If you depart from an "us vs. them" philosophy of life, your first confrontation is likely to be with the cynics.

Perhaps the most important thing I learned was how deeply and intensely people wanted to be listened to.

Last week, for instance, I wrote about the weekend I spent, a decade ago, getting handgun training from the NRA—and what I learned, which is that the things you need to fear are endless, and when one of them pops up in your life you'd better be prepared to kill it. One reader said he wondered "if Robert has ever truly felt as though his life or those he values were threatened" and quickly answered his own question: Of course not! And then he crooned, oh so tenderly: "Must be nice for Robert to live in such an insulated bubble."

Issue solved! Everyone needs a gun, except for the utterly naïve.

If I'd had a gun, I may have taken aim at this snarky fool, but eventually I started calming down and thinking about his words—this monkey wrench of cynicism, as I called it—with slightly more positive energy.

All codependent relationships cause collateral damage. In the case of a failing marriage with children, the parent’s spawn tend to bear the brunt of the damage. In the case of the City of Columbus and big business, our people bear the brunt -- and many while accepting our lot as business-as-usual. In the meantime, our housing crisis puts increasing pressure on our most vulnerable populations. Often those in positions of power and specifically equipped to handle these crises are too far removed from them to understand their urgency on anything but an academic level.

During a podcast interview a few years ago, Council President Shannon Hardin described the nature of his position in business terms: The City of Columbus, in his view, is a corporation. The Mayor is our CEO and the Council President is our head of the Board of Directors.

We open GREE-GREE #103 with TATANKA BRICCA and RON LEONARD updating us on the fossil/nuke industry's assault on rooftop solar, which is being defended by Florida’s right-wing Ron DeSantis but betrayed by California’s alleged progressive Gavin Newsom.

From Georgia the NAACP’s great RAY MCCLENDON updates us on the campaign to fund grassroots campaigning, which holds the fate of the Peach State and with it the nation.  Ray also updates us on the Fulton County DA’s move to indict Trump.  Ray is joined by Flashpoint’s DENNIS BERNSTEIN with key questions on the Donald’s traitorous travesties.

HOWIE HAWKINS of the Green Party updates upon the Democratic Party’s assault on the Green and other third parties, a never-ending attack on democracy.

JOEL SEGAL emphasizes the importance of the “Georgia Miracle” organizing paradigm.

LULU FRIESDAT, DR. RUTH STRAUSS, MYLA RESON, DANETT ABBOT, JUSTIN LEBLANC, HAL GINSBERG, SAM BELL, BRIAN STEINBERG and many more great activists chime in on January 6, Roe v. Wade and much much more.  

Thursday, July 28, 12noon, on-line event requires advance registration

Learn about Voter Activation Network and Action Network!

As community organizations and organizers, we have many tools at our disposal. Using field tools for “issue organizing” can maximize the effort of your organizational goals, outreach, and campaign strategy. We are excited to have our Data and Digital Director, Adam Parsons, walk us through powerful field tools like “Reach,” “VAN [Voter Activation Network]” and “Action Network,” and talk about how to integrate them with text messaging and phone banks into community and issue organizing programs.

Note: this is a repeat of a training we ran in April; if you attended that one, you won’t need this one!

About the Trainer

Adam Parsons is the Data and Digital Director for Ohio Voice and assists partners with VAN [Voter Activation Network] administration, campaign planning and analysis, and digital outreach tools and methods. His background includes grassroots campaign infrastructure, volunteer management, and social media planning and advertising.

Terrapin Moon came on after the white-hot fireballs known as Electric Orange Peel (should say 'Atomic' Orange Peel). A Grateful Dead cover/tribute band whose version of China Cat Sunflower/I Know You Rider was spot-on, the mournful Rider insertion choking me up, my dear beautiful brother Bob having passed last year and it was like he was singing to me, "gonna miss me when I'm gone."

Before the song was over I was pedaling home, overcome by the sad refrain, missing my gone brother, the sunglasses I found in his basement hiding the tears pouring out of my sad eyes.

Two years of no music. Then one refrain from one Dead song with a borrowed blues motif and I'm reduced to nothing but humanness. Trust me, I don't think I'm special. But he was, my dear brother Bob. And so was that song.