-international/ ✩ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/grandheroninternational/ ✩ Instagram @Grand_Heron_International ✩ Twitter @GrandHeronIntl ✩ https://twitter.com/GrandHeronIntl Video edited by David Tsvariani

As I write this on April 21, 2022, America Talks is underway.  Americans with different backgrounds and beliefs are firing up their computers, turning on their cameras and talking to each other, face-to-face.  On purpose.  And with a purpose.  Creating connections to build bridges across our divides, find a path forward, and remind us of our common humanity.Talking and ListeningMy guests this week personify how the simple, yet courageous acts of talking and listening, are a key part of the solution to our country's challenges.Joan Blades is a liberal icon.   She co-founded MoveOn. org, the champion of progressive values.John Gable is a a former Republican operative and once worked for three Senate majority leaders, including the current one.On the surface, there's no way these two could be friends.But a funny thing happened on a walk in the parking lot:  they discovered they care about the same things.  What they didn't agree on was a path to get there.  But that didn't stop them.  And the next thing you know, a friendship was born.Their walks are now weekly.  They routinely seek each other's perspectives on all sorts of issues.   And they are working together to help bridge our country's divides.Living Room Conversations, the non-profit Joan co-founded, and AllSides.com, the company John co-founded, have partnered with each other.  And they are both partners of America Talks.Join the ConversationI invited Joan and John to join me live on Instagram to talk about their collaborative work, their friendship and their hopes for our future. That conversation is this week's podcast.Please watch or listen and then join the conversation.  There's still time.  America Talks is underway through Saturday, April 23rd, the next online event. And this year's National Week of Conversation is April 24th through 30th, powered by the #ListenFirst Coalition of 400+ organizations, America Talks Co-creators and allies across the country.www.ourvoicesmatterpodcast.comwww.lorellemedia.comThis podcast is devoted to empowering us all to better understand each other's differences...one story at a time.  Emmy Award-winning journalist, Linda Lorelle, guides guests through insightful, unexpected conversations that reveal our common humanity.  This show is not about politics per se; it is about finding a way to reclaim civility in the context of the contentious times in which we live, by sharing our personal and professional stories, in hopes that others might find a glimpse of themselves.Support the show (http://patreon.com/OurVoicesMatterPodcast)

Ideas start wars and movements, undergird societies and governments, and shape the daily experiences of our personal lives. We ignore or underestimate the power of ideas to our detriment. And yet they can feel slippery to reckon with; difficult to see, tougher still to understand their complex movement through the world. Join The Progress Network for a wide-ranging discussion on ideas—which ones are significant now, which may be significant in the future, and how we can participate in ideas' power ourselves—with Joan Blades, co-founder of Living Room Conversations and MoveOn.org, and public intellectual Steven Pinker, author of Enlightenment Now and several other books. Zachary Karabell, founder of The Progress Network, moderates. This conversation was recorded on May 12, 2021. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

Garbage in, garbage out, as the early computer innovators remarked about information. A vital free press is the single most important feedback loop in a democracy. New media including especially the Internet have challenged the supremacy of corporate media concentration and junk news. A brave new wave of activists such as Brad Friedman, John Stauber and Joan Blades are using digital media to restore the democratic lifeblood of a people's media. They're giving voice to the voiceless, checking and balancing corruption, and providing liberty and access for all.

Today we're excited to welcome guest Joan Blades to discuss how we can build more unified communities with the power of conversation. Joan is the co-founder of Living Room Conversations, a structured conversational tool which aims to help heal society by connecting people across divides through guided conversations proven to build understanding and transform communities. Check out Living Room Conversations here: www.livingroomconversations.org

Barbara Gaughen-Muller Interviews Joan Blades, Co-Founder of MoveOn.org and Lawyer. by Barbara Gaughen-Muller

Ever since women won the right to vote in 1920, they have been trying to pass an Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to ensure equality and justice in the eyes of the law. The Third Wave women’s movement might just make it a reality. MomsRising Director Joan Blades, attorney Kimberle Crenshaw, and ERA Coalition President Jessica Neuwirth tell us why the amendment is so important to address discrimination and harassment in the workplace and beyond.

Joan Blades is an “accidental activist” at the forefront of movements that have shaped American culture and politics. A deep believer in the value of grassroots engagement, Blades through her various endeavors has experientially acted upon an insight about the power of ordinary people driving change – an insight that later was articulated as the 3.5% Rule by Harvard political scientist Erika Chenoweth: 3.5% of the population actively participating in social movements can impact serious political change. Blades in her latest endeavor, Living Room Conversations, seeks to help rebuild respectful civil discourse across ideological, cultural and party lines in a grassroots way – in ordinary living rooms. An open source effort, Living Room Conversations offers an intimate structured conversation format to citizens as a powerful tool to rebuild respectful relationships and identify common ground.  Living Room Conversations can take place in person or online with six simple, self-facilitated hosting best practices. “This is a deep listening practice; it's never a debate,” Joan said in a 2017 TED talk. “And that's incredibly powerful. These conversations in our own living rooms with people who have different viewpoints are an incredible adventure. We rediscover that we can respect and even love people that are different from us.” Joan has had a prolonged look at the dysfunction of partisan behaviors, as well as at the good will, intelligence and power of ordinary citizens. After growing up in Berkeley, CA, during the civil rights era and being active in the women’s rights movement, Blades pursued law and became an expert mediator – helping women to mediate their own divorces rather than litigating – and then achieved entrepreneurial success with her husband as a co-founder of Berkeley Systems, a tech company best known for the Flying Toaster screen saver "After Dark" and the game "You Don't Know Jack." But in 1998, her life took an unexpected twist. She and her husband grew weary of the political gridlock surrounding the impeachment hearings of President Bill Clinton. So they created a simple online petition: “Censure President Clinton and move on to pressing issues facing the nation.” Within days, this homegrown petition sent to friends had amassed hundreds of thousands of signatures from across the political divide. This was the first time in history that an online petition helped transform the national conversation. And cyberspace mobilization was officially born, with Joan dubbed its “mother” as she was named 2003 Woman of the Year by Ms Magazine. MoveOn.org, which Joan then co-founded, has since grown to 3.3M+ members participating in progressive grassroots advocacy. After MoveOn.org, on Mother’s Day 2006, Blades co-founded MomsRising, a virtual organization advocating for the needs of mothers and families from environmental pollutants to healthcare to wages. Because everyone has a mother, the organization sees its work as lifting up entire families through this critical point of entry and focus. Blades is the co-author of two award-winning books, The Motherhood Manifesto and The Custom-Fit Workplace. She is currently launching a new initiative called MisMatch, a program to convene middle and high school students across the country for powerful conversations. “When we care about each other,” says Blades, “we find ways to meet each other’s core needs regardless of our beliefs.” Please join Aryae Coopersmith and Janessa Gans Wilder in a timely conversation with this optimistic change- and peace-maker, a true believer in the power of citizens to transform our national civic discourse.

On 5th November 2020, we hosted this very special transatlantic edition of It's Bloody Complicated – outside of our usual fortnightly schedule –  to talk to three people with direct experience in building capacity and infrastructure that demonstrates a different kind of doing politics.Roge Karma is a researcher and reporter at Vox, where he produces The Ezra Klein Show podcast and writes about policing, political polarization, and democracy reform.Manu Meel is passionate about empowering young people and advocating for civic engagement. He serves as the CEO of BridgeUSA, a national organization that is investing in the future of democracy. His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other media platforms.Joan Blades is a co-founder of Living Room Conversations, an open source effort to rebuild respectful discourse across ideological, cultural and party lines while embracing our shared values. She is the co-author of The Custom-Fit Workplace, winner of a Nautilus book award in 2011, and The Motherhood Manifesto, which won the Ernesta Drinker Ballard Book Prize in 2007.All three talked about their experiences of building a better way of doing politics, and what that has looked and felt like over the past few months.At the time of recording, the final result of the 2020 US election was still up in the air - which we refer to a few times in the conversation.  "It's Bloody Complicated" is recorded every other Tuesday at 6pm BST. Become a Compass Member to join our live recordings and bring your questions to our guests: https://action.compassonline.org.uk/podcastSupport the show (https://www.compassonline.org.uk/podcast/)

In a unique summit called A Magnificent New Normal, Jeffrey Smith has brought together thought-leaders and world-changers to help each of us step into the highest version of ourselves, and to help propel society as a whole. Every day for 40 days (and 40 nights), you’ll receive a life-transforming interview from celebrated experts, including Bruce Lipton, Jewel, Anita Sanchez, Sue Morter, Debra Poneman, Nina Simons, Alison Armstrong, Zach Bush, Terry Patten, Matthew Fox, Eben Alexander, Karen Newell, Bettie Spruill, Mark and Clare Dubois, Eric Edmeades, Michelle James, Sara McCrum, Ilarion Merculieff, Alberto Villoldo, BJ Fogg, David Perlmutter, Austin Perlmutter, Tom O’Bryan, Jim Mitchell, Lynne Twist, Joan Blades, Katherine Woodward Thomas, Lynne McTaggart, and more. For more info visit: https://amagnificentnewnormal.com/ The Institute for Responsible Technology is working to protect you & the World from GMOs (and while we’re at it, Roundup®...)  To find out exactly how we do this and to subscribe to our newsletter visit https://www.responsibletechnology.org/

Joan Blades, co-founder of Living Room Conversations, joins us in episode 107 of Relate. In this episode, we discuss the importance of approaching conversations with intention and why we must listen deeply to one another. There is a great danger in division and a great opportunity in connection. Joan also encourages us to care about people with different opinions, as this will allow us to develop a better worldview. Please check out all of the amazing work Joan is doing with Living Room Conversations at https://www.livingroomconversations.org/ Joan Blades is a co-founder of LivingRoomConversations.org an open source effort to build respectful caring connections across ideological, cultural and party lines while embracing our core-shared values. When we care about each other we work to find ways to meet each other’s core needs. She is also a co-founder of MomsRising.org and MoveOn.org She is a co-author of The Custom-Fit Workplace, winner of a Nautilus book award in 2011 and The Motherhood Manifesto, which won the Ernesta Drinker Ballard Book Prize in 2007. A mediator (attorney) by training and inclination, she is a nature lover, artist and true believer in the power of citizens. We can honor the dignity of all individuals and seek understanding even as we hold differing beliefs. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/relate-patrick-mcandrew/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/relate-patrick-mcandrew/support

Confused? So are we at how we got Joan to dial in to the TMD hotline.  We couldn't even bring ourselves to subject her to our theme song.  If you know anything about Joan, you know she is quite the accomplished businessperson and progressive political activist, who co-founded the group MoveOn.org as well as the really amazing platform Living Room Conversations, in an effort to bring both sides of the political spectrum together to discuss individual issues in a comfortable environment.   She is an amazing woman, who is a really good sport for playing with us in our sand box.    please check out www.livingroomconversations.org  & on Twitter @livingroomconvo and give one a try.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ostrolenk speaks with Joan Blades, co-founder of Living Room Conversations (https://www.livingroomconversations.org/), an open source effort to build respectful connections across ideological, cultural, and party lines while embracing our core-shared values. Blades details the purpose and process of Living Room Conversations, though which 2 people invite 2 friends into a six-person structured conversation on a given topic. Participants focus not on talking points, but rather each person's relationship and experience with the topic. The goal is not to change each other's minds, but to listen to each other and appreciate alternative views. We've lost part of our human to human connection, Blades communicates, and it is through mutual respect that we can begin problem solving. To learn more about Living Room Conversations, visit their website (https://www.livingroomconversations.org/) and find them on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/LivingRoomConversations/). Living Room Conversations is also offering resources to help people stay connected during this time of physical distancing (https://www.livingroomconversations.org/coronavirus-resources/). Today's show is brought to you by Synergy Float Center (https://synergyfloatcenter.com/), a premier floatation therapy center located in Old Town Alexandria.

