Narratives are the stories we see and tell ourselves. They can be fact, fictional, or a combination that muddles reality. They compellingly invite us to engage and believe. They hold our history, our triumphs, and our pain. They are everywhere. All the time.
The neglect of the relationship between education and democracy is in my view our greatest contemporary failure, and it has led us precisely and inevitably to this moment of profound civic crisis.
We’re thrilled to introduce the Conversations with Canaries Podcast, which we have launched with the hopes of creating an opportunity to invite you into the conversations that we have with each other and so often in our own heads, as we explore the possibilities of harnessing conversation as a corrective social mechanism – arguably the best tool we have to work through the challenges we face as a society. We hope that you come away from these conversations stirred, inspired, and perhaps even puzzled. Enjoy. ~ The American Canary Team
Taped to my window is a brightly colored, eight-part chart entitled “Emotion Cards” that was provided to me by the outstanding organization Building Bridges. It includes the typical emotions one might think of when they are asked the seemingly simple question, “How are you feeling?”. The headlines are happy/sad/angry/bad etc., but then it drops down to more specific reactions. Under “anxious” are the terms scared, insecure, defensive, and fearful; below those come even more specific language: helpless, inadequate, excluded, exposed.
What is the purpose of your online voice?
self reflection exercise: What are the values that are essential to your life both on and offline? One of the main components to becoming a media literate digital citizen is understanding and reflecting on our own use of the media and how it impacts our life. Being a digital citizen is not something to accomplish […]
Upon hearing this question I imagine that most people would have an opinion, or at least a reaction. ‘The media’ is seemingly omnipresent, and perhaps best symbolized by the constant temptation of an entire world of information accessible to us at any moment, being carried around in our pockets. And ‘democracy’ is a word that evokes both a way of life, and an expectation of rights, processes, and forms of expression that can be easy to take for granted. These two concepts – democracy and media – exist both in tandem and in conflict with one another, and we invite you to join us in reflecting on the important relationship between the two…