Aug 14, 2026 · 30 min · 11 segments
Here’s the bad news about civic renewal: It will not come easily or quickly. Toxic divides won’t be dramatically reduced because of one person or a dramatic election result. Renewal of America’s civic…
And then I had some subtext that's like important conversations about things that matter or something like that.
And at that point, I had a list of controversial topics that we could possibly discuss.
And, you know, people would walk by on the trail or path that line the park.
And some would, you know, take the risk of sitting down and having a conversation with a stranger.
I think one of the more important things that I came to realize is that I walk into a lot of those conversations with a host of assumptions about folks that aren't always true.
Like it's, it's hard not to have some level of stereotypes going in, especially if you're engaging with people whose experience you don't have a lot of direct familiarity with.
And so I've, I've often been kind of fascinated and humbled by realizing my own limitations and knowledge and having that revealed.
It's, as I said, kind of humbling to have people, sometimes older, sometimes younger, kind of reveal your own inadequacies.
And I've had that happen on more than one occasion and I will continue to have it happen.
And I think it's one of those things that it helps just kind of lean into and take that as part of the lesson that you get from having the experience.
And then I had some subtext that's like important conversations about things that matter or something like that.
And at that point, I had a list of controversial topics that we could possibly discuss.
And, you know, people would walk by on the trail or path that line the park.
And some would, you know, take the risk of sitting down and having a conversation with a stranger.
I think one of the more important things that I came to realize is that I walk into a lot of those conversations with a host of assumptions about folks that aren't always true.
Like it's, it's hard not to have some level of stereotypes going in, especially if you're engaging with people whose experience you don't have a lot of direct familiarity with.
And so I've, I've often been kind of fascinated and humbled by realizing my own limitations and knowledge and having that revealed.
It's, as I said, kind of humbling to have people, sometimes older, sometimes younger, kind of reveal your own inadequacies.
And I've had that happen on more than one occasion and I will continue to have it happen.
And I think it's one of those things that it helps just kind of lean into and take that as part of the lesson that you get from having the experience.
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