I once held an out-of-the-ordinary job many of you probably don’t know about.  Once upon a time, I completed a midlife crisis master’s degree in peace and justice studies. My focus was conflict resolution.  And the conflict that captured my heart was the political divide in the United States. In my coursework, I had learned […]

Reawakening American Democracy An American journalist on his way to finalize his divorce in Germany becomes the unwitting archivist of a movement that gave us new language to describe the socio-economics of our world. Michael Levitin was not a newcomer to protest. Even so, he wasn’t looking for anything other than a flight out of […]

Come on get happy!

The answer to this question rises quickly to the surface like a powerful whale. The tail splashes down on the water in a force majeure that sends chills down my arms and feels like a giant spanking on the salty surface of my career.

Dear Democrats, Gather round the table my dear, sweet, liberal friends. Let mama Julie guide you into the cranial folds of the Republican mind. Lest we forget, I was in their tribe and I’m bilingual in Red and Blue speak—a vast resource here to help you understand the conservative cosmos.  When the votes are cast, […]

It’s going to take more than a vaccine to inoculate us against the fear and worry we’ve created in our society. Each of us must do our part to unwind the tyranny of radicalization and retell the story of our democracy—a story in which we all see ourselves.

What really matters when nothing really matters?

A metaphor for the Red/Blue divide in America Toward the end of my book, my politically liberal friend who raised his family in a predominantly conservative suburb says, “I had an understanding all of us were the same. We all wanted healthy kids, families, nice homes and safe neighborhoods. We all have the same dreams.” I […]

We were running late and found ourselves in a security line that stretched out the doors of the airport and onto the breezeway. The cold weather has me wearing my hiking boots for warmth and protection from puddles instead of my flip flops. On Thanksgiving Day, as I struggled to pull the edge of my […]

I feel like we spend most of our time as women, trying to patch up and make the most of the system we inherited. Let’s talk about politics because it’s such a rare topic (tongue in cheek). Oh sure, you’re inundated with it daily, you’re sick of it, you want to go to bed and […]