First Person Projects: Back from the Break
Well, it has been a wonderful hiatus for us all, and we’re coming back at you this summer/fall that much more refreshed and engaged for it.
As much of a break as it has been, we also feel that much more affirmed in the importance of the work ahead. Recent and continued developments in America and globally on voting rights, citizenship, protest and engagement, constantly have been bringing us back to questions around many of the mental models and systems at play in our approach to and understanding of these issues. So while there was some unplugging, didn’t really manage to let any of this go!
What to expect moving forward from us? We’ve had a lot of good feedback on some of our analysis pieces and the analogous research, food for thought, posts. So we’ll be doing more of that. And continue to share what we’re learning and how we’re making sense of it.
Here’s a little roughly-formed bit to close a pre-hiatus loop on a discussion around savings and political engagement, and thank you for staying engaged with us!
One all too common feeling about savings, and it turns out, systemic social challenges, is that it can feel paralyzing. Many folks who talked about saving, felt that their situation was so dire, and so impossible that barring a lottery ticket and/or an incredible series of raises, they weren’t in a position to take on their financial situation. So acutely did they feel it that the act of doing a little, whatever piecemeal step it was, just makes the problem feel that much more insurmountable. One of the striking things here was this way by which small bits of progress made goals feel that much more distant. So what might be seen as incrementalism is really a disheartening and demotivating experience.
Conversely another group, felt that while before they felt they needed more of their life in order to begin savings, described that barrier as wholly self-imposed. That if they knew then what they knew now, they could have been in a better situation. The best version of this is quite motivating, but another is also possible; a frustration at now being limited to only so much because of immutable past error and missed opportunity.
To me, these modes ask if it may be worth considering them a bit in terms of what we believe is possible and what we believe is within our reach. And maybe to map them onto different kinds of acts altogether. If I had some notion of wanting to improve the park in the neighbourhood I’m in, I might find it impossible and paralyzingly to try and take on the municipal bureaucracies and organizations that seem built to frustrate and irritate any good intention. But I might find later that picking up a piece of trash or two, and then meeting the lady who encourages me to join her community garden was much more fulfilling and productive. And I’ll still rue my wasted days of going to board meetings that went nowhere. Though I wonder, how does one wisely engage in civics?
What’s the ladder theory of civic engagement? What might it mean, how is it now popularly understood, what are its potential strengths and what are its pitfalls as a model for understanding individuals and their communities? Expect a post from Farrah touching on this.
Thoughts on electioneering, current battles and challenges in our approach to electoral inclusion.
Expanding our thinking around non-citizen civic engagement to other groups and civil society organizations.
If you think of feedback, suggestions, or people we should meet, please get in touch! You can email us at: 1stpersonprojects@thedifferenceengine.co