Comforts for this Moment
Wherever this moment finds you, know you are not alone. I'd love to throw a log on the fire, bring you a mug of something warm, sit across the soft couch and hear how it is to be you right now. But since I can't, I
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Stuff to Feel Good About!
A collection of 22 issues
Making Good Change No Matter the Election Outcome
My favorite annual seed catalog just arrived in the mailbox, signaling the start of autumn. It comes on that wonderful old newsprint that leaves ink residue on your fingertips. The page of peach trees has instructions for grilling peaches; the page of shrubs has encouraging reminders not to give up
How to Win at Policymaking
The journalist David Plotz has what he calls the Plotz Principle, and I'm here to say that it might be one of the smartest, most underutilized policy strategies out there.
Whomever is having the most fun wins.
Take - as we recently discussed here - Connecticut Congresswoman Rosa
The Brilliance of Pizza Policy
On a warm day in May, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro from Connecticut took to the steps of the Capitol.
"We are here to declare that New Haven is the pizza capital of the United States!" she enthused to a cheering delegation of roughly 100 CT pizza makers holding pizza
An Antidote to Burnout
In high school, a buddy of mine auditioned for a play with a bit I still remember.
He walked onstage, took off the glasses he'd worn for as long as I'd known him. I can't see a whole lot when I'm not
How to Win By Losing
Most folks outside of Ohio don't know John Boccieri's name. Perhaps most folks inside Ohio don't know his name either. Or even how to pronounce it (BOW-cherry). But John Boccieri is a name worth knowing.
He's a son of Youngstown, was an
What Quietly Helps Hold Democracy Together
There's a place where you can take stuff home for free and be trusted that you'll bring it back.
The stuff isn't grimy or second-rate or chaotically strewn about, but systematically organized, updated, and cared for by professionals.
This place also offers other free
Dispelling One of the Biggest Myths in Modern Politics
The story we get told is that everything is partisan and politicians can agree on nothing across the aisle.
But, as a cashier recently said when I offhandedly remarked that it had been raining for years, "I call B.S."
Point of fact: It had been raining for
For When You Want to Give Up All Hope of Policy Change
"This is something we really cannot duplicate in the United States," Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross tells the U.S. Senate Committee on Aging one August day in 1972. "In England," she continues, "it does not cost the patient a penny."
She isn't talking
A Very Handy Tool for Navigating 2024
On a flight home the other weekend, I was reading my library copy of Poverty, by America. And one line came right off the page:
"When we refuse to recognize what works, we risk swallowing the lie that nothing does."
The unceasingly intense drumbeat of headlines, feeds, chyrons,