Deliberative Democracy Consortium
by Wendy Willis Yesterday was my birthday. Though I know it is undignified to admit in such a serious gathering, I love birthdays. First of all, of course, there is cake. And who doesn’t love cake? And, secondly, we Americans have become such workaday creatures that we don’t get to celebrate, let alone ceremonialize, that […]
by Wendy Willis _____ As part of a program of Citizen University, DDC Director Wendy Willis partnered with several other organizations–Portland Underground Graduate School, Healthy Democracy, Oregon Humanities, Kitchen Table Democracy, and The Attic Institute–to put on a Civic Saturday in Portland, Oregon. Below is the text of Wendy’s Civic Saturday Sermon. _____ I began […]
by Wendy Willis Executive Director, Deliberative Democracy Consortium Writer in Residence, Healthy Democracy It won’t surprise you when I say: The state of our union is a little rickety. Hate crimes have increased for the fourth straight year. Political disagreements have strained family relationships to the breaking point. A majority of urban Americans and a majority of […]
by Rosa Zubizarreta founder of Diapraxis Wow. What a painful situation all around, of good intentions going horribly wrong…. And so much potential learning here, for all of us who care about dialogue and deliberation. Yes, by its very nature, our privilege creates huge ignorance, as it means we don’t know from our own experience, what […]
note of introduction – On occasion, we run across a question that is essential for the deliberative democracy community to reflect on and discuss. The Listen First in Charlottesville event that took place last month raised many, many questions for us to consider. Long-time colleague and practitioner as well as Charlottesville resident, offers these reflections on […]
Before the whirlwind of the holidays, my friend and democracy- hero, Peter Levine, published a blog post entitled “why the deliberative democracy framework doesn’t quite work for me.” It made me a little prickly given that I am the director of an organization with “deliberative democracy” right in the name. And yet, I understand. My […]
Hello Deliberative Democracy Pals— I hope you all are enjoying the same kind of delicious fall we are here in the Pacific Northwest (except for those of you in the Southern Hemisphere. . . in your case, I hope it is an equally delicious spring). Interesting Reading Here is some more reporting on James Fishkin’s […]
Wendy Willis, Executive Director, DDC Welcome to all of you. We have been talking about this for so many months. And it’s a huge pleasure to see you all here. So, on behalf of DDC, welcome! And thank you so much to Joe and Norma and everyone at UIC and Hull House for hosting us. […]
By Bruce Mallory, DDC Co-Chair First and most important, I want to express my deep, deep appreciation to Wendy Willis, our superhero, super generous executive director, and CPO (chief poetry officer). Wendy took on the role of executive director last winter and has since built on the many contributions that Matt Leighninger made prior to […]
by Wendy Willis Hobbies take place in the cellar and smell of airplane glue. ~John Updike Yes, it’s Saturday morning on a holiday weekend, and yes, I am supposed to have my nose to the grindstone working on manuscript revisions, and yes, I am in a beautiful cabin in the woods with my beloved and […]