“The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a flame to be kindled.” —Plutarch. By Tom Peterson Summer is a great time for an adventure that could give us a new perspective, shake things up. Help us leave our comfort zones. In the summer between her high school junior and senior years […]
By Tom Peterson A friend of mine recently needed some blinds for his window, so we stopped into the local Habitat for Humanity “ReStore.” There he found a brand new set of wooden blinds for only $15. A real win! But winning didn’t stop there. The giant warehouse-sized store in North Carolina with […]
Bored Panda has collected “40 of the Most Powerful Social Issue Ads That’ll Make You Stop and Think.” See all 40 images here. A well-made advertisement is designed to grab your attention and to remain in your memory long after you’ve left it behind, and that is exactly what many of these social causes need. […]
By Tom Peterson It’s so easy to feel overwhelmed when we see injustice, greed and a broken world with so many needs. Sometimes it’s just too much and we become paralyzed. Here’s a freeing thought: There’s no way you can save the world. No matter how much you’d like or how hard you […]
By Tom Peterson Many of us at the Clinton School of Public Service are into something called Liberating Structures. It’s because of fellow adjunct professor, Arvind Singhal. I first learned of it when two students facilitated a meeting I held on revitalizing our Main Street. They used a few Liberating Structures exercises, and […]
January 17 is Ben Franklin’s birthday, so let’s hear some of that sage advice he was so fond of giving. In 1754 Franklin created this Join or Die woodcut, an early political cartoon. It encouraged colonies (from New England to South Carolina) to unite with Britain against the French and Indians. Over […]
o Often we feel stuck in moving toward our goals. We’re lacking something. But Diébédo Francis Kéré returned to his village in Burkina Faso knowing that limitations could be a gift. In this Ted Talk, he tells how he focused instead on what his village did have: clay and sand. But more important, they had […]
Every year, when CNN honors its Heroes I watch them all. Each inspiring story reminds us how with passion and persistence anyone can make a giant difference. Among this year’s honorees is Twanda Jones of Camden, New Jersey, who started the Camden Sophisticated Sisters Drill Team (and more recently a drum line for boys). Her mission is to […]
Thanks to Adam at Osocio, we’ve learned about Fresh Air by Dupé. Here are the air selections. And here’s a video on using less plastic from Good (via Smart Planet). Americans are tossing 2.5 million plastic water bottles every hour.
In this Tedx talk, Dave Oswold Mitchell describes how he and others developed Beautiful Trouble. What is the grammar of social change, they asked. What are the basic units of change? Tactics were the verbs of the language (like a sit-in or flash-mob). Then principles, theories and case studies. “Activism is about problem solving. It’s […]
