To participate or not to participate?

Yesterday in my political theory class, we did a test on democracy and participation. With the midterm elections next week, I asked them to identify the ways that they could enhance their citizenship and increase democratic participation. Last night, while musing through their comments, I was compelled to bring the question to this blog.

I remember reading Making Democracy Work by Robert Putnam in graduate school. In it, Putnam examines the civic culture of northern and southern Italy and concludes that democratic participation can be measured in various ways. The institutions alone do not make democracy. Their stability can and should be rooted in the civic culture that they serve.

Obviously, voting is one measure of participation, but it is not the only way one can participate in their community. Voting is a deliberate choice, and we must be deliberate in our choices.

Other methods include reading newspapers (now available online) and fostering the discussions around community issues and politics among your friends and family.

Democratic civic culture is like an ecosystem. The conditions for its responsiveness and effectiveness  dynamically influence the institutions of governance. If the environment the institution is rooted in is apathetic, then the institution itself will not firmly root in its mission to serve the community.

So...what does your political ecosystem foster? How deliberative are you in your choice to participate in your community? Do your institutions of government effectively serve your community?

Most importantly, what are you willing to do about it?

Only Connect - Lessons from Howard's End and Queens College

"Only connect! That was the whole of her sermon. Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its height. Live in fragments no longer. Only connect, and the beast and the monk, robbed of the isolation that is life to either, will die." - E.M. Forster from Howard's End (chapter 22)


I attended Queens College, now Queens University of Charlotte, as an undergraduate student. This passage from Howard's Ends served as the mission statement for the core classes referred to by the institution as "Liberal Learning." 


Liberal Learning was an innovative approach to a liberal arts education. It combined team teaching of faculty and staff with an interwoven, interdisciplinary course. As a student, you were required to take this course each semester for the first two years of college and then for one semester the junior and senior years.


The first semester began with the birth of civilization and the capstone course examined contemporary ethics. Each small cohort of students was assigned a section leader for breakout discussions and then met in the lecture hall with all LL students for a team taught lecture.


We students often resented the five day a week schedule, often at 8 am, which seemed like a crucible for the college student!


BUT the comprehensive examination of studies linked music, arts, literature, history and politics with the common themes and struggles of humanity. The result was that one came to see the interconnectedness of life and the intricate knowledge that the arts were expressions of social, political and ethical themes embedded in our civilizations. Conversely, the social, political and ethical themes were influenced by the artistic expressions for community change.


As an academic myself now, I relish the unique approach to intellectual development and endeavor to embed a similar appreciation for "only connect" to my philosophy of teaching and learning.


I often swell with memories of slides of Cubist painters expressing the multifaceted perspectives of societies from the individual's point of view at the turn of the 20th century, Dr. Charles Reed wearing fly fishing boots and a lure ridden hat which jumping on the desk to portray the deep social theory we were examining, and listening to collaboration of Duran Duran and Milton Nascimento in "Breath after Breath" to dissect the thematic influence of styles and beats in South American music.


So, how does this book - Sinn Fein Women - "only connect?" 


As Bobby Sands said: 


Everyone, Republican or otherwise has their own particular part to play. No part is too great or too small; no one is too old or too young to do something. 

The connection is yours. I hope the reader will find some personal application to play a particular part in their community. No role is too small and no one is too old or young to do so.


"Only connect" the passion and the prose to inspire and transform that which is around you.

Community Impact - how can you achieve it?

On Sunday, I did an interview with the Dunwoody Crier about the book release! Stay tuned for the link to the published interview.

During the interview, the reporter and I discussed how the book (on Irish women) could be galvanized for a call to action for all women.

As the busy mother of four and a full-time professor, it would be easy for me to lose sight of the challenges facing my community today. Time is precious, and family is a top priority for us all. But I want my children to have a better community and see the impact that they can make too - this is why I bring my children with me once a month to deliver meals at a local non-profit organization to chronic and terminally ill clients. The kids also help me pack up their used clothes and donate them to a unique community programme that promotes reunification and healing of children with their mothers battling substance abuse.

These small efforts contribute to a larger vision of community empowerment, and they do not take too much time. Small efforts can yield great rewards. These are small actions of community impact, taking ownership of our role in my community. It is community impact.

How can you impact your community?

In writing this book, I was inspired to deepen my commitment to voluntarism and community impact. I was also able to recognize the powerful (often unrecognized!) role that women can play in their communities - as daughters, wives, mothers, sisters, PTA volunteers, community volunteers, employees, business owners, cultural advocates and neighbors.

I was also inspired to say thank you to all the women in my life who have supported my community - from those "room parents" who volunteer in my children's classrooms to those advocates fighting the commercial sexual exploitation of Georgia's children. Every sacrifice that these women have made to impact their communities has fostered my community.

But most of all, I am grateful for my mother and my grandmother who instilled in me a compassion for all people and a commitment to act on the values I hold most dear. 

I would like to ask you to thank a woman in your life for what she has done for you and your community. Please don't let her efforts go "footnoted!"

Sinn Fein Women: Footnoted Foot Soldiers and Women of No Importance Released!

Sinn Fein Women is here!

It is my hope that this book will give a voice to these women and place the "sinn fein" woman in the global context of Irish history. I hope that this inspires future research on the power of women in peace and reconciliation as well as the individual contributions to it. 

Special thanks to Mary Lou McDonald, Eibhlin Glenholmes, Martina Anderson, Caitriona Ruane, and Ruairi O Bradaigh for graciously giving interviews for the book.

Belfast photographer Kelly Morris contributed amazing portraits of the interviewees and the wonderful cover photo of a child overlooking Belfast, Northern Ireland. Please check out her work too!

Please check out the book, available through ABC-CLIO and online bookstores!

Buy Sinn Fein Women Now!