Beverly Daniel Tatum, psychologist and author of Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?, provides a metaphor for racism that captures the feeling of being part …
Continue reading “The Push of Antiracism & the Pull of Civity”
Author Archives: Palma Joy Strand
“It’s All About Relationships” – Civity, Systems, and Philanthropy
Civity has, from the beginning, taken a systems approach to social change. In complex adaptive social systems – such as our communities, our nation, and our world – it is the interactions of the people within them – our relationships – that create the system’s energy and character. The challenges and injustices that we see and experience are created by us – all of us.
A Civity Foundation for A House Divided
Dear Friends- As we look ahead – coming off of the challenges of 2020 and the turbulent beginning to 2021 – Civity’s vision and Civity’s work are more vital than …
A Civity Social Contract
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 …
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 …