Could heart, empowerment and conscious effectiveness be the pillars to aligning as society and making progress on the issues that matter to us most? Joan Blades, co-founder of Living Room Conversations—  a divide healing organization, thinks it's a great place to start.  As the founder of political groups like Moveon.org and MomsRising, Joan knows a thing or two about bridging political divides. She also has a wealth of experience in mediation, with her background as a practicing lawyer and as the author of Family Mediation, a book on the subject of navigating divorce.Sharing the dream behind Living Room Conversations, Joan explores the root causes behind the political fracturing in the United States. She explains how the illusion of otherness and distractions from technology has influenced our culture. Find out how people are using Living Room Conversation guides around the country to bridge partisan gaps and move past differences. Getting back to the underlying connection we all have: our humanity.  Find extended notes at sidewalk-talk.com/podcast.  Connect: Find | Sidewalk Talk PodcastAt sidewalk-talk.orgOn Instagram: @sidewalktalkorgOn Twitter: @sidewalktalkorg Find | Traci RubleAt Traciruble.comOn Instagram: @TraciRubleMFTOn Twitter: @TraciRubleMFTOn Facebook: @TraciRubleMFT Find | Joan BladesAt livingroomconversations.orgOn Instagram: @livingroomconvoOn Twitter: @LivingRoomConvoOn Facebook:  @LivingRoomConversationsSUBSCRIBE TO THIS PODCASTOn SpotifyOn Apple PodcastsOn Google PodcastsOn Spotify

Ours is a divided culture. We each see things from our own perspective. Too often there are values we live at home, different ones at work or school, and still a different set when we come together to worship.  The Hospital Church has four Values that we believe should oversee our lives 24/7: Love, Acceptance, Forgiveness, and Grace. They are to be with us, enmeshed in our whole life.This week one of our #fhcTAKEAWAYS asked:   Where are you participating in the life of our church family?What do you think about what Andy had to say about member participation? “This value makes it clear that a non-mission driven, non-attending, non-serving, non-giving member is an oxymoron”.  Let us hear your thoughts and we'll share them on the next podcast!  Use one of the following:■ Text/Voicemail:  407-965-1607■ Email:  podcast@hospitalchurch.org■ FHC Mobile App:  Media Tab/Podcast Banner and Use Text and Email links■ Social Media:  #fhcPODCAST / #fhcTAKEAWAYSHere are the links to the TED Talks referenced in today's episode:Joan Blades: https://www.ted.com/speakers/joan_blades (https://www.ted.com/speakers/joan_blades) Jonathan Haidt:  https://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_haidt_the_moral_roots_of_liberals_and_conservatives (https://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_haidt_the_moral_roots_of_liberals_and_conservatives)Kathryn Schulz:  https://www.ted.com/talks/kathryn_schulz_on_being_wrong (https://www.ted.com/talks/kathryn_schulz_on_being_wrong)Thank you for listening!  If you've enjoyed this episode please share it on social media.  Our show is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, and nearly everywhere you can listen to podcasts!  Be sure to join us next week for Episode 191!Find all of the #fhcTAKEAWAYS in the FHC Mobile App under “This Week” on the FHC Tab and they will be included with their corresponding message!Watch the message that this episode is based on in the FHC Mobile App by clicking on Media/Archives/God Of Your Whole Life or go to our website:  http://hospitalchurch.org/sermon/ (http://hospitalchurch.org/sermon/)Download our App by going to our website: http://hospitalchurch.org/fhcapp (http://hospitalchurch.org/fhcapp) Say hello on Twitter; https://twitter.com/floridahc (https://twitter.com/floridahc), Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/hospitalchurch/ (https://www.facebook.com/hospitalchurch/); Instagram; https://www.instagram.com/floridahc/ (https://www.instagram.com/floridahc/); and use the #hashtags:  #fhcPODCAST #fhcTAKEAWAYS #fhcINSPIRES #HospitalChurch #GodOfYourWholeLife

Joan Blades was an entrepreneur co-founder of MoveOn.org.John Gable (also a tech entrepreneur) was a Republican operative — helping elect politicians like Trent Lott and Mitch McConnell.Joan and John are the unlikely duo behind a viral TED talk on the problem of political polarization, and the founders of a technology-based solution.AllSides.com is your one-stop shop for headlines from across the political spectrum. Like a bulldozer for bias, All Sides conveniently aggregates stories from around the web along with a rating — left, right, center, or left- or right-leaning.Screenshot of AllSides.com. Try switching your morning news source from Drudge Report or Huffington Post to AllSides.com and see what it does to your blood pressure.I'll admit — it's fun to get mad at the idiocy of the “other side” and the internet offers an endless supply of confirmation bias for whatever opinions you hold.But the danger of such extreme political polarization is that our government may not function the way it's supposed to.In my book Power to the States: How Federalism 2.0 Can Make America Governable Again, I theorized that anger in politics is a result of too much power being given to Federal government.John and Joan, however, see something else — namely, that the advent of digital communities allows us to select our news sources to fit our narrow beliefs (rather than forming our beliefs from the same set of facts).John and Joan joined me to discuss the nature of these “filter bubbles” — our self-made echo chambers — and how their platform works to “pop” these bubbles of bias.Be sure to catch the full conversation.

Political echo chambers are dividing the country, say AllSides.com founders Joan Blades and John Gable

Joan Blades founder of MoveOn and MomsRising joins The Great Battlefield podcast. Joan talks about how her latest passion, Living Room Conversations, is helping people engage in conversations across various divides to help heal and understand our differences.

In this episode, we’re connecting with Joan Blades, the creator of Living Room Conversations. Joan is on a mission to rebuild respectful discourse across ideas, cultures, and party lines, while embracing our shared human values because when we care about each other, we find ways to meet each others’ core needs regardless of our beliefs. As co-founder of MomsRising.org and MoveOn.org, Joan has given people the space to come together and promote their shared values. She’s a nature lover, artist, and mom, and a true believer in the power of people respectfully coming together to connect over difficult conversations. Listen on to find out six ways to have impactful conversations with people in your community, three core value questions that will help everyone get connected within minutes of sitting down together, and what Joan is working on, to be released later this year, called MisMatch, a program that brings together junior high and high school students across the country for powerful conversations. Don’t miss out on this inspiring conversation and opportunity for personal growth! We all know that communication is essential to creating meaningful connections with others, so how do we have the difficult discussions that bring us closer? Joan’s format for effective conversation relies on recognizing what we have in common, what brings us together as people. Whether you’re having a discussion with your partner, your grandparents, or your arch-nemesis, remember that we can all find common ground and connectedness.

Picture this: People are gathered around in the living room talking about politics. Or religion. You know, the big stuff that it seems like nobody agrees on. The people in the room don’t agree either, but they aren’t fighting. Believe it or not, this scene is taking place in living rooms across the country. In this episode, Andrea explores how and why people are voluntarily getting out of their comfort zones by engaging people with different viewpoints. Joan Blades , a co-founder of Living Room Conversations , explains how to host one of these gatherings on your own. We’ll even give you a blueprint for how you can make yourself uncomfortable too.

As the co-founder of moveon.org, momsrising.org, and Living Room Conversations, Joan Blades is a progressive activist whose main mission these days is to bridge strengthening political. She made headlines when she hosted a Living Room Conversation with Mark Meckler, a co-founder of the Tea Party movement. In this episode, Joan talks about what she’s learned about finding common ground in a tense climate, about benefits of outdoor walking meetings, and about her bipartisan TED Talk, “Free yourself from your filter bubbles,” which received 1.2 million views.

As the co-founder of moveon.org, momsrising.org, and Living Room Conversations, Joan Blades is a progressive activist whose main mission these days is to bridge strengthening political. She made headlines when she hosted a Living Room Conversation with Mark Meckler, a co-founder of the Tea Party movement. In this episode, Joan talks about what she’s learned about finding common ground in a tense climate, about benefits of outdoor walking meetings, and about her bipartisan TED Talk, “Free yourself from your filter bubbles,” which received 1.2 million views.

