1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:04,040 Speaker 1: What's the Wednesday, April sixteenth, we are dropping our third 2 00:00:04,320 --> 00:00:08,559 Speaker 1: story in this week of citizen ing, this how to 3 00:00:08,640 --> 00:00:15,520 Speaker 1: Citizens story sprint, and this one is about division allegedly. 4 00:00:16,640 --> 00:00:19,239 Speaker 1: So I was talking with John Alexander. We have like 5 00:00:19,280 --> 00:00:23,079 Speaker 1: a group chat going with me, him, Elizabeth and Shira 6 00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:28,080 Speaker 1: to run this little sprint, this project, and he hit 7 00:00:28,120 --> 00:00:29,880 Speaker 1: me with a note that I want to weave into 8 00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:33,720 Speaker 1: the setup for this story. And he's like, look, there 9 00:00:33,800 --> 00:00:38,600 Speaker 1: is this nationalization of the story of division, and we 10 00:00:38,720 --> 00:00:39,520 Speaker 1: have these big old. 11 00:00:39,400 --> 00:00:41,320 Speaker 2: Headlines about how divided we are. 12 00:00:41,680 --> 00:00:44,720 Speaker 1: But when you zoom in at any local level, in 13 00:00:44,760 --> 00:00:48,639 Speaker 1: any community, you find people who trying. 14 00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:52,200 Speaker 2: To live together, trying to work it out. And that's 15 00:00:52,240 --> 00:00:54,160 Speaker 2: what this story is today. 16 00:00:54,280 --> 00:00:58,600 Speaker 1: I mean, we are obviously divided, but I remember some 17 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:02,280 Speaker 1: of you may remember Tim Phillips episode of How the 18 00:01:02,320 --> 00:01:08,800 Speaker 1: Citizen audio podcast where he talks about these consistent studies 19 00:01:09,360 --> 00:01:11,959 Speaker 1: that we think we're more divided than we are. We 20 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:14,520 Speaker 1: think the quote unquote other sides hates us more than 21 00:01:14,520 --> 00:01:17,479 Speaker 1: they do, and that's a perception challenge. 22 00:01:17,520 --> 00:01:19,520 Speaker 2: It's also a manipulation. 23 00:01:20,440 --> 00:01:24,400 Speaker 1: Experience that there is benefit to someone from making us 24 00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:28,240 Speaker 1: think that we're not aligned here. So part of what 25 00:01:28,280 --> 00:01:32,160 Speaker 1: we need to do is drop down a level, get 26 00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:35,760 Speaker 1: literally closer to the ground, closer to where we live, locals, 27 00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:36,400 Speaker 1: where it's at. 28 00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:39,600 Speaker 2: And I mean I remember when I was even doing. 29 00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:43,280 Speaker 1: Campaigning for Obama local, it was much harder to be 30 00:01:44,160 --> 00:01:47,319 Speaker 1: you know, talking trash on people's front porch, like to 31 00:01:47,400 --> 00:01:51,320 Speaker 1: their face, and so the coarseness of the dialogue that 32 00:01:52,360 --> 00:01:55,480 Speaker 1: is so easy to perform on social media and at 33 00:01:55,520 --> 00:01:58,480 Speaker 1: a distance, you know, slinging mud at states far away, 34 00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:02,480 Speaker 1: at Washington, It's just harder to do that in community. 35 00:02:02,760 --> 00:02:05,160 Speaker 1: People you see at the market, people you see when 36 00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:08,040 Speaker 1: you drop your kids off at school, and that those 37 00:02:08,120 --> 00:02:10,200 Speaker 1: zones have been infected with that. 38 00:02:10,240 --> 00:02:11,400 Speaker 2: Same poison of division. 