As a 70-year old Midwestern secular Jew, born feminist, there have been surprising moments in my intellectual and political life where my “progressive, left” perspective has come face-to-face with the “conservative, right” viewpoint, as if we were standing in the same place. This has made me wonder if the human political spectrum is actually a circle, […]
Real Democracy
Public trust issues are compounding fast in Evanston and it’s hard to make sense of everything — especially when officials (staff and elected) are playing “cover my ass”. On the other hand, we all still have to keep plugging along on City business — for example, deciding how to spend the American Rescue Plan […]
On July 16, 2021, current elected officials and residents first learned of a long-standing complaint by female lakefront staff of sexual harassment by male lakefront staff (including supervisors). From a public trust point of view, there were additional egregious problems:— Although City staff received a petition signed by 50+ women in July 2020, no one […]
For this newsletter, I only have one Evanston news item to share (Wild Onion Market). But there’s a lot of important national news with (a) local connections, (b) local impact, and (c) local actionability — with lots of interconnections among the areas of Money, Banking, Food, Farms, and Democracy. Two items have action deadlines. I hope […]
I just got great news from Ken Pentel in Minnesota (Ecology Democracy Network), who has been working on one of the two bills that U.S. Ilhan Omar (MN) is packaging as Establishing a 21st Century Economy for All — Support the GPI Act and SUPPORT Act. According to Ken, the GPI Act and the SUPPORT Act will be […]
Recently, I began writing a Food Politics Corner for a local newsletter. The Wild Onion Market is a food co-op being developed in Chicago. As a new member (but long-time food & farm activist), I was invited to share short & sweet news items on a monthly basis. Together with WOM’s communications team, we developed […]
First, a clarification. Of course I don’t mean ALL “food democracy” folks in the U.S. are ignorant about democracy. For one, I don’t know all the food democracy folks in the U.S., and never will. It’s a big country and I’m 70 years old. After 16 years in the food & farm movement, I’m only […]
On June 3, 2021, I had the good fortune to listen to a no-nonsense plant scientist, Stan Cox of The Land Institute, frame the climate emergency in a few clear and immediate actions. This blogpost is my summary of his recommendations, plus a few of my own. Thanks to Chicago Area Peace Action for hosting […]