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Toward a More Perfect Union–Session Four of Four
Imagine you wake up in the future, say twenty-five or so years from now. As you look around and talk to people, you realize that so many of our current concerns about the health of our democracy have been successfully answered. In many ways, it's an optimal...
Just Imagine…a Transformational Society
Charley was devastated. He had lost both his wife and young son in a car crash when a drunk driver ran through an intersection. Charley was angry and despondent. That changed the day he met Maury, a young boy from the neighborhood. Maury’s family had very little...
An Unplanned Second Facilitator
Sandra (“don’t call me Sandy”) was a classic Type-A personality. She could be a real pain as a project partner because she was constantly bugging her partners to improve their work performance. But everyone wanted to be in her group because they knew the result...
Welcoming Communities – an Online Course of Exploratory Discussions
In partnership with the Diversity Relations Council and the Center for Lifelong Learning at Leisure World in Silver Spring, Maryland, the Interactivity Foundation is facilitating an online course of exploratory small-group discussions on the topic of Welcoming...
Just Imagine…Negative Capability
February 23, 2021 is the 200th anniversary of the death of the poet John Keats. Many of us studied his poems “Ode on a Grecian Urn” and “Ode to a Nightingale”. But Keats was more than a poet. He gave us a concept that has remarkable viability 200 years after his...
Rusty Bucket Ideas
It was a sad day, the kind that many of us have experienced. Jake Sinclair had died and his family was cleaning his home and farm before it was to be sold. For the past seven years Jake had lived on the farm alone after his wife’s death. Needless to say, the house...
Toward a More Perfect Union–Session Three of Four
What comes to mind when you think of democracy? What kinds of concerns come to mind when you think about what it takes to be a healthy democratic society? These were the basic questions that animated the third of our four-part community conversation series "Toward...
Just Imagine…Accepting our Differences
Maya Lin grew up in Athens, Ohio. Her parents emigrated to the United States from China, but Maya was born in the US. Maya never thought much about her cultural heritage growing up. While at Yale, Maya entered a public design competition. There were 1,422 entries,...
Questioning the Givens
When students entered Dr. Anita Sherwood’s class she handed each of them a tennis ball. “We are going to do a simple demonstration today. I want each group to form a circle. You should give all the tennis balls to one person who will start the demonstration. Then...
Toward a More Perfect Union–Session Two of Four
Exploring the role of information in a healthy democracy What role does information play in democratic society? What questions and concerns do we face about information in our democracy? For the second community conversation in our four-part "Toward a More Perfect...