by Shellee O'Brien | Feb 17, 2020 | Connectedness
John Lewis: Grit in Service to Public Life How Civic Grit Builds Community and Fights Failure Grit is a funny word. When someone says it, there’s almost always a guttural growl or a sneer added. When we say grit, we feel it. A small group of early-stage...
by Shellee O'Brien | Jul 24, 2018 | Connectedness
We’re opening up the conversation. The community around Politicolor has always been at its best when it was able to exchange ideas, share experiences and think through all of that together. Activity here has been slow as Shellee consulted with community members...
by Shellee O'Brien | Jun 27, 2018 | Connectedness
As it turns out, the discussion about temperance wasn’t as outdated as it seemed. Or boring! With five months behind us, the Ben Franklin Circle meeting in Austin continues to work to surprising conclusions. We started with temperance but have now made an...
by Shellee O'Brien | Aug 13, 2017 | Connectedness
It’s time to act. Heather Heyer updated her Facebook page shortly before she was murdered by racial hate in Charlottesville this weekend. She added the quote, “If you aren’t outraged, you aren’t paying attention.” Be outraged. Find a...
by Shellee O'Brien | Jun 14, 2017 | Connectedness, Front of the Class, Uncategorized
Civic education has failed us. This, at least, is one of the explanations for the surprising election of Donald Trump. Stories since then have recorded the fall of one political norm after another. Clearly there are consequences to our patterns of disengagement. The...
by Shellee O'Brien | May 27, 2017 | Echoes
There’s no magic trick for picking three stories to put at the top of the concerned citizen’s reading list. I struggle to survive the daily deluge of news just like everyone else. I often fiddle with the idea that this week was the week when it became...
