In times of crisis, systems are disrupted enough for real change to happen – for people to see and hear things that were invisible to them before, to experiment with new behaviors and ways to show up for each other, and to shift structural aspects of interactions that significantly heal and alter the system. In short, intentionally utilizing the disruptive aspects of a crisis presents an opportunity to accelerate systemic growth and change.

On February 11, 2020 Beth joined Alfonso Wenker and Trina Olson from Team Dynamics as their first ever guest on their podcast BEHAVE to talk about movement building.

While we talk about Cynthia’s experience primarily within the context of the education system, we also reflect on how the practice of restorative justice can provide a vital foundation for much of the social justice work we do. We also discussed how institutionalized power and privilege in the pursuit of justice often results in prioritizing the peace and comfort of those in power rather then well being of the community as a whole.

With the context of impeachment and the 2020 election as backdrop to our conversation, we deconstruct what passes for “leadership” in current political arena versus what we believe our movements need to create a transformed future.

In this episode, I sit down with my longtime friend and colleague, Dave Mann for a chat about the emerging and evolving individual and collective narratives of the upcoming 2020 Presidential Election. First, we reground in why value based narratives are so essential for this political moment.

For this episode, Ryan interviewed some of the guests at our 195 Years of Collective Activism Birthday Bash that was held at the beginning of the summer. The voices you will hear in this podcast are some of my beloved friends, comrades in movement building, and are among the most brilliant activists I know.

During the episode, we talk about what brought each of us to activism so many years ago, some of our earliest activist experiences, how those early experiences shaped who we are now, and our thoughts on the future of the Progressive movement. We also discuss the importance of recognizing the shoulders upon which each of us stand, carrying the mantle and memory of those we met along the way, and the process of realizing and learning to accept our eventual status as “role models” to the next generations of activists.

We touch briefly on a few of the complexities surrounding the recent events involving Minnesota State Representative Ilhan Omar and talk about how moments like these can be leveraged by outside forces to create polarization and division between and within various marginalized communities.

This conversation with Susan about the concept, history, legacy and integration of healing justice into our social justice movements has been on my podcast bucket list for a long time. I am grateful to Susan for her work to expand the presence of healing justice in our movements and her willingness to sit down to have this conversation with me and all of you.

Ryan and I sat down to record this episode on September 11th, in the midst of the Jewish High Holidays. With this as our backdrop, we talk about the state of our democracy, our world, the challenges our communities are facing (from inside and out) and what we as individuals, who might be feeling lost in the middle of it all, can do about it.