The National Week of Conversation is a bold attempt to reduce the yawning gap between Republicans and Democrats. More than 100 groups across the country are involved in online and in-person events from April 20th to April 28th. We look at how the project works and why it can make a difference. With American politics increasingly dominated by personal insults, name calling and dogma, a growing movement for greater civility is emerging. "The ever-widening gulf..is one of the most significant trends to emerge in U.S. society in the past two decades," says a Gallup polling analysis. Our guests in this episode, John Gable and Joan Blades, are leaders of a growing project to bring Americans together to talk it out, mending the bitter partisan divide "one conversation at a time." #ListenfFirst and #NWOC are the hashtags they use on social media. "When you only talk to people just like yourself, and we only get information that confirms what we already think, we become much more extreme in our beliefs and much less tolerant," says John.Living Room Conversations, the group Joan co-founded, is hosting five online events as part of the National Week of Conversation. AllSides, the website that features news reports from the left, right, and center, is also deeply involved. Big Tent Nation, Bridge Alliance Partners, NCDD, The National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation, and The National Institute for Civil Discourse are organizing partners. Since we started our weekly news solutions show nearly three years ago, "How Do We Fix It?" has been committed to addressing the crisis of political paralysis. We are pleased to promote this cause. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Aired Tuesday, 27 March 2018, 5:00 PM ESTLiving Room Conversations: Can A New “Parlor” Game Heal the Divide?A Conversation With Living Room Conversations Co-Founder Joan Blades“When we connect personally, we don’t take things poisonally.” — Swami BeyondanandaDid you know (From the Living Room Conversations website) … “Living rooms used to be the place where people would gather to socialize and relate with each other. Inviting someone into your home was to treat them as valued and worthy of respect. But before they were called living rooms these rooms were referred to as “parlors” – a term that comes from the French and means place for speaking.”At a time when there’s been precious little civil discourse — let alone civic discourse — can transpartisan “living room conversations” heal the divide?Joan Blades, co-founder of the very partisan MoveOn.org thinks so.In 2010, she and conservative colleagues founded Living Room Conversations to “re-humanize” the other side (whichever side the other side is to you) by sharing stories and personal connections, and then discussing otherwise divisive issues together. Joan herself had a profound awakening in 2007 when she connected with Christian Coalition’s communication director Michele Combs at a retreat. The two became friends, and together the two organizations — MoveOn.org and the Christian Coalition — became unlikely partners in a successful campaign to preserve net neutrality.On this week’s Wiki Politiki, Joan talks about the promise and the challenges of Living Room Conversations, and shares her own journey that took her from law school to a successful Silicon Valley start-up, to founding MoveOn, a pioneer organization in using the internet and social media for political campaigns.If you’re curious — or skeptical — about civil discourse being able to breach what seem to be not only different viewpoints, but different realities, you’ll want to hear what Joan has to say. These conversations may not change people’s minds but it might change hearts — and that’s where real change must take place as we evolve into political (and spiritual) maturity.Find Living Room Conversations here: https://livingroomconversations.org/How you can support Wiki PolitikiJoin the “upwising” — join the conversation, and become a Wiki Politiki supporter: http://wikipolitiki.com/join-the-upwising/ Go ahead, PATRONIZE me! Support Wiki Politiki monthly through Patreon

Ever since women won the right to vote in 1920, women leaders and their allies have sought to pass an Equal Rights Amendment to drive total equality and justice for women into the U.S. Constitution. It did pass in 1972, but fell three states short of ratification. Today’s next wave of the women’s movement might finally make the ERA a reality. Why is Constitutional protection so crucial? Join leading advocates Joan Blades (MomsRising co-founder), attorney Kimberle Crenshaw and Jessica Neuwirth (ERA Coalition President) to learn the true story of what’s at stake and how life would be different and better for women and men.

Ever since women won the right to vote in 1920, women leaders and their allies have sought to pass an Equal Rights Amendment to drive total equality and justice for women into the U.S. Constitution. It did pass in 1972, but fell three states short of ratification. Today’s next wave of the women’s movement might finally make the ERA a reality. Why is Constitutional protection so crucial? Join leading advocates Joan Blades (MomsRising co-founder), attorney Kimberle Crenshaw and Jessica Neuwirth (ERA Coalition President) to learn the true story of what’s at stake and how life would be different and better for women and men.

We are back from holiday! Happy 2018. On this second part of a two part episode we rejoin our conversation on the recap of 2017 topics as we see how they roll into 2018. Yes, some of these topics are political- but we unshackle the political headlines from the core topics. And what we see for this year.Lifestyle Brands * Rise and fall of Blue Apron * Uber eats, Fredmyer, Amazon Fresh (and their acquisition of whole foods), et al. * News and Social Media's love triangle with politics, fatigue & frustration * We chatted quite a few times on the fatique of being Glued to your device- but for 2017 one last tip....how to help get out of the “echo chamber” as we call it- or Bubbles as this TED talk discusses about. * TEDWomen2017 “Free yourself from your filter bubble (https://www.ted.com/talks/joan_blades_and_john_gable_free_yourself_from_your_filter_bubbles#t-544384)s” * “Joan Blades and John Gable want you to make friends with people who vote differently than you do. A pair of political opposites, the two longtime pals know the value of engaging in honest conversations with people you don't immediately agree with. Join them as they explain how to bridge the gaps in understanding between people on opposite sides of the political spectrum -- and create opportunities for mutual listening and consideration (and, maybe, lasting friendships).” * From that John Gable's AllSides engine: https://www.allsides.com/unbiased-balanced-news Trends that wrapped up 2017* Cord cutting to a la carte ...right in time for the net neutrality debate again. * Unshackle the topics (see 2018)* Cryptocurrency? What? * Bitcoin * Ethereum * Litecoin * BlockChain in 2min https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r43LhSUUGTQ * Companies offering ICO (http://fortune.com/2017/12/13/indiegogo-initial-coin-offerings-ico-cryptocurrency/) : “Initial Coin Offering” *Blockchain implications: TED talk "How the blockchain will radically transform the economy | Bettina Warburg" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RplnSVTzvnU Trends we see into 2018* Net neutrality debate to continue * Pay for the content you want * Depending on how things pan out- up tick in illegal acquisition * Streaming services making content * Unshakle the topics of Net Nutrality (by way of the communicaiton of bits and 1, 0s) being treated fairly and equally. And the topic of more accessibility in rural America. * “The Federal Communications Commission regulates interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories. An independent U.S. government agency overseen by Congress, the Commission is the federal agency responsible for implementing and enforcing America’s communications law and regulations” .https://www.fcc.gov/about/overview (https://www.fcc.gov/about/overview) * The issue that has everyone on the web talking https://www.fcc.gov/restoring-internet-freedom * Cryptocurrency * ICO or “Tokenization” https://go.indiegogo.com/blog/2017/12/indiegogo-ico-cryptocurrency.html?referral_code=igghome * https://www.forbes.com/sites/outofasia/2017/11/27/three-reasons-why-the-ico-market-is-cooling-down-but-crypto-and-blockchain-are-here-to-stay/#50450c2a33f4 * * Female Empowered Travel * Conde Nast Traveler :Women who Travel: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/women-who-travel-a-podcast-by-women-for-everyone * From a closed FB group of 30,000+ https://www.facebook.com/groups/womenwhotraveltheworld Connect with us* **AJ**: patreon.com/ajbarse (http://patreon.com/ajbarse) or follow on Twitter (https://twitter.com/ajbarse)/Instagram (http://instagram.com/ajbarse) @ajbarse.* **Chris**: bit.ly/quietchris (http://bit.ly/quietchris) or follow on Twitter (https://twitter.com/mnmltek)/Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/mnmltek/) @mnmltek.* **Twitter Hashtags**: #bhampodcast and #quietconversations* * *Listen to us* If you're in the Bellingham area, be sure to listen to our show on KMRE 102.3 FM (http://www.kmre.org/bellingham-podcast-media-tech/)! Thursdays @ 9:00 am and Saturdays @ 1:30 pm.* * *Talk to us* Got a question about technology or anything else about life in Bellingham? Call 201-731-8324 (tel:2017318324) (TECH) and leave us a voicemail, and ask us nicely! We may include it in one of our future shows.* * *Subscribe to us* iTunes, Google Play Store, Soundcloud, Spreaker, TuneIn, or wherever else you podcast. And check out our website at bellinghampodcast.com (http://bellinghampodcast.com/)

We are back from holiday! Happy 2018. On this second part of a two part episode we rejoin our conversation on the recap of 2017 topics as we see how they roll into 2018. Yes, some of these topics are political- but we unshackle the political headlines from the core topics. And what we see for this year.Lifestyle Brands * Rise and fall of Blue Apron * Uber eats, Fredmyer, Amazon Fresh (and their acquisition of whole foods), et al. * News and Social Media's love triangle with politics, fatigue & frustration * We chatted quite a few times on the fatique of being Glued to your device- but for 2017 one last tip....how to help get out of the “echo chamber” as we call it- or Bubbles as this TED talk discusses about. * TEDWomen2017 “Free yourself from your filter bubble (https://www.ted.com/talks/joan_blades_and_john_gable_free_yourself_from_your_filter_bubbles#t-544384)s” * “Joan Blades and John Gable want you to make friends with people who vote differently than you do. A pair of political opposites, the two longtime pals know the value of engaging in honest conversations with people you don't immediately agree with. Join them as they explain how to bridge the gaps in understanding between people on opposite sides of the political spectrum -- and create opportunities for mutual listening and consideration (and, maybe, lasting friendships).” * From that John Gable's AllSides engine: https://www.allsides.com/unbiased-balanced-news Trends that wrapped up 2017* Cord cutting to a la carte ...right in time for the net neutrality debate again. * Unshackle the topics (see 2018)* Cryptocurrency? What? * Bitcoin * Ethereum * Litecoin * BlockChain in 2min https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r43LhSUUGTQ * Companies offering ICO (http://fortune.com/2017/12/13/indiegogo-initial-coin-offerings-ico-cryptocurrency/) : “Initial Coin Offering” *Blockchain implications: TED talk "How the blockchain will radically transform the economy | Bettina Warburg" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RplnSVTzvnU Trends we see into 2018* Net neutrality debate to continue * Pay for the content you want * Depending on how things pan out- up tick in illegal acquisition * Streaming services making content * Unshakle the topics of Net Nutrality (by way of the communicaiton of bits and 1, 0s) being treated fairly and equally. And the topic of more accessibility in rural America. * “The Federal Communications Commission regulates interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories. An independent U.S. government agency overseen by Congress, the Commission is the federal agency responsible for implementing and enforcing America’s communications law and regulations” .https://www.fcc.gov/about/overview (https://www.fcc.gov/about/overview) * The issue that has everyone on the web talking https://www.fcc.gov/restoring-internet-freedom * Cryptocurrency * ICO or “Tokenization” https://go.indiegogo.com/blog/2017/12/indiegogo-ico-cryptocurrency.html?referral_code=igghome * https://www.forbes.com/sites/outofasia/2017/11/27/three-reasons-why-the-ico-market-is-cooling-down-but-crypto-and-blockchain-are-here-to-stay/#50450c2a33f4 * * Female Empowered Travel * Conde Nast Traveler :Women who Travel: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/women-who-travel-a-podcast-by-women-for-everyone * From a closed FB group of 30,000+ https://www.facebook.com/groups/womenwhotraveltheworld Connect with us* **AJ**: patreon.com/ajbarse (http://patreon.com/ajbarse) or follow on Twitter (https://twitter.com/ajbarse)/Instagram (http://instagram.com/ajbarse) @ajbarse.* **Chris**: bit.ly/quietchris (http://bit.ly/quietchris) or follow on Twitter (https://twitter.com/mnmltek)/Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/mnmltek/) @mnmltek.* **Twitter Hashtags**: #bhampodcast and #quietconversations* * *Listen to us* If you're in the Bellingham area, be sure to listen to our show on KMRE 102.3 FM (http://www.kmre.org/bellingham-podcast-media-tech/)! Thursdays @ 9:00 am and Saturdays @ 1:30 pm.* * *Talk to us* Got a question about technology or anything else about life in Bellingham? Call 201-731-8324 (tel:2017318324) (TECH) and leave us a voicemail, and ask us nicely! We may include it in one of our future shows.* * *Subscribe to us* iTunes, Google Play Store, Soundcloud, Spreaker, TuneIn, or wherever else you podcast. And check out our website at bellinghampodcast.com (http://bellinghampodcast.com/)

