Okay, so I’m going to make a pitch for coming to my tea tomorrow, but it’s not really about the tea. Here’s the thing — before last November’s election, I had never been to a candidate meet-and-greet. I’d never even been invited to one. I sort of vaguely knew they existed, mostly because I watched […]
It is November 8th, which means we have now endured one year since the American presidential election. Most of us (not all) have survived it, but hardly unscathed. If you are thinking that you wish you could do more to make a better world, there are a host of ways you can, and I’m planning
I wanted to take a moment to talk about my first significant act in politics, helping to pass the library’s annual budget. For the most part, our Oak Park libraries are so well run by their amazing staff, that I’ve had very little to do in the trustee board meetings since May, except listen and
Puttering day. At 4, we’re hosting about 50 people for a faculty union BBQ. After going to the leadership conference this summer, one of the things Kev and I talked about with our union organizer was how to build community within the union members, and build a sense of shared goals, as we fight for
The strategic planning session at the library was fascinating, and focused in large part on the Harwood method for community knowledge and engagement, which our library has bought into pretty whole-heartedly; it has transformed their planning and practice over the last few years. I like it. I am tempted to seek out a three-day training
Very civic-minded day. I dropped off Kavya for a day at Camp Congress, and then headed off to the annual library board strategic planning meeting. “Camp Congress for Girls Chicago 2017 is a leadership program that introduces girls ages 8 to 15 to politics. Camp begins with a lesson on the structure of our political
Library board meeting was awesome — so interesting, thinking through all these issues. I do have to say, I think I kind of got lobbed a softball in terms of elected office — our library is staffed with fabulous librarians, our executive director is confidently and competently steering things in what I think is absolutely
Thanks to Jed for coming along to my library board investiture last week and taking pics! Let us pause to admire my jacket — it is the only jacket I own, and I’d never actually worn it before; I picked it up secondhand a year or so ago, even though I never wear jackets (and
Jacketed and invested Read More »
“These people are members of a community that care about where they live, so what I hear when I’m being yelled at, is people caring loudly at me.” — Leslie Knope, Parks and Rec, episode one (I’m getting ready to be invested as a library board trustee next week by starting a summer re-watch of
Our local Democratic Party has been bringing the governor candidates to Oak Park, which I really appreciate. I was out of town for the last pair (Kennedy and Biss) — need to watch the recorded video. And I was coaching Kavi’s game while Ameya Pawar was speaking, sadly — I had really hoped to make
