January 2005
Friday 28 January
- Will & Grace (16:35) - Yesterday, Maryland Governor Bob Ehrlich, in his State of the State address, chastised state legislators to be more respectful of the office of governor. Too bad there’s too little will and grace in Maryland right now – and in the rest of country – for such respect in politics to prevail. Ehrlich has been engaged in hand-to-hand combat with members of the state legislature for months. Some people blame his efforts to ram through...
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Wednesday 26 January
- A Common Task (14:05) - Listen to the voices of people who wrote this past week in this space, and those who responded with their comments and an unmistakable message about society can be heard: we must step forward and focus on our values. People are telling us something important: we have lost sight of the values that bind us together. Sure, there are differences among us; but those differences, as one writer said, mustn’t lead to disintegration. Nor must...
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Friday 21 January
- The Next Chapter (10:06) - This entry is the introduction to the inauguration week discussion, and will remain the first post throughout the week, please scroll down for the newest posts Richard C. Harwood, President, The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation The inauguration is an opportunity for the President to declare a path for the nation for the next four years. At its best, the rhetoric of the inauguration calls us to action – from President Kennedy imploring citizens to...
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- The Crossroads (09:27) - Guest: Veronica De La Garza, Executive Director, Youth Vote Coalition In the introduction to the inauguration week discussion, Richard presents one of the challenges facing us is where to begin. The bigger challenge is how do we continue? The first line in the next chapter of America's story lies in our hands, what did the public leadership of this country do with the unprecedented number of American's that voted in November 2004? No one could...
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Thursday 20 January
- Put Every Child Ahead (11:46) - Guest: Karen Pittman, Executive Director, Forum for Youth Investment As President Bush begins his second term today, he has an opportunity to set this country on a course of self-healing by starting this next chapter of America’s story, as Pamela Loving suggests, with a question: “What about the Children?” Native American elders check their decisions by reflecting on the impact they will have nine generations out. The rest of us, unfortunately, have difficulty focusing on...
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- Healing the Effects (08:52) - Guest: Audrey Alvarado, Executive Director, National Council of Nonprofit Associations It is apropos during this presidential inauguration week we are at the same time reflecting on the life of Dr. Martin Luther King. His vision and his impact on the psyche of American society cannot be overstated. Our remembrance of his life’s work forces us to assess how far we have come (or not come) to realize the dream he laid out for us and...
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- Finding Greatness (08:45) - Richard C. Harwood, President, The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation I was moved when reading the comments of my colleagues. And they reminded me of an important theme for our country now: the need to reclaim a sense of greatness. I do not mean, here, a kind of testosterone-driven, myopic, inward-looking agenda. We have enough of that already. Indeed, I intend quite the opposite One of the biggest challenges facing the nation today is whether...
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Wednesday 19 January
- Waltz of the Flowers (09:45) - Guest: Bill Bishop, Reporter, Austin American-Statesman I read on humanflowerproject.com that the flower decorations at the inauguration’s “Democracy Ball” will be only shades of red. Perfect. That’s the meaning of democracy these days: we keep all the red flowers over here, all the blue flowers over there and all the gold flowers in another spot. For the past seven presidential elections, Americans have been sorting themselves into monochromatic communities. By the end of the 2004...
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- Setting Out Together (09:35) - Guest: Diana Aviv, President/CEO, Independent Sector This week marks the 55th Presidential Inauguration. For some, it is a time of celebration, for others, apprehension. For all of us, it is an opportunity to refine priorities, voice concerns, and begin the important work of shaping our collective future. If you want to be part of history, you cannot watch from the sidelines. You have to make history happen. And how do we do that? By learning...
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- A New Greatest Generation (09:17) - Guest: Michael Weiksner, Chairman, e-thepeople A version of the "call to service" section of the President's inaugural speech: "We live in an era of unprecedented change. We face great challenges. After September 11, we all awakened to the new threats to our very security here at home. Yet, we have awesome opportunities too. In our lifetime, we have the potential to end global poverty and cure AIDS. How can we rise up to these great...
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- Finding What Matters (08:45) - Guest: J.D. Hoye, President, Keep The Change, Inc. Reflecting on the 2000 inauguration when President Bush asked us to be “citizens, not spectators; citizens, not subjects; responsible citizens building communities of service and a nation of character,” one might see the irony in our current situation in Iraq and our desire to be seen as citizens of the world. Over the last four years I have seen an ever-increasing desire from community-based leaders to improve...
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- The Next Generation (08:25) - Guest: Pamela Loving, President/CEO, Michigan Works, Career Alliance, Inc. The first line must be: What about the Children? Pamela Loving is an alumna of The Harwood Public Leadership School. She lives and works in Flint, MI, where the Career Alliance seeks to foster systematic reform in workforce development that ensures continuous economic growth for all employers and residents....
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Tuesday 18 January
- Healing the Breach (06:50) - Guest: Peter Levine, Deputy Director, CIRCLE, University of Maryland As President Bush begins his second term, there is a poisonous atmosphere of distrust and division in America. I am not sure that we are divided into two countries, one “red” and one “blue,” whose values fundamentally and enduringly conflict. In One Nation, After All, Alan Wolfe reveals a strong moral center and a great deal of agreement about goals and values. At the Democratic National...
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Monday 10 January
- The Courage to Speak Up (08:00) - Watching the football play-off game this weekend between the Green Bay Packers and the Minnesota Vikings, Randy Moss, the star wide receiver for the Vikings, caught a touchdown pass and then mimicked “shooting the moon” to the stadium crowd and national TV audience. Just last week, again on national TV, Moss walked off the field early to go to the locker room while his teammates continued to play. No one said very much last weekend,...
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Thursday 6 January
- In the Crossfire (08:40) - God only knows what’s in the Kool-Aid over at CNN these days. The network announced today the end of CNN”S “Crossfire” and it came not a day too soon. I congratulate them. I only wish I was afforded the opportunity to do so long ago! “Crossfire” has been a crabby, cranky program filled with unnecessary hype in an age when people’s reality is regularly distorted. I know few people outside of Washington, D.C. who could...
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