Joan Blades and John Gable want you to make friends with people who vote differently than you do. A pair of political opposites, the two longtime pals know the value of engaging in honest conversations with people you don't immediately agree with. Join them as they explain how to bridge the gaps in understanding between people on opposite sides of the political spectrum -- and create opportunities for mutual listening and consideration (and, maybe, lasting friendships.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Joan Blades and John Gable want you to make friends with people who vote differently than you do. A pair of political opposites, the two longtime pals know the value of engaging in honest conversations with people you don't immediately agree with. Join them as they explain how to bridge the gaps in understanding between people on opposite sides of the political spectrum -- and create opportunities for mutual listening and consideration (and, maybe, lasting friendships).

Joan Blades e John Gable querem que você faça amigos com pessoas que votam diferente de você. Uma dupla de opositores políticos, os dois parceiros de longa data sabem o valor de se engajar em conversas honestas com pessoas com as quais você não concorda de imediato. Junte-se a eles enquanto eles explicam como preencher as lacunas no entendimento entre pessoas em lados opostos do espectro político; e como criar oportunidades para escuta e consideração mútuas (e, talvez, uma amizade duradoura).

Joan Blade y John Gables quieren que hagas amigos con personas que votan de manera diferente a ti. Un par de políticos opuestos, los dos amigos veteranos conocen el valor de entablar conversaciones honestas con personas con las que no estás de acuerdo de inmediato. Escucha lo que explican sobre cómo cerrar las brechas de comprensión entre personas en lados opuestos del espectro político, y crear oportunidades para escuchar y respetarse mutuamente (y tal vez crear amistades duraderas).

조안 블레이즈와 존 게이블은 여러분이 여러분과 다르게 투표하는 사람들과 친해졌으면 합니다. 정치적으로 정반대 성향을 가진 이 두 오랜 친구는 바로 동의할 수 없는 사람들과 정직한 대화를 나누는 것의 가치를 압니다. 그들이 어떻게 정치적 스펙트럼의 정반대에 있는 사람들 간의 이해를 돕고 서로 듣고 (어쩌면 지속적인 우정까지) 고려하기 위한 기회를 만들어내는 것에 대해 설명하는 것에 동참해 보세요.

Joan Blades et John Gable veulent que vous deveniez amis avec des gens qui ne votent pas comme vous. Politiquement opposés l'un à l'autre, les deux amis de longue date connaissent la valeur des conversations avec des gens avec lesquels vous n'êtes pas immédiatement d'accord. Joignez-vous à eux alors qu'ils expliquent comment combler le fossé dans la compréhension des gens aux deux extrémités du spectre politique et créez des opportunités d'écoute et de considération mutuelles (et, peut-être, des amitiés durables).

Intimidated.  Yep…that was me when I first learned about Living Room Conversations.  After speaking with Joan, however, I have gained a healthy respect for learning how to have civil discussions about topics we might not always agree on.  Stop un-friending your “friends” on Facebook because you have a difference of opinion.  Stop losing family relationships and real life friends because you have a different political/religious/health view.  IT CAN BE DONE!  I don’t know that I was convinced of this until I tried what livingroomconversations.org suggests and hosted my own Living Room Conversation around food in my own home!  Listen to the podcast and see what I mean…I bet you that you will also realize the need for this in our homes, our friendships, our communities, our nation, and yes, even the world.

Garbage in, garbage out, as the early computer innovators remarked about information. A vital free press is the single most important feedback loop in a democracy. New media including especially the Internet have challenged the supremacy of corporate media concentration and junk news. A brave new wave of activists such as Brad Friedman, John Stauber and Joan Blades are using d1gital media to restore the democratic lifeblood of a people's media. They're giving voice to the voiceless, checking and balancing corruption, and providing liberty and access for all.

Garbage in, garbage out, as the early computer innovators remarked about information. A vital free press is the single most important feedback loop in a democracy. New media including especially the Internet have challenged the supremacy of corporate media concentration and junk news. A brave new wave of activists such as Brad Friedman, John Stauber and Joan Blades are using d1gital media to restore the democratic lifeblood of a people's media. They're giving voice to the voiceless, checking and balancing corruption, and providing liberty and access for all.

In which we make today the greatest day we have ever lived, begin a 5-part series on the Languages of Love (first up: words of affirmation), and interview MoveOn.org and Living Room Conversations founder Joan Blades.