39 00:02:12,560 --> 00:02:16,600 Speaker 1: And there's an antidote, which is investing in relationships. That's 40 00:02:16,639 --> 00:02:18,720 Speaker 1: one of the big pillars of how the citizen. Those 41 00:02:18,720 --> 00:02:20,760 Speaker 1: who've been on this feed for a while know that 42 00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:24,040 Speaker 1: we repeat it ad nauseum. If you're new, we got 43 00:02:24,040 --> 00:02:26,480 Speaker 1: one of these principles of citizen as a verb is 44 00:02:26,520 --> 00:02:29,000 Speaker 1: to invest in relationships with yourself, with others and the 45 00:02:29,040 --> 00:02:32,760 Speaker 1: planet around you. And once you establish relationship, it's just 46 00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:37,119 Speaker 1: harder to demonize and vilify and see someone as an enemy, 47 00:02:37,280 --> 00:02:40,520 Speaker 1: even as they may still be your opponent, even as 48 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:44,920 Speaker 1: you may still have real disagreements. So that's the spirit 49 00:02:45,080 --> 00:02:48,520 Speaker 1: of today's offering. I think the story is shorter than 50 00:02:48,520 --> 00:02:50,720 Speaker 1: my setup for it, but I'm just going to use 51 00:02:50,760 --> 00:02:55,040 Speaker 1: this audio feed to provide a bit more context and 52 00:02:55,480 --> 00:02:58,920 Speaker 1: lay the ground for what you're about to hear. Please 53 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:03,880 Speaker 1: go to story howtositizen dot com. Join the email lists. 54 00:03:04,040 --> 00:03:07,160 Speaker 1: We will do some kind of summary wrap up thing. 55 00:03:07,240 --> 00:03:10,520 Speaker 1: We're dropping an update every day to drive to these stories, 56 00:03:10,919 --> 00:03:14,040 Speaker 1: their video stories. So you're obviously on an audio feed 57 00:03:14,080 --> 00:03:17,000 Speaker 1: here in this and you can find those video stories 58 00:03:17,040 --> 00:03:20,880 Speaker 1: linked right from those email newsletters. They are linked in 59 00:03:20,960 --> 00:03:23,960 Speaker 1: my own substack newsletter dot baritunday dot com. 60 00:03:24,120 --> 00:03:24,720 Speaker 2: Be very easy. 61 00:03:24,760 --> 00:03:28,080 Speaker 1: I'll keep them archived there, and they're linked on social 62 00:03:28,120 --> 00:03:32,480 Speaker 1: media on LinkedIn for me and John, and on Instagram 63 00:03:32,880 --> 00:03:36,760 Speaker 1: for me, baratun Day for how to Citizen the account, 64 00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:40,760 Speaker 1: and for the citizens guy plural that's John. So giving 65 00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:44,640 Speaker 1: you a lot of places to engage. Please comment, please share, 66 00:03:44,720 --> 00:03:51,160 Speaker 1: Please lift up other examples where you see people building bridges, 67 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:57,400 Speaker 1: building deep relationship across division to move the community forward, 68 00:03:57,640 --> 00:04:01,120 Speaker 1: and in today's case, that community it's for the cheering 69 00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:05,280 Speaker 1: it's about school boards. So enjoy and I'm liking this 70 00:04:05,400 --> 00:04:06,320 Speaker 1: voice memo mode. 71 00:04:06,640 --> 00:04:08,240 Speaker 2: No big studio, no big. 72 00:04:08,040 --> 00:04:12,760 Speaker 1: Mic, just talking louder than I should into my smartphone. 73 00:04:13,480 --> 00:04:16,400 Speaker 1: Let's get smart. We'll deal with all the noise and 74 00:04:16,440 --> 00:04:18,320 Speaker 1: the nonsense in a real good way. 75 00:04:19,080 --> 00:04:19,320 Speaker 2: Love. 76 00:04:21,680 --> 00:04:24,040 Speaker 1: If we only see stories of how divided we are, 77 00:04:24,480 --> 00:04:25,440 Speaker 1: we're going to be divided. 78 00:04:25,839 --> 00:04:27,120 Speaker 2: That's the national story. 