Click on the image below to listen to Joan’s interview with Awakin.

Joan Blades is an “accidental activist” at the forefront of movements that have shaped American culture and politics. A deep believer in the value of grassroots engagement, Blades through her various endeavors has experientially acted upon an insight about the power of ordinary people driving change – an insight that later was articulated as the 3.5% Rule by Harvard political scientist Erika Chenoweth: 3.5% of the population actively participating in social movements can impact serious political change. Blades in her latest endeavor, Living Room Conversations, seeks to help rebuild respectful civil discourse across ideological, cultural and party lines in a grassroots way – in ordinary living rooms.