Sociologist and professor emerita at UC Berkeley, Arlie Russell Hochschild, talks about her new book Strangers in Their Own Land- Anger and Mourning on the American Right with MTTM host Lisa Kiefer.TRANSCRIPTLisa Kiefer: [00:00:00] Method to the madness is next. You're listening to Method to the Madness. A weekly public affairs show on KALX celebrating Bay Area innovators. I'm your host, Lisa Kiefer. And today, I'm interviewing award winning author and sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild, professor emerita here at UC Berkeley. One of the most innovative and productive feminist sociologists for the last 30 years. Her latest book, Strangers in their Own Land-- Anger and Mourning on the American Right was nominated for National Book in 2016. Welcome to the program.Arlie Hochschild: [00:00:39] Thank you.Lisa Kiefer: [00:00:40] You're known or you're called the founder of the Sociology of Emotion. You draw links between private troubles and social and political issues. Since Thomas Frank wrote the book What's the Matter with Kansas, a lot of people have been examining all this, but nobody's looked at it in an emotional way like you have.Arlie Hochschild: [00:00:57] I had a feeling that underneath all the words that people say about policies and candidates was feeling grounded in their deep experience. I came to wonder it's it's really about feelings. And the only way, best way to get at those feelings is to figure out what I came to call the deep story a story that feels true to you and you take the facts out of it. You take the moral judgments out of it. It's what feels true and that determines where you feel resentful, how you feel envious, how you feel fearful, anxious. It all emanates from that deep story and I think left, right and center, we've all got a deep story.Lisa Kiefer: [00:01:41] You explore this deep story through what you call a paradox in the bayou country of Louisiana.Arlie Hochschild: [00:01:48] Yes. In 2011, I already had a feeling that we were in a period of deep political divide and the sides were getting further and further apart. There was kind of a hardening of sides. And it wasn't because the left was getting more left. It was because the right was getting more right. And I also experienced myself as in an enclave here at Berkeley, California, where I have long taught sociology. And I felt in a geographic enclave, a technological enclave and in a media enclave. And I figured I'd have to get out of that enclave and go as far as I could to a place that was as far right as Berkeley, California, is left.Lisa Kiefer: [00:02:33] What did you use to figure that out?Arlie Hochschild: [00:02:35] I looked at the 2012 results. Reelection of Barack Obama and the proportion of whites voting for that re-election in California was about half. And in the south as a whole region, it was a third. And in Louisiana, it was 14 percent of whites voted in 2012 for Barack Obama. OK, perfect. Louisiana is the super south. That's where I want to go. And who do I want to talk to there? I want to talk to people who are white, older, religious, evangelical, if possible. But mainly I'm looking for people who are enthusiastic believers in the Tea Party 2011. That's who I was talking to. I interviewed over five year period 60 people, 40 of whom were very enthusiastic Tea Party people who eventually, virtually all voted for Donald Trump. I didn't know that going in. He wasn't on the scene. But at the very end of my research in March of 2016, he came for a primary rally in New Orleans. And I had an epiphany. I realized that over five years I'd been really getting to know some quite wonderful, complex people who were deeply troubled, anxious, afraid, felt scorned, and that I'd been studying the dry kindling. And that at that primary rally when Donald Trump got up there and pumping the sky.Lisa Kiefer: [00:04:07] about making America great again?Arlie Hochschild: [00:04:09] I had met the match, the kindling, kindling.Lisa Kiefer: [00:04:13] That's a great analogy.Arlie Hochschild: [00:04:14] I talked to a Pentecostal gospel singer at lunch one day at the Republican Women of Southwest Louisiana. She said, I love Rush Limbaugh. She saw Rush Limbaugh as defending her against epithets that she felt were coming from the liberal coasts, that she was ill educated, that she was backward, that she was racist, that she was sexist, that she was homophobic and even a little fat and feeling put down. And that was a feeling I heard a lot-- of defensiveness. Oh, you think we're rednecks? You don't think we're as smart as you are? Well, we are. And they are.Lisa Kiefer: [00:04:57] There was a story about the sinkhole. I think his name is Mike Schaff.Arlie Hochschild: [00:05:00] That's right. I met Mike Schaff, at an environmental rally in Baton Rouge. And he got up to speak about what he called the Bayou Corn Sinkhole. He was weeping as he spoke of this. He was holding shoulders of a woman, also a victim of this sinkhole. He said she hasn't been in her house and 364 days. And and he was pointing to her distress. But it was he who was weeping. And I thought I should talk to this man. And I discovered that he was an ardent member of the Louisiana Tea Party. And later, he became an enthusiastic advocate for Donald Trump. And I asked, could I really see where you were born? Can we visit your old school, where are your parents buried. Where did you go to church? Can I get to know your experience and your childhood? And he opened his life to me. My research began in his red truck, going through some sugar cane fields where he's showing me what he called an old shotgun house where he and his six siblings had grown up. The children of a plumber and a homemaker, Cajuns, Catholic, a very rural life. His father had been the plumber for people on the plantation and off. So he was born in the old south. But he grew up working in the new south. The new plantation system. That would be oil.Lisa Kiefer: [00:06:34] The petrochemical plantation.Arlie Hochschild: [00:06:35] That's right. I began to understand why he would look at the world the way he did. I visited him many times. We've gone out fishing and he offered me a window into an answer to the red state paradox. How could it be that it's the poorest states, the states with the worst education, the worst health care, the most pollution and the most disrupted families? And those states which receive more financial help from the federal government than they give it in tax dollars were also those states that were suspicious of or reviled the federal government. I found out that Louisiana was an exaggerated version of that paradox because depending on the year, you can pick out a year in which was THE poorest state. And so 44 percent of the state budget came from the federal government. So it was an exaggerated version. And I found that the issue of the environment kind of exaggerated the exaggeration. And this guy, Mike Schaff seemed like the key to me, if I could really understand him, how he had suffered from an environmental disaster and yet could vote for Donald Trump, who wants to abolish the EPA. He lived on a very beautiful bayou, a modest home that overlooked a canal that led into a beautiful swamp area. He knew all his neighbors. They were his community. And he once told me, well, we need to get government down to size, you know, and have people help their neighbors and friends because the government is doing that for us. It's diminishing community. But actually, I was to discover that what really diminished his community was a terrible drilling accident that could have been prevented with stricter environmental regulation. First there were earthquakes. This was an area that there had never been earthquakes before. And then people began to notice bubbles in the lawn, water. It was raining, looked like Alka Seltzer tablets, and that was methane gas. People were evacuated because it was dangerous. If you lit a match, it could be an explosion. And it turned out to be the fault of a company called Texas Brine that drills down into the floor of the bayou to extract concentrated salt from an under lying salt dome. And that is used in fracking and in other industrial purposes. They knew there was a problem and they drilled anyway. And the state of Louisiana let them do that. So the whole place was evacuated. He wanted to stay on. He got a gas meter, put it in his garage.Lisa Kiefer: [00:09:27] It's a great story. It's unbelievable.Arlie Hochschild: [00:09:31] It is! It could've blown up. He said, well, I'm just looking after my neighbors property. And then he said, actually, I don't want to leave. It was an abandoned community. So he lost his home. He lost his community not to presence of government, but to the absence of government. And he was fully cognizant of this, very intelligent, very mannerly, kind person. I began to wonder and ask him very gently, why wouldn't the government help you? Why wouldn't you want Texas Brine to be more regulated? I think you have to peel away three kinds of answers and one is layered upon another. The first was he saw federal government as an instrument of the north, there's some history to it that the South has felt conquered by the North first and then in reconstruction, carpetbaggers came down and then civil rights workers came down. Then he wondered whether some outsider environmentalists were coming down, wagging their moral fingers. And the second is that Louisiana state government was actually doing the moral dirty work for the oil companies. Louisiana was a petro-state very heavily controlled by oil and petrochemical industry, which subsidizes the election campaigns of politicians. And some of the politicians are themselves oil owners and do the bidding. The Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act are national laws, but they're each implemented by state governments. This state government is in the hands of oil. And so what it presents to citizens like Mike Schaff is a promise to protect. There's a language of protection, but not delivery of that protection. So they're disappointed.Lisa Kiefer: [00:11:22] Disappointed in the state instead of the oil companies.Arlie Hochschild: [00:11:25] That's right. But we're trying to understand the perspective of Mike Schaff and the many others. The government was an instrument of the north, instrument of oil. It wasn't doing its job when people looked at companies and they looked at the government there. They saw the companies were offering jobs. At least that was the rhetoric I was to discover these are highly automated companies.Lisa Kiefer: [00:11:54] And more to come.Arlie Hochschild: [00:11:55] And more to come. They were actually importing Filipino pipefitters. So there were very few permanent jobs, very few. Only 15 percent of the entire Louisiana workforce. And they're also handing out favors. Governor Jindal gave one point six billion dollars to these petrochemical companies as incentive money. They took it from the public coffers to his incentive money. Please come to Louisiana. Don't don't go to Texas or anywhere else. And that incentive money, of course, gave a lot of money to the companies to give out. So there's a donation to the Audubon Society and to a bird sanctuary, football uniforms for the Louisiana State team. So those sort of PR that the company could afford to do. And so people said, oh, well, company kind of generous. And and they looked at the state. I'm paying my taxes for the salary of these officials that are not protecting me. They had allowed this drilling excellent to occur. So the second point was a instrument of oil. And that kind of is the picture of things that goes with that second thing. But I think the biggest of all was that the governments seemed to them an instrument of the line cutters and what I called the deep story. You're standing in line as in a pilgrimage facing the top of the hill where you see the American dream. You've been in that line a long time. Mike Schaff hadn't had a raise in two decades. Your feet are tired. You've worked hard in a tough and dangerous job. Then you see some line cutters, blacks who through affirmative action now have access to jobs that had formerly been reserved for whites. It would be women, who now, through formative action, have access to jobs formerly reserved for men. It would be immigrants, would be refugees. It would even be the endangered brown pelican of Louisiana with its oil soaked wings, because people would say, well, you know, a lot of the liberal environmentalists are putting animals ahead of people. In this deep story, Barack Obama, as they felt it, was waving to the line cutters, supporting them, was sponsoring them, cutting the line waiters out, not representing them. So they felt suddenly strangers in their own land. Wow. I'm here following rules. Worked hard. Can't get there. They didn't look over the brow, the hill of the engine of capitalism at outsourcing, at automation. And so they generalized from that that whatever the government did was now a little suspect. They were white men who were thought of as privileged. And in their heart of hearts, they felt wait a minute, privilege of being white, didn't trickle all the way down. To me, I'm in a tough job. I may not be able to keep it. Families falling apart. And race, the privilege of that also a little questionable. And so for those three reasons, one piled upon another.Lisa Kiefer: [00:15:07] And nobody's representing.Arlie Hochschild: [00:15:08] And nobody was representing.Lisa Kiefer: [00:15:10] And then here comes Trump.Arlie Hochschild: [00:15:11] That's right .Lisa Kiefer: [00:15:11] And then Hillary says Trump followers are deplorable.Arlie Hochschild: [00:15:15] That's right. How could it be that the Democratic Party, the party of the working man and woman, is losing its blue collar, not speaking to it and not making people feel heard or recognized. They have a genuine beef and they didn't see an alternative to Trump.Lisa Kiefer: [00:15:34] It was more of a vote against rather than for. I think I'm going to hold my nose and vote for Trump that they didn't like him. They want to disrupt.Arlie Hochschild: [00:15:44] Exactly.Lisa Kiefer: [00:15:45] You use mourning in the title of your book, and I was curious why you chose that term.Arlie Hochschild: [00:15:51] Yes. I think it's so much easier for us to see the anger often under that anger masked by that anger is a fear and mourning because their way of life honestly is declining, is going away.Lisa Kiefer: [00:16:10] And I think they know it, but they don't want handouts. They know that they're on the verge of being in a place where they're going to need them. That's it's a tricky place.Arlie Hochschild: [00:16:20] It's a very tricky place. In a way, I I want to be their messenger out to say, wait a minute, there are real issues here.Lisa Kiefer: [00:16:28] And it's not just Louisiana. Next year, half of our country. That's right.Arlie Hochschild: [00:16:33] And there has to be an alternative to the bad choices that that we've been faced with and an alternative to the one we are stuck with.Lisa Kiefer: [00:16:41] Now, what are you going to do with the results of this incredible understanding of these people?Arlie Hochschild: [00:16:47] Yes, I've been giving that a lot of thought. It has made me want to join with someone named Joan Blades, who is a co-founder of MoveOn.org and who has instituted something called living room conversations, getting left and right together to find common ground. I think that's a start.Lisa Kiefer: [00:17:09] And you did come across three or four things that you found common ground.Arlie Hochschild: [00:17:13] Yes. Out fishing one day, again with Mike Schaff. He said, you know, we ought to get money out of politics. And I said, you know what? You're Tea Party and you're pro Trump. But you have a lot of friends in Berkeley, California, who agree with you completely about that. Another thing he said was, you know, we ought to reduce prison populations. This is a waste of life and money and we need to get them back to work. You know, give them their dignity. These are nonviolent offense.Lisa Kiefer: [00:17:43] And you visited a prison there? While, during the study...Arlie Hochschild: [00:17:46] The large Angola prison, largest maximum security prison in the U.S. and the U.S. is the prison capital of the world. That was another thing that there was common ground on and even the environment. Here's the thing I'm doing next week. I'm going down to visit Mike Schaff in his new home since old home was ruined and he is again living on a bayou. He loves to fish. I'm taking my son because my son is one of the five energy commissioners for the state of California. He's in charge of renewable energy, which he is a passionate believer in. He likes Mike Schaff and Mike likes David. So my thought was to all three of us, go out in a boat, go out fishing. I'll hold the tape recorder and I'll say, OK, you guys, I would like David from Blue State, California, environmentalist. And Mike, grew up on a plantation. Grew up with oil. Tea Party Trump. I'd like the two of you to discuss how could we make sure that there's never another bayou corn sinkhole, common ground or not? Let's just go see. So that kind of thing that through churches, through schools, through labor unions, I think we ought to try.Lisa Kiefer: [00:19:10] So people to people.Arlie Hochschild: [00:19:11] People to people underneath this escalating harsh, half true, half not rhetoric at the national level. Let's just see if we can't compare views, notions of truth and do it respectfully.Lisa Kiefer: [00:19:27] I wanted to ask, speaking of your son going and talking about what he knows and he might enlighten Mike Schaff about things he may not know about. What is the impact of facts to these people after this five years?Arlie Hochschild: [00:19:41] In a lot of discussions, people said oh a lot of people work for the federal government. It's just bloated. Maybe 30, 40 percent work for the government. I would leave the interview actually not knowing how many people work for the government. So I looked it up. My research assistant and I. And we found that one point nine percent of all workers in the United States work for the federal government, if you add state public employees to that, county employees. If you add the active military a little bit more, but all together, no more than 16 percent of the entire workforce works for the government. So it seemed larger than it was.Lisa Kiefer: [00:20:28] Right.Arlie Hochschild: [00:20:28] Again, with the proportion of people who were on welfare, that didn't work. We know most people on welfare do work, in fact. And if you look at a food stamp recipients, half of them work for fast food places at pretty close to minimum wage. And of course, the new secretary of labor runs Carl's Junior and doesn't believe in the minimum wage, but they're on food stamps because they can't earn enough. This is not a living wage. In a sense, this is corporate welfare, because the federal government is chipping in to keep people out of poverty because wages are too low.Lisa Kiefer: [00:21:06] General Honoré kept talking about the psychology of the jobs that are provided by the oil industry.Arlie Hochschild: [00:21:12] That's right. The talk, the rhetoric was jobs when it came down to it. There were very few permanent jobs. In fact, Sasol, the largest petrochemical company in Lake Charles, Louisiana. It's developing it's, it's adding to itself and in its material it says two thirds of the new workers being added to Sasol are coming from outside Louisiana. And that's because to run these things, you need chemist with a PhD from M.I.T. that's on the one hand. And you have Filipino pipefitters coming in who are cheaper, actually, and you may have more trained pipefitters or workers from Texas. Only a third of the new jobs are going to anybody that's born and living in Louisiana.Lisa Kiefer: [00:22:03] That's significant.Arlie Hochschild: [00:22:04] It's a little bit more like a third world country because there's something also called leakage. If you look at the money that the companies in Louisiana make, the profits aren't going back into Louisiana. One hundred percent of profits would be going back to Louisiana if we're talking about small businesses. They are people who live there. Gas station owner. And it goes back into the state of Louisiana. But these big multinationals, the heads of them, are not living in Louisiana.Lisa Kiefer: [00:22:37] They're sometimes not even in the United States.Arlie Hochschild: [00:22:40] Absolutely. Most of them not in the United States. British Petroleum. OK. That's London. I'm talking Sasol. OK. That's Johannesburg. Magnolia. OK. That's in Australia.Lisa Kiefer: [00:22:53] The reaction when people are faced with the truth of the facts. What has been your experience?Arlie Hochschild: [00:22:59] Well, I'm not sure I can answer that. I have to go gently back to that. When people responded to the book and I sent them all copies and then invited them to a dinner after the book came out. They mainly checked how I talked about them personally.Lisa Kiefer: [00:23:17] And how important you feel that is that they understand the facts behind this.Arlie Hochschild: [00:23:23] Yes. Yes, I know. But I do think that we have to turn the same self inspection on ourselves.Lisa Kiefer: [00:23:29] Why are no conservative academicians coming in and embedding themselves in the Berkeley enclave and trying to figure out who we are and what we think? It's always the liberal progressives who try to understand everyone.Arlie Hochschild: [00:23:42] I don't think we have been trying to understand. You know, I was looking around in sociology. How much how many other studies there were? There were some, a few. Very, very good ones, but not that many and not many the other way, I think, where we're both stuck in our enclaves. I suspect there will be some right wing person. And I think that that would be a very good thing. Actually, next week in February, we're hosting a Tea Party Trump family from Louisiana where the mother, very involved in the Tea Party and she voted for Trump, but her 17 year old son is a Bernie fan. And so I said to her, why don't you come over to Berkeley and stay with us from us and we'll show him around the Berkeley campus.Lisa Kiefer: [00:24:27] You know, it's great with these living room conversations and the people to people kind of thing. But do we really have that kind of time? I worry about the time factor.[00:24:35] You are right. You are completely right. I don't mean the empathic outreach to the people the Democratic Party has lost because of its disregard of the issues. I think it's one part of a larger program that I would like to see in place. We don't have at this moment something like a loyal opposition that's coherent. Where there's a leadership,.Lisa Kiefer: [00:25:05] A respectful opposition.Arlie Hochschild: [00:25:06] A respectful opposition. We're a bunch of very different separate social movements, each with our own cause. We haven't quite cohered I think. We're going to have to learn to do that.Lisa Kiefer: [00:25:19] Do you think there are other people in these, let's call them red states that feel the same way you do about wanting to get to know what we think better? Is it equal?Arlie Hochschild: [00:25:29] No, I don't think so.Lisa Kiefer: [00:25:31] OK.Arlie Hochschild: [00:25:31] I think they they want recognition of them. I'm not sure how curious they are about us, but they have felt put upon by us. The line cutters have turned around and started to insult the people stuck. In this moment, this political moment, it's no time to sit back and just talk to yourself. I think this is the most important election, certainly in my lifetime, maybe in American history. I think the shoe is on our foot to become activists as much as people were in the 1960s. There needs to be a discussion of the fear that is felt by people who feel like they're at the at the tail end of globalization and that that has been covered over and not addressed. There should be three pillars and facing forward. There's defending the values and the institutions that are already there because they're going to soon be under attack and we should prepare for that. And the other thing is to put forward values that actually aren't on the table. What's the agenda? What what are the core beliefs? Let's let's put those forward. So first to defend that's pillar 1. Second, to assert, that's pillar 2. And third, to reach out to Trump's supporters, not to Trump himself, but to his supporters to see if we can't get common ground or I think.Lisa Kiefer: [00:27:00] and that's what you're working on.Arlie Hochschild: [00:27:01] And I think we'll be surprised at how much is possible.Lisa Kiefer: [00:27:04] Did you ever just feel like the elephant in the room was the lack of good education?Arlie Hochschild: [00:27:08] Education in respect and civility, education in respecting the people that make the world turn round?Lisa Kiefer: [00:27:19] True. But I mean, more in terms of critical thinking, like the ability to, you know, enough not to be voting against yourself to understand that the facts like your son going to visit once they understand and someone takes the time to educate, then it's a different story.Arlie Hochschild: [00:27:37] I think if our colleges and universities became supportive places, it might be easier for people to open up their minds to critical thinking.Lisa Kiefer: [00:27:50] What do you mean by that support?Arlie Hochschild: [00:27:52] Well, I think about many of the churches preach that evolution is false doctrine, but those are places that people go to for solace, their community and support. It was the one place they could be dependent and could feel their fear and despair and mourning. And that's the very place where you learned that evolution was not true. And I don't think the solution is simply to get facts out there. I think the solution is to create social support in the projects in universities and colleges where critical thinking goes on. If you understand what I mean, there is an emotional dimension to learning. There is an emotional dimension to politics and everything else. It has to be an atmosphere of respect and support when you are doing this exploration. So that could be a common ground issue. Let's get to know each other, respect each other and do some critical thinking along the way.Lisa Kiefer: [00:28:50] What is the liberal deep story? We are all arranged around a public square inside of which are institutions, a fiercely proud of, a science museum, and there are libraries and fantastic public schools. There is a nature preserve. All of this is public. People who have made it are proud of it, happy to pay taxes for it. It means we're all able to enjoy this together and that that's what the Statue of Liberty stands for. Then, some marauders come in with a steam shovel and they gouge out big chunks of concrete from this. And they take that concrete out of the public realm and they start building a McMansion just for themselves. They're the 1 percent and we're incensed. But wait a minute, you're taking from the public and you're just giving to this selfish 1 percent. There's indignation. There's bafflement and fury at that.Lisa Kiefer: [00:29:59] Arlie Russell Hochschild, sociology professor emerita at UC Berkeley. You've been listening to Method to the Madness. You can find all of our podcast on iTunes University. Tune in again next week at the same time. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Joan Blades, MoveOn.org and MomsRising.org Co-Founder, discusses her new project, Living Room Conversations, tools for healing and collaboration following the recent divisive election season as well as strategies to change political dynamics.TRANSCRIPTSpeaker 1:Method to the madness is next and you are listening to method to the madness, a weekly public affairs show on k a l x Berkeley Celebrating Bay area innovators. I'm your host, Lisa Kiefer, and today I'm interviewing Joan glades. Joan was the cofounder of move on.org and moms rising dot board. Her current passion [00:00:30] is to bring the right and left together in conversation to find common ground so our country can move forward following this divisive election. The project is called living room conversations. Welcome to the program. Joan. Thank you so much for having me. Speaker 2:I remember you from move on.org and moms rising and you have a new passion living room conversations. Can you tell me what [00:01:00] that is? Absolutely. It's a opportunity to let people talk to each other across differences. Right? Left older, younger, you name it. Right now we're looking a lot at the right left issue. It's a very simple practice where two friends with different viewpoints each invite two friends to have a structured conversation. They've agreed to some ground rules, which are basically what you learned in kindergarten. Take turns, be respectful, be curious. Own your part of the conversation and then it, the structure is such [00:01:30] that the first couple of rounds are about who you are. Why do you join the conversation and some of your deeper values so that by the time you get to the topic you've chosen, you have a sense that these people you're sitting with are people you share values with in some ways and that they're good people. Speaker 2:Can you find those differences when you live in a city like Berkeley? Well, once it's reasons I started, this was because I was born in Berkeley and I lived other places in my twenties but I came back, it became clear to me at a certain point that I really [00:02:00] needed to understand what considered potential or thinking, particularly when I was at move on back in 2004 I was part of a group called green uniting America and I had the opportunity to sit down with people, grassroots leaders on the right and really have a relationship and conversation and better understand where they were coming from. You know, my question was at that time, why aren't you concerned about climate change? And at that time we were able to in 2004 2005 and at that time we were able [00:02:30] to have a really thoughtful conversation about it and honestly the line to not harden the way they have since that time. Speaker 2:By 2008 2009 I couldn't have those same conversations which said to me that, you know, we need to have that relationship first so that we can actually have a funny, you call it caused the hardening of the lines. You said 2008 2009 was it the crash? No, I would say it's the crash. So much as different topics get taken as partisan indicators [00:03:00] and you have to be true to that line. Warren more and I think we've become increasingly polarized over the last 10 years. A lot of people forgotten move on. Started midway in the impeachment scandal with Monica Lewinsky and Clinton and it was a common sense. Let's get back to business. One sentence, petition censure the president and get back to pressing issues facing the nation. And you could love Clinton or hate Clinton and agree that the best thing for the country is get [00:03:30] back to business because it was just increasing partisanship. Speaker 2:So we had, you know, thousands of Republicans delivering their move on petition two at that time. But unfortunately two weeks after an election where we worked very hard to get all sorts of people out, we had the congress impeach, it wasn't the most popular thing to do. And then, you know, we'd gotten hundreds of thousands of people active in politics for the first time in their lives and it just didn't feel right to go home at that point because good [00:04:00] citizens yet is electing people that reflect your values. And that's actually how move on ended up becoming more than a flash campaign because our original intent was just we'll help everyone communicate with them, move on is still happening, move on is still a very healthy organization with wonderful leadership and it's, it's working on the progressive side in just a certain way. Whereas your living room conversations, you're inviting everyone to the conversation. Speaker 2:Living Room conversations are me. [00:04:30] Add a whole set of partners from right to left agreeing that we need to have relationship, respectful relationship, have everybody's best ideas and you reach out to these people. I know one is a tea party person and did you personally reach out and say, I want to do this with you. One of my friends who was a conservative said, you know you should meet Mark Meckler who's the Co founder of tea party patriots. You're the CO founder. Move on. Wouldn't it be cool if you both had a living room conversation together? So this started no living [00:05:00] room conversations started with working with a group called changing the game to do a pilot project in test out what a simple conversation that would be massively reproducible would look like. As a founder. Move on. I really value grassroots engagement because when you get down to it, citizens are smart, they're caring, and if you give them a way to participate, they'll do so in a really valuable way. Speaker 2:And I think we lack the citizen voices that we really [00:05:30] need. If you look up this some time ago that you started this pilot 2011 and one of the people from changing the game, one of the conservative partners there became my partner founding Amanda, Catherine, Roman founding living room conversations because you really have to walk the walk doing this work. Tell me more about the goals of living room conversations. Well, the, the goal is to have good relationships with people with all sorts of belief systems so that we actually work together collaboratively [00:06:00] and collaborative. Problem solving is just infinitely better than adversarial problem solving. You need to go out to the congress and speak. Well, they haven't invited me. I mean just think about it. The issue of climate change is one where even if all the Republicans agreed, it was a huge problem at this point. Speaker 2:I would not trust the congress to come up with a good plan because they do it through adversarial engagement. To do really good problem solving. You [00:06:30] need to use everyone's best ideas. You need to be agile. So you try what you think is the best plan possible. And when you see things that are working, you go deeper there and things that aren't working, you s you know, you cut those pieces and that kind of creativity and agility isn't possible when you're in an internal flight. And right now we're seeing an internal fight. Yes. And I just finished Arlie Hochschild book strangers in their own land and I couldn't help but think it by the end [00:07:00] of it, it seems like progresses are always reaching out, trying to figure out a way to communicate with those that have very different ideas. Do you think they feel the same way toward us? Speaker 2:I don't see that same sort of reciprocity. It always seems like it's a progressive idea to say we need to talk. Well remember this is an organization that's half conservative than half progresses, right? Living Room conversations is not me. I'm one of many partners and I'm here in Berkeley. So, and honestly [00:07:30] I think on both sides there's been a great deal of rigidity that has been built in. And in fact, people want to fix it, the congress, and I want you to, but I believe Congress will be fixed and presidential elections will be fixed when we create a citizen foundation that has an expectation of respectful engagement in collaborative problem solving. So you started this pilot project, you're not still in the pilot phase. Wait [00:08:00] now. Okay. So tell me what some of your accomplishments have been since 2010 well, I think the most, one of the noteworthy conversations, especially for this locality is mark McClaren. Speaker 2:I did cohost a conversation in 2013 on crony capitalism where he brought two of his friends and I had two of my friends and we had this amazing conversation and I invited one person from the press, Joe carefully of the San Francisco Chronicle. And the following week that conversation ended up [00:08:30] on the front page top of fold and the San Francisco Chronicle. And that conversation led us to realize that we were in complete agreement. And when I say we, we and our friends that there way too many people in prison, the war on drugs is not successful. And we have to start using evidence based practices in the criminal justice system. That led to mark and I speaking, writing, you know, op-eds I wrote with Grover Norquist and Matt Cafe [00:09:00] and I had the opportunity to initiate a convening in 2014 of leaders on the right and left inside and outside DC because do you see a tighter, too different from dcs ciders in many ways on the topic. Speaker 2:And it ended up being the seed for a group called the Coalition for public safety, which is working on criminal justice issues where we're fundamentally in agreement with major organizations on the left and right. AFL CIO [00:09:30] and