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By Michael V. Rodriguez. Reprinted from Huffington Post. At 6 am as coffee attempts to dominate sleepiness I find a fitting state of mind to recall last night’s Living Room Conversation about

By Serena Witherspoon. Reprinted from Huffington Post. I ride my bike to school. When you enter Sproul Plaza (the entrance point at the South Side of the UC Berkeley campus) there

By Rev. Linda Taylor. Reprinted from Huffington Post. I just discovered that the thing I love best about Living Room Conversations is purely selfish. Living Room Conversations ring a lot of my bells. I

By John Kesler. Reprinted from Huffington Post. Maturity is one important lens for assessing progress in developing a healthier American democracy both in terms of competent citizenship and effective leadership. This

By Joan Blades. Reprinted from Huffington Post. I don’t know anyone that is pro Nazi or pro White Supremacist.  I also don’t know anyone that is against freedom of speech. There

By Joan Blades. Reprinted from Huffington Post. I don’t know anyone that is pro Nazi or pro White Supremacist.  I also don’t know anyone that is against freedom of speech. There

By Jacob Hess. Reprinted from Huffington Post. The floods in Houston last week were described by the Washington post as “rainfall of Biblical proportions.” If not Biblical, they were certainly momentous, as the “most extreme

By Rodney Ferguson. Reprinted from Huffington Post. I’m going to let you guys in on a secret: Oakland, Ca, despite its reputation, has many nice neighborhoods and beautiful homes. My last Living

By Rev. Erik Swanson. Reprinted from Huffington Post. One of the intriguing conversations that underlies some of the political unrest over the last several weeks and months is the question of

By Billy Binion. Reprinted from Huffington Post.  It’s rare that people across the political aisle find common ground on much of anything these days. Health care, tax law, abortion, gun rights, and

By Susan Abahazy. Reprinted from Huffington Post. I held my first Community Energy Conversation after a brainstorming meeting about how to  contact diverse groups of people and invite their participation.  I decided that my neighbors

By the Rev. Marian Edmonds-Allen and Derek Monson. Reprinted from Huffington Post. What do advocates for LGBT rights and religious freedom have in common? According to science, both have a tendency toward prejudice and

By Mary Gaylord. Reprinted from Huffington Post. Last week I had the pleasure of experiencing a Living Room Conversation via video technology on the topic of Faith and Religion in Society. I have

By Serena Witherspoon. Reprinted from Huffington Post. Spring semester 2017 at UC Berkeley followed the precedent of tension that was set after Trump’s inauguration in the Fall. The presence of the ‘Trump’

By Pearce Godwin. Reprinted from Huffington Post. While celebrating Independence Day, I reflected on the current condition of America. There’s not much we can all agree on these days, but on

By Randy L. Langford. Reprinted from Huffington Post. My study of, and experience in, our society’s “justice” system has led me to believe it’s functioning as intended. I don’t believe we

By Kent Lenci. Reprinted from Huffington Post. About two years ago, I found myself wandering the streets of Birmingham, Alabama. The city was eerily deserted on a Sunday evening, and I

By Billy Binion. Reprinted from Huffington Post. If you’ve tuned into the news at all within the last year, you’re aware of at least one thing – the political climate has

By Mary Gaylord. Reprinted from Huffington Post My father is a conservative, mid-western man of great principle. He is a practicing Catholic, a devoted husband, and he’s the first person I

By Beth Raps. Reprinted from Huffington Post. Exactly one week ago, I hopped on a video call without much expectation except to learn more about Living Room Conversations. As our new

By Debilyn Molineaux. Reprinted from Huffington Post. Like many people, I grew up in a dysfunctional family with an alcoholic adult. I was in a constant power struggle with my step-parent

By Sharon V. Kristjanson. Reprinted from Huffington Post. I hosted a Living Room Conversation for the first time and was delighted with the outcome. We were six people from different walks of life,

By Sabrina Moyle. Reprinted from Huffington Post. A month ago, a friend invited to meet Ken Starr. I am politically progressive on most issues and live in San Francisco. I said

By Brandy Mello. Reprinted from Huffington Post.  With the shift in the American political climate, a slew of controversial speakers are gaining widespread attention. They’ve always had the platform, but the