79 00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:30,240 Speaker 1: But when you zoom in on any community, you find 80 00:04:30,279 --> 00:04:33,880 Speaker 1: people trying to live together, neighbors who want to be neighborly. 81 00:04:34,360 --> 00:04:38,880 Speaker 1: This is the story of two neighbors who built relationship across. 82 00:04:38,440 --> 00:04:41,119 Speaker 2: Their division as members of the school board. 83 00:04:41,640 --> 00:04:45,599 Speaker 1: This local story is happening all over the nation, which 84 00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:47,360 Speaker 1: kind of makes it a national story. 85 00:04:47,640 --> 00:04:49,839 Speaker 2: It makes you wonder why you're not hearing it more. 86 00:04:50,279 --> 00:04:52,799 Speaker 3: It was very contentious. There was a lot of tension 87 00:04:52,880 --> 00:04:55,919 Speaker 3: on the school board, to the point where the communication 88 00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:58,440 Speaker 3: had really broken down and the board was not able 89 00:04:58,520 --> 00:05:01,520 Speaker 3: to address the shoes that school boards need to address 90 00:05:01,520 --> 00:05:03,320 Speaker 3: and make the kinds of decisions they need to make 91 00:05:03,360 --> 00:05:07,440 Speaker 3: because they couldn't have hard conversations in a productive way. 92 00:05:07,640 --> 00:05:10,040 Speaker 3: I had been on the board for like five seconds 93 00:05:10,279 --> 00:05:11,760 Speaker 3: and he was like, yep, you're gonna be the brig 94 00:05:11,800 --> 00:05:13,920 Speaker 3: builder us. Like Lance, that's a lot of pressure in here. 95 00:05:14,240 --> 00:05:17,760 Speaker 2: We've got some different viewpoints on some things. 96 00:05:18,120 --> 00:05:21,760 Speaker 1: When I realized over the courts of time, maybe our 97 00:05:21,839 --> 00:05:23,880 Speaker 1: viewpoints wasn't as far apart as what I thought. 98 00:05:24,279 --> 00:05:27,839 Speaker 3: Lance and Steph were both participants in our Uniting to 99 00:05:27,839 --> 00:05:31,719 Speaker 3: Prevent Targeted Violence in South Central Pennsylvania program. He would 100 00:05:31,720 --> 00:05:35,520 Speaker 3: not characterize himself as a liberal, although he leans liberal 101 00:05:35,640 --> 00:05:38,400 Speaker 3: on a lot of issues, particularly the kinds of issues 102 00:05:38,400 --> 00:05:42,000 Speaker 3: that tend to face school boards. Steph is also a 103 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:45,640 Speaker 3: community member in Chambersburg. She would characterize herself as conservative. 104 00:05:45,839 --> 00:05:51,479 Speaker 3: In our Uniting for Action programs, we intentionally teach the 105 00:05:52,080 --> 00:05:57,240 Speaker 3: community members who are participating to develop active listening skills 106 00:05:57,400 --> 00:06:01,560 Speaker 3: and to explore each other's perspectives across difference from a 107 00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:05,800 Speaker 3: perspective of curiosity. They built this really enduring relationship such 108 00:06:05,839 --> 00:06:09,640 Speaker 3: that when Steph was elected to the board, the existing 109 00:06:09,680 --> 00:06:13,120 Speaker 3: board members expected that she would join the right leaning contingent, 110 00:06:13,240 --> 00:06:16,920 Speaker 3: and Lance was already on the sort of left leaning contingent, 111 00:06:16,960 --> 00:06:19,200 Speaker 3: if we can call it that. But they refused to 112 00:06:20,320 --> 00:06:24,360 Speaker 3: buy into that narrative. They resisted this intense pressure really 113 00:06:24,400 --> 00:06:28,400 Speaker 3: to polarize and to demonize, and were able to really 114 00:06:28,440 --> 00:06:32,800 Speaker 3: shift the dynamic on the school board to make it 115 00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:34,279 Speaker 3: much more productive.