From lwvaustin at lwvaustin.org Fri Sep 30 15:40:20 2011 From: lwvaustin at lwvaustin.org (Austin League of Women Voters) Date: Fri, 30 Sep 2011 16:40:20 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [VoteRescue] Improving Public Discourse, Day Unit Message-ID: <1107907923660.1102770450271.623.1.1716409C@scheduler> Trouble seeing everything? Click here http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=49l8dbdab&v=001TJF9TTZcRzXTiP84q7ML3ZWjO_WmTDwVhJ294xtIXKeq3NJ0n2UKQNSGkYrI-YfxUntFLuvXH5rLys3qsFkXu5EeAPQdLX7Z7jkcf3gjY6HSgZdckGclAUJqncTEYSK4g-CzUJqP_eA%3D ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ October Day Unit Meeting - "Creating Community Conversations; Improving Public Discourse" Mon., Oct. 10, 1:00 p.m., Central Day Unit Meeting. Public Welcome. Old Quarry Library, 7051 Village Center Dr. (West of MOPAC at Far West between Post Office and H-E-B.) Forum panelists include: Stephanie Nestlerode, professional facilitator from Omega International Joanne Richards, president of the Austin Coffee Party and a new LWV member Questions: Stewart Snider,s2snider at gmail.com [mailto:s2snider at gmail.com] , 345-7047 Carolyn Baker, cbaker1 at earthlink.ne [mailto:cbaker1 at earthlink.net]t [mailto:cbaker1 at earthlink.net], 249-7012 How can we improve public discourse? Our country's lack of constructive discourse and our sensationalist media have created an atmosphere where bickering and shouting have largely replaced listening and sharing, and where rigidity has become a political virtue. Our two-person panel, Stephanie Nestlerode and Joanne Richards, are among those that have been developing a Community Conversations Project. They believe that Texans have NOT lost the ability to reason, to listen, to share, and to change their minds. They have only lost any environment in which such things are fostered. An alliance of nonpartisan organizations is forming to answer this dilemma by creating "mini-Philadelphias," (settings modeled after the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1789) where voters will discuss issues the way our Founding Fathers intended and the way Leaguers have done for 91 years. Come to this meeting to hear about the Community Conversations Project that enables members of the public to: * Learn how to provide a venue so everyday people's voices can be heard, where participants can express their political ideas and expect a fair hearing. * Understand how our own biases and internal rhetoric have alienated us from meaningful political conversation. * Experience other people as equals. * See "solution" defined as a mosaic of interlocking ideas. * Understand the importance and power of consensus. * Learn how to discuss issues even when long-term solutions seem out of reach. * See that even heated political exchanges are beneficial, when certain civility rules are followed. * Develop a desire to lead future discussions or become otherwise politically involved. ~Carolyn Baker, Unit Leader; Stewart Snider, President For easier viewing or to print out this announcement, simply click at the top of this email on the words "Having trouble viewing this email? Click here." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Forward email http://ui.constantcontact.com/sa/fwtf.jsp?llr=49l8dbdab&m=1102770450271&ea=voterescue at voterescue.org&a=1107907923660 This email was sent to voterescue at voterescue.org by lwvaustin at lwvaustin.org. Update Profile/Email Address http://visitor.constantcontact.com/do?p=oo&mse=001G-m9hYzMdQPEFkRFJH8ZKnM3uWlP-73t&t=0016IvCGpGjDZMKhiKiwNQ06A%3D%3D&llr=49l8dbdab Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe(TM) http://visitor.constantcontact.com/do?p=un&mse=001G-m9hYzMdQPEFkRFJH8ZKnM3uWlP-73t&t=0016IvCGpGjDZMKhiKiwNQ06A%3D%3D&llr=49l8dbdab Privacy Policy: http://ui.constantcontact.com/roving/CCPrivacyPolicy.jsp Online Marketing by Constant Contact(R) www.constantcontact.com Austin League of Women Voters | 1011 West 31st Street | Austin | TX | 78705 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: