It is time to be honest with ourselves about the social contract of the United States, the core of our shared understanding about who We the People are and how …
Author Archives: Palma Joy Strand
Civity Dreams
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, people are having weird and vivid dreams. Some of these dreams may be due to the anxiety many of us are feeling; others …
Where We Gather – Missing Our “Third Places”
The COVID-19 shelter-in-place protocols are keeping us apart. Soccer and baseball fields lie empty, as do picnic tables and playgrounds, beaches and trails. Restaurants and coffee shops are in-and-out or …
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The Way Out of Tragedy
In Greek tragedy, irony describes a situation in which the significance of a character’s actions or words is known to the audience but not to the character. What I heard …
Civity Is Up to Us
The fundamental question facing any community or society is how its members are going to be with each other. This question is more pressing now than ever. The COVID-19 pandemic …
We Are All Connected: Civity in the Time of COVID-19
Dear Friends of Civity- We hope you all are holding up (and for many of us, holing up) and staying safe and healthy. We realize the current environment is unsettling, …
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Civity and Civic Engagement
The civity work of building relationships in communities doesn’t fit into standard categories . . . People sometimes ask us: Is civity about inclusion, diversity, and equity? (Yes.) Is it …
From Civity Leaders to Civity Leadership
When we seed civity in a community, we start with a workshop for leaders in which participants practice being authentic and putting difference on the table. We follow up with …
Civity as the Antidote to Privilege
This line from an essay by writer Rebecca Solnit has been stuck in my mind recently: “I always pair privilege with obliviousness…” Talk of privilege often centers on tangible advantages. …
How Does Civity Grow?
In Civity’s work with communities, work that we call “seeding civity,” we start with the soil. We find communities, organizations, and institutions where a handful of local leaders already see …