By Debilyn Molineaux. Reprinted from Huffington Post. Have you felt it? That societal agitation resulting in more stress, conflict and stubbornness? I have. All inside myself. I find myself avoiding news, certain

By Mary Gaylord. Reprinted from Huffington Post. “If America is to be saved, it won’t be because we are us. It won’t be because some columnist wrote soothing words. It will

By Debilyn Molineaux. Reprinted from Huffington Post. Sitting here on a rare sunny day in the Pacific Northwest, I stop to reflect on life…and death. It’s been a long winter followed by

By Ralph Benko. Reprinted from Huffington Post. April 2 was the 100th anniversary of President Woodrow Wilson’s address to Congress asking for a Declaration of War. We promptly thereafter entered World

By Pedro Silva. Reprinted from Huffington Post.   “I don’t want to talk to them because they think too differently.” “How can I have a conversation with someone who just seems to

By Ralph Benko. Reprinted from Huffington Post. I’ve written here before about the Trump Revolution, the progressive counter-revolution, and the secret counter-counter-revolutionaries (like me) who hold that it is more valuable

By Sarah Berg. Reprinted from Huffington Post. We are living in a cultural moment in which this basic thing about what it means to be human—face-to-face conversations—feels like a fading art. And

By Shelly Jenson. Reprinted from Huffington Post. I am fairly new to the dialogue world. It was a mere two years ago that I attended my first dialogue event and it was

By Ralph Benko. Reprinted from Huffington Post. Eugène Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People The Rasmussen polling company recently issued a bulletin headlined “A lot of Americans have hard feelings after last November’s presidential election.”

By Mary Gaylord. Reprinted from Huffington Post. We do it constantly, almost without thinking, hook, line, and sinker. The Free Dictionary defines this idiom as follows: “to be tricked into believing something without any

By Debilyn Molineaux. Reprinted from Huffington Post. Our society is forever pushing us to “do something” to leave the world a better place for our children. Action is valued. Conversation and

By Debilyn Molineaux. Reprinted from the Huffington Post. I like to describe our country as “the big, raucous American family.” And there is hardly a better opportunity to build family connections

By Ralph Benko. Reprinted from The Huffington Post. Image licensed under Creative Commons As the “second most conservative man in the world,” according to a Washington Post Magazine humor columnist, I much prefer reading,

Bah humbug to candidates, elections and anyone who didn’t vote the way I did! By Mary Gaylord. Reprinted from The Huffington Post. On the heels of the election season there has

By John Backman. Reprinted from The Huffington Post. You’re talking with a few people about a controversial topic. A couple of them disagree with you, and they’re more than happy to explain

By Jeanene Louden. Reprinted from The Huffington Post. The president elect is calling for American unity as a way forward. Those that did not support him are calling for unity as a way

By Rodney Ferguson. Reprinted from The Huffington Post. It’s winter Winter in America And ain’t nobody fighting ‘Cause nobody knows what to save – Gil Scott-Heron The lyrics to the 1974

Courage in the face of fear is not for the faint of heart, especially for those whose hearts are broken.  The first Saturday after this country’s national election could have

By Siri Myhrom. Reprinted from The Huffington Post. My friend Jessica invited me last year to be a part of a project she is developing. She co-hosts and organizes intimate Living Room

By Ralph Benko. Reprinted from The Huffington Post. More than a few of my left-of-center friends have expressed anxiety to me about the possibility of street violence should Hillary Clinton win

By Rev. Linda Taylor. Reprinted from The Huffington Post. There’s a Bible story that speaks to me about our current national situation. It’s the story of a rich man who for

By Ralph J Benko. Reprinted from The Huffington Post. John Trumbull‘s painting, Declaration of Independence, depicting the five-man drafting committee of the Declaration of Independence, including Jefferson and Adams Last August, Washington Post Bigfoot Columnist

By Mary Gaylord. Reprinted from The Huffington Post. One of my favorite books is What Was I Scared Of? by Dr. Seuss. The story is about a person afraid of a pair of empty,

By Serena Witherspoon. Reprinted from The Huffington Post. A year ago I hosted my first Living Room Conversation, the topic was youth voting— more specifically why youth choose to register or not. One

By Ralph Benko. Reprinted from The Huffington Post. J.D. Vance, one of the freshest new writers on the scene, recently published a wonderful op-ed in the New York Times, When it comes