CONTENTS A. New City Manager (with “local foods” bonus)B. Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI): Better economic metric for Illinois?C. Renewed U.S. women’s movement: National convention, webinars, women’s bill of rights TO: — Evanston voters, media, political groups, businesses, activists, institutions— Residents in my neighborhood (Nichols Neighbors)— Some non-Evanston voters with Evanston connections & interests Read in your […]
Transition to real democracy
CONTENTS: Four new blogs + 2 news items on the following topics:— Local Foods— Participatory Budgeting— Universal Basic Income— Lakefront Misconduct Report TO: — Evanston voters, media, political groups, businesses, activists, institutions— Residents in my neighborhood (Nichols Neighbors)— Some non-Evanston voters with Evanston connections & interests Hi, all —I don’t know how much more energy I’ll […]
In 2009-10, I was lucky enough to learn about Participatory Budgeting as a way to promote real democracy. I was doubly lucky to learn from the first PB project initiated by a U.S. municipal official, the 49th Ward of Chicago where Alderman Joe Moore and his wife, Barb Moore, spearheaded the process. Evanstonians know the […]
I first came across the term “funded sovereignty” in a book by Native American scholar, Barbara Alice Mann. Her 2000 book, Iroquoian Women: The Gantowisas, is an eye-opening read for anyone who believes in the ideals of the U.S. It is also sanity-inducing for anyone who’s been disappointed in the implementation of those ideals. Mann’s book […]
In my lifelong search for women’s public authority, I’ve been studying the gift economy, especially the maternal roots, as facilitated by scholar/philanthropist Genevieve Vaughan and many other women. Vaughan’s websites are filled with resources featuring scholars from around the world: articles, videos, event proceedings, etc.— Original website Gift Economy— Newer Maternal Gift Economy Movement A new anthology […]
This is an email that I sent to some Chicago-area foundations about the upcoming 17th annual American Monetary Institute conference. My hope is to engage them in learning about and funding deep monetary and banking reforms that would have a high impact in redressing systemic and growing inequalities in the U.S. political economy. As U.S. […]
Evanston, Illinois is in a crisis of public trust. The root causes of this crisis are thousands of years old (erosion of women’s personal and public authority), hundreds of years old (moral and logical contradictions in the U.S. Constitution), decades old (acceleration of climate disruption and economic disparities), compounded by national and global events of […]
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 […]