Reimagined Community

Through intentional policies and elite “dream hoarding,” we’ve allowed this formative period to sort our lives by class. This was a choice. But we can also make another choice: to rebuild the adult transition to promote the connection and flourishing of all our neighbors, not just the ones we went to school with.

With intention, the adult transition can again become a major leverage point for strengthening the connectedness of all Americans.

What is the ground on which you're standing to make those deeper commitments? And is that ground sturdy enough and resilient enough to bear the weight of the messiness of it all?”

As anyone who's been in a relationship or family unit knows, it's really messy work. The question facing us now is: “How do we build societal structures that can hold that... See more

If democracy is this challenge of people coming together to figure out the kind of shared lives they want to forge, then the behaviors that they use to negotiate difference are going to flow from the commitments they have to each other.

It’s any group of people who you feel some sort of belonging with and responsibility to.

the thick, robust communities that civil society researchers tout as the ideal — where you have several entry points, and several avenues for deeper participation and leadership

thick, robust communities that civil society researchers tout as the ideal — where you have several entry points, and several avenues for deeper participation and leadership — can be commonplace in an institution

The whole Claypole Commons newsletter seems like it’s an act of attention and noticing.

latent neighborliness. Basically, it’s this sense that you have positive feelings for your neighbors even if you don’t hang out with them or have parties with them. Latent neighborliness leads to people actually having your back without creating any of the pressures to perform. I didn’t want to create a newsletter about the people, because I didn’t... See more