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"A calendar is more than the organization of days and months. It’s the blueprint for a shared life."
—Judith Shulevitz, writer for The Atlantic
Good people have taken their chances in making sure this shared life is managed well.
The end of the public hearings of the impeachment inquiry has yielded a couple of hopeful articles about the bureaucrats and brave women who have taken a stand to defend good government. Some have even decided to resign. In this Washington Post op-ed, Richard Spencer, the former secretary of the Navy, offers some insight into what it's like to work with an administration where the President's official orders often come by tweet.
Blueprints exist for a better quality of life when it comes to work, housing, and living longer.
The problem of homelessness in our cities has earned a lot of national attention that has included more blame than problem-solving. That's why this observation from Mike Nichols caught my eye. He is the Interim President and CEO of the Coalition for the Homeless in Houston. His full remark was:
"There will always be people coming into homelessness," he adds. "But we can solve it. It's not an insolvable problem. … It's a finite problem, with solid solutions."
Since 2011, Houston has developed 4,300 housing units connected to support services and decreased its homeless population by more than 50%. They have a model other cities are trying to follow.
Another interesting piece for imagining the possibilities comes with the headline, " We need a major redesign of life." Laura L. Carstensen asks why our longer lives have only extended the period we call old age rather than extending youth or middle age.
"Long lives are not the problem. The problem is living in cultures designed for lives half as long as the ones we have."
Strong organization is a winning strategy.
When thinking about what to expect in 2020, be sure to reflect on this story from Carol Anderson's book One Person No Vote. She shares what it took to defeat Roy Moore in Alabama's special election:
"Civil society knew that 2016 was a wake-up call. And those who were a part of it answered the alarm. The Atlantic's Newark noted that 'GOP dominance, voter suppression, and the stubborn support for Moore among white voters in the state helped revive the kind of black political entities originally built in the state to grapple with Jim Crow.' Those organizations drew upon that history and the lessons learned from 2016. They needed to be more deliberate, more purposeful, more focused, and more vigorous. To take Roy Moore down would, in short, require fewer TV ads and more person-to-person interactions."
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