Grover Norquist group, you know, and it's funded by left and right. MacArthur Foundation, Koch brothers, Arnold Foundation Ford. This is meaningful. And if you recall, there was a time when someone in politics couldn't talk about reducing prison sentences, couldn't talk about all sorts of ways of improving criminal justice. That dynamic changed now. There's a whole huge amount of work to be done to improve the criminal justice system. [00:10:00] We've just created the opening where improvement can be made in the more real, like the recent election will hinder some of the progress you've made. It depends on how successful leaders on the right are in communicating with this administration that there's an opportunity to greatly improve our criminal justice system and our communities through having fair, better evidence based practices. Speaker 2:It has concerned me deeply when I [00:10:30] started hearing the old line or don't language, but I hope that that was just something that was happening in the run up to the election and that in fact, because there is so much more understanding now of how dysfunctional our criminal justice system has been in certain ways, that improvement will continue. That's, you mentioned crony capitalism. Can you expand on that just a little bit? Where were the areas of agreement? Ah, there was agreement on left and right that if the banks are going to gamble with our money, they shouldn't be [00:11:00] insured when they lose it and get to keep it when they make money. Yeah, that's not a uh, kind of deal we think is good for us. Stupid regulations. Nobody likes them. I think there's a segment of America that's just really annoyed with stupid regulations, especially in in our lease book that she goes into pretty great depth about the both the state and the federal regulations, you know, bad regulation is we have, we're burdened by this. So yeah, if we could make it, [00:11:30] all of us collectively easier to get rid of that which is not good and improve that which needs improving. We're in such a stuck place if we, when we're in good relationship with each other, a huge amount of becomes possible. Speaker 2:If you're just tuning in, you're listening to method to the madness, a weekly public show on k Speaker 1:a l x Berkeley Celebrating Bay area innovators. Today I'm interviewing Joan blades. [00:12:00] Her new project is living room conversations designed to build relationships and foster collaborative problem solving locally and nationally Speaker 2:to climate change as an issue of agreement. To me, that's such an important issue and one that affects everyone regardless. The climate change topic is a really deep one because it has many, [00:12:30] I have numerous conservative partners and they come from different perspectives. One of my partners is a techno optimist. He thinks the market and you know man, you know our traditional creativity is gonna solve this problem. One of my partners, Jacob in Utah is a Mormon and has not considered climate change a huge issue, but because we're in closer, you know, we love each other. He's a wonderful human being and [00:13:00] he's come to understand that climate change is the progressive and time story. And you can relate to a group that has an end time story and he's, he's right. It is our progressive end time story. It is one of them for sure. Speaker 2:But it's also because, and I can say to him, Jacob, even if there's only a 20% chance that we are destroying the future for our children and their children and the planet, that's unacceptable. I don't let my children play Russian [00:13:30] roulette. And plus, it's not necessarily when you say story that implies that it's sort of this, I don't know, a story when in fact, no, the, the Bible is real. I mean it's really effecting, you know, the Bible is the story that means the most to Jacob. That is not a diminishment that at all. It's a, it's a very respectful understanding of where I'm coming from. That it is my end time story. You [00:14:00] know, that's the deep story that Arlie talks about, right? Yeah. And he, he cares more about climate change now because he cares about me. Do they not see the, the effects of like for instance in Charlie's book that people who are experiencing the effects of, uh, whether it's chemicals in the aquifer or more high cancer rates, why can't they connect the dots? Speaker 2:Whether it's climate change thinking Arlene's cation, they do [00:14:30] connect dots. I think they see environmental pollution. But I think climate change is big enough that if your world and our world is, the community we live in sees it as nature's natural way of going through changes, it's very possible to see things that way. You know, if there's science behind what we're doing, we know that people make their decisions first [00:15:00] with their emotions and then their reason justifies it. So being in relationship makes all the difference in the world to how you hear someone. And if you live in a community that believes climate change is not a primary threat and you know the deficit is then all your instincts and their pretty primal are going to send you there. And in fact, if I send one of my conservative friends off to talk about climate and they talk about climate and the way I talk about [00:15:30] they are at risk of being shunned and on a primal level that is death. Speaker 2:You're shunned, you're out of the pack, you die. And that's the way it, it feels. So it's, it's not, let's talk about this divide just a little bit more because to me it's always been a socioeconomic problem. I feel like the, the coasts and major cities, people have jobs and slowly but surely these jobs and high paying jobs have evaporated from these regions that have become red [00:16:00] states. Why isn't anybody just coming out and saying it's a socioeconomic issue. You know? If you are feeling like you're less than your relatives on the coast because you can't afford to send your kid to a college that they can because your job isn't good enough. To me it's just, it's kind of the 99% again, the 1% who have everything and you know, I think some people are saying or telling the economic story and I think it's many stories. Speaker 2:There [00:16:30] are many threads to this and the more I've been engaged with diverse people across the political spectrum, the more I've seen that there isn't a right, there's a lot of different positions around the country and very different ways of looking at things that are not progressive. You know, sometimes we use the term trans partisan because bi-partisan doesn't begin to describe it. It's way too linear, [00:17:00] but it's all over the map in terms of where people's beliefs are. And the reality is when you have a conversation with someone, you're not going to transform their beliefs in a single conversation. What you are hopefully going to do is create some relationship, which opens them up to thinking about things differently. It's, it's about opening hearts honestly. And once we care about each other then many things become possible. [00:17:30] How many of these living room conversations are going on right now around the country? Speaker 2:Do you have certain regions? And you know, that's a great question. And since it's an open source project that's very lightly funded, we know about hundreds that have happened, but I know they've happened in east Africa and you know, I gave a talk in San Francisco a few years ago and came back the following year. I'm in the elevator with someone's, Oh our church. They really, it made a big difference. [00:18:00] It was really great. Again, my car tells me more, tell me, never got back to me. So the reality is when you create something that's just available to people, you don't have the data, don't have the data, but you know, are used to be that churches kind of provided that living room conversation. At least when I was growing up in the Midwest, people would come together for one reason or another, not necessarily a churchy stuff and talk. And it seems like there was a lot [00:18:30] more flexibility with people than there is today. Speaker 2:Do you think some of the social fabric being gone now, like the churches and the organizations that are no longer has had an effect on this? I think it's had a huge effect and I also think we've homogenized, um, [inaudible] that homogenized. I live in Berkeley, we have very little exposure to conservatives and they in turn are homogenized. Yeah. Because we're all more comfortable now and it's become impolite [00:19:00] to talk politics in many, many situations because politics have become so heated. And honestly when I see people talk politics very often they're just doing the talking points and you know that cartoon with the dog listening to the master and the master saying thing, the dog seeing blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Until we have relationship. Those talking points are like Baba, when's the last time you saw someone win an argument like that? You don't win arguments [00:19:30] and debates. Speaker 2:You may say you win debates, but in terms of true persuasion, true persuasion happens when you care about each other and you really want to understand and when that understanding happens, then you've got some room for creative engagement and when, when solutions are possible. Well, what are some of the topics that you're looking forward to this next year to take to some of these conversations? You've [00:20:00] talked about the three that you mentioned earlier. We certainly have the post election conversation, but we have 50 conversations up. Uh, one of the things I'm very excited about is all sides for schools and all sides for schools. Mike Conservative partner, John started all sides. That's a news resource that gives you news from left right and center side-by-side. Same topics. Sometimes that's, that's actually just a new service. And what happened is organically it started being pulled into schools and then [00:20:30] we had a living room conversation here in Berkeley a couple of years ago. Speaker 2:A Serena Weatherspoon was a cohost and it was a voter non-voter living room conversation because in 2014 in California, under 10% of 18 to 24 year olds voted under 10% that's like what's going on? So she had a conversation with tears. Then she wrote this wonderful blog about it that basically said, look, you know, I surprised we were actually in complete agreement. It's really questionable whether [00:21:00] voting is worthwhile. And school taught us more about the great Gatsby than how to vote. So you know, some tell on the seat point. Yeah. And they went to Berkeley high right here you have, you know, just half of them said that's not even worth it. And Half said, oh, I guess I should add, even though it was really questionable. This is a conversation a couple of years ago and she wrote about that and John and I were talking to each other. God, that's terrible. Speaker 2:Because you know, schools are the place where [00:21:30] we're supposedly paying for them to have an educated electorate. 18 to 24 year olds should be the most likely to vote, not the least likely to vote. What's going on. Something they look forward to doing. Yeah, and when he said all sides was getting pulled into schools and they were starting to work on a critical thinking curriculum, I said, you know, that's great. The other piece of that is we know that having relationship makes all the difference between whether people really listen to each other or not. [00:22:00] And schools teach debate, but they don't teach collaboration necessarily and how to really be great listeners. So the power of relationship. So what we decided to do is create this head, heart piece for the all sides and that's all sites for school. So it includes and relationships matter, living room conversation. Speaker 2:Now there's also the not school version, but for the school. Well, I'm really glad to hear that you're kind of targeting [00:22:30] a younger demographic. You're targeting everybody and you don't want to IX glued that group faith communities because yeah, the episcopal diocese of El Camino reality invited me to come for their spring convening and from that we now have a faith community living room conversations partner because she started using now multiple folks started using living room conversations in their congregations but she started using it deeply [00:23:00] and did some beautiful blogs about it and we realized that really every major faith, tradition, love thy neighbor is a key part of the tradition and what a gift for faith communities to take this role on. And so some are, and we are hoping this year because this year and next year because if anything is going to show us that we need to change our relationship with our neighbors and I'm saying neighbor in the very broad sense, [00:23:30] all those states where we're thinking we're really isolated from, we've got to break down those boundaries in three and a half years when we have a presidential election, I want to have both candidates be that my conservative friends would accept and be okay with so much more interest they would have for me the same. Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's because, because we're in with lationships with each other, we'd be demanding [00:24:00] of media that they treat people running for office with more respect. We faded miserable thing running for office. A lot of people I would like to run for office won't because it's not a place they want to be. You don't. When we care about each other, then we want us all to get to a place where we can, you know, be proud together of a precedent. I read a recent New Yorker online article about Silicon Valley's empathy vacuum. [00:24:30] It was by Om Malik. And I think that he touched on a lot of the things that you're talking about. He says that Silicon Valley's biggest failing is not poor marketing of its products or follow through on the promises, but rather the distinct lack of empathy for those whose lives are disturbed by its technological wizardry. Speaker 2:He encourages and empathy, um, for this industry and says that Silicon Valley could even become [00:25:00] a bigger villain in the popular imagination, much like the east coast counterpart Wall Street. I think this goes along with what you're saying and it may be a little idealistic. Yeah. I think we need to get a little idealistic here and really we're talking so seriously. The reality of these conversations is yes, you're a little nervous going into it, but it's actually a great experience because you meet these people that are lovely, and when you [00:25:30] live in a bubble with people that all agree with you, what happens is it amplifies your anxieties. It amplifies the divide. It amplifies the divide. And all of a sudden you find that these people that you've thought were so other aren't, they're kind, they're intelligent and they have some really different viewpoints that are challenging but holding the tension of our differences, that's a practice we can do. Speaker 2:I want to talk a little bit about your background. [00:26:00] You had a background in technology originally, is that correct? I was originally an attorney mediator. So mediation is my starting passion. All that makes sense. And technology just kind of happened cause less than I've had. You went from that to uh, a very, I call it political career. Well actually it went from that, uh, to Wes who is my husband. We played soccer together. He's technologically very adept and [00:26:30] he had a small company and we were best known for flying toasters and a game show called, you don't know Jack. So, but that was how we supported ourselves, which was really good. And I was the person that if I could read the, anyone could understand it. You know, I did everything in the company, but nothing technology wise other than if I could understand it. Speaker 2:Yeah. All right. This will work. And when did you start to move into to move on? Oh, move on with this total fluke, [00:27:00] six months into the impeachment scandal west and I are, you know, and I don't like polarization, I'm against it. And we're sitting in a restaurant on Solano Avenue hearing another crowd of people talking about, you know, how the impeachments just going on and on and we wrote our one sentence petition. Congress must immediately center the precedent and move on to pressing issues facing the nation. Sent it to under 100 of our friends and family. And within a week we had 100,000 people sign that [00:27:30] in 98 that was unheard of. And that's when I started learning about politics and communicating with leadership. And it's been an education. And I see you have an event coming up at Berkeley's historic Hillside Club, a u n Arlie Hochschild. Speaker 2:We'll be in conversation December 8th at 7:30 PM and that's here in Berkeley at 2186 Cedar Street. What are you going to be talking about? Harley Hook child and I are going to be [00:28:00] speaking about talking to strangers and she'll probably be talking about her new book which was nominated for National Book Award. Yes. And The New York Times bestseller now. Yeah. Strangers in their own land and, and you'll be talking about living room conversations. Yes. We're having a conversation about our adventures with people that have very different views than us and how really wonderful it is having those conversations. It makes our lives richer. Yes it does. Is there a website or how can people get Ahold of you? [00:28:30] Living Room conversations.org that's everything you need to do a living room conversation and 50 topics already. We're putting up more on how to get started and yeah, the whole concept is this is so simple and it's really about tapping your host and guests norms and re being reminded and reminding people of, you know, how we're supposed to act together is powerful and break bread together and people have a great time. [00:29:00] Well, Joe and I want to have you on this show in a couple of years and we'll see how, how this has gone. That would be really interesting. Thank you for coming on. You're welcome. Speaker 3:Okay. Speaker 1:That was Joan blades, founder of living room conversations, and you've been listening to method to the madness or weekly public affairs show on k a l x Berkeley, celebrating the bay area innovators. You can find all of our podcasts [00:29:30] on iTunes university. Tune in next Friday at noon. [inaudible]. Speaker 4:Okay. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

MoveOn.org co-founder and liberal activist, Joan Blades has teamed up with Republican John Gable on an initiative called AllSides for Schools to bring civilized conversations about controversial topics to the classroom. We talk about why students need these tools now and what these conversations were like in high school for Joan and John.

This episode looks at the simple, highly personal way that living room conversations allow people of different viewpoints to really hear each other. A progressive activist, Joan Blades was deeply involved in starting MoveOn.org in the late 90's. More recently she has also worked on ways to encourage respect and dialog among liberals, independents and conservatives. She is the cofounder of LivingRoomConversations.org. In part one last week (episode 43), we looked at why Americans need to find new ways to speak about our differences, such as visiting websites with opposing political opinions, and having conversations that are not vindictive. "It's actually really fun having a living room conversation," says Joan. "They're more fun than if you have a bunch of people around that you know what they're going to say. We get to laugh about our differences once we... See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

How can you talk to people you disagree with? We Talk to Joan Blades, the founder of MoveOn.org about how to bridge the partisan divide. This show is another response to the deep partisan divide in America - part one of a fascinating conversation with Joan Blades. Much of our political campaign has been dominated by personal insults, name-calling and dogma. Voters have rewarded politicians who use anger and blame others for the country's problems. Individual citizens are part of the problem and the solution. "We live with the dysfunction of partisan behaviors and believe we must and can do better," says Joan, co-founder of LivingRoomConversations.org. She makes the case for personal dialog across party lines, arguing that it's a key part of changing the way all of us think about politics. A strong progressive, who co-founded the liberal activist group,

Joan Blades, co-founder of Living Room Conversations, sits down with This is Civity Radio Show to discuss the importance of sitting down with people you disagree with to build empathy and common ground, and to embrace the hard but valuable work of collaborating to make our communities and democracy stronger.

Garbage in, garbage out, as the early computer innovators remarked about information. A vital free press is the single most important feedback loop in a democracy. New media including especially the Internet have challenged the supremacy of corporate media concentration and junk news. A brave new wave of activists such as Brad Friedman, John Stauber and Joan Blades are using d1gital media to restore the democratic lifeblood of a people's media. They're giving voice to the voiceless, checking and balancing corruption, and providing liberty and access for all.

Joan Blades is the co-founder of Living Room Conversations, a movement dedicated to fostering meaningful dialogue between Americans of different political ideologies. In addition to her work with Living Room Conversations, Joan was also a co-founder of MoveOn.org and MomsRising. She's also partly to thank for the After Dark screensaver and flying toasters, which isn't germane, but is damn cool. I learned about Joan through Mark Mykleby and she immediately found a place on our "Must Interview" list because she was actually creating the very types of discussions Micah, Neil, and I had hoped to spark with The Conversation. Unsurprisingly, Joan and I talk extensively about the value of conversation, where it is (and isn't) possible, and its limits. You'll also hear a lot about American politics—a little more tangible than we usually get in The Conversation—and the role of media and corporate money in shaping thought. Before jumping into the episode, Micah, Neil, and I would like to say hello and welcome back to all our listeners. I was derailed by a variety of things over the past year but I've returned to the land of the living and will, hopefully, be editing the final ten episodes over the next several months. After that, we're going to discuss The Conversation's future more seriously—which could involve sending the project out to sea in a burning longship, continuing it in a limited form, or something less predictable.

Amy and Sheryl are back in action as they slide into summer. They are fired up by the new website MomsRising.org that aims to connect women in a new powerful grassroots movement to demand family-friendly policies. Amy talks to the co-founders of MomsRising.org, who also co-wrote the new book "The Motherhood Manifesto: What America's Moms Want, and What to Do About It." Joan Blades is the co-founder of MoveOn.org and Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner is the author of "The F Word: Feminism in Jeopardy." Listen in and find out how you can get involved.