Interview with "Calling In" Author Loretta J. Ross. Aired 1-2p ET, Amanpour and Company, February 18, 2025

GOLODRYGA: Well, while the U.S. is stoking division on the world stage, an atmosphere of hostility is also being felt within the country, from federal agencies shutdowns and layoffs to the slew of polarizing executive orders, many Americans feel at the mercy of the new Trump leadership.

So, how can we foster productive dialogue at this time? A longtime human rights activist and co-founder of the Reproductive Justice Framework, author Loretta Ross provides some answers in her new book, "Calling In." And she joins Michel Martin to discuss.

SocialWade Lee HudsonFebruary 19, 2025communicationComment

Minimizing Small Talk

On 6/8/24, I asked ChatGPT, Charlamagne Tha God recommends which methods to minimize small talk in Get Honest or Die Lying? It responded:

In "Black Privilege: Opportunity Comes to Those Who Create It" by Charlamagne Tha God, he emphasizes the importance of being honest and authentic in communication. While he doesn't explicitly outline methods to minimize small talk in "Get Honest or Die Lying," he often advocates for direct and genuine conversation. One could infer from his principles that minimizing small talk involves being upfront and engaging in meaningful discussions rather than superficial chatter. Charlamagne encourages individuals to be true to themselves and to communicate openly, which naturally leads to more substantial interactions and less reliance on small talk.

SocialWade Lee HudsonJune 8, 2024communicationComment

The Politics of Language

Interview with "The Politics of Language" Author and Yale University Professor of Philosophy Jason Stanley

Speech is more than just about factuality. [Effective activists] try to point (people) to actual circumstances in their communities that ... the local community sees. ... You switch the vocabulary up to avoid the expressions that are connected with polarization... One goal of politics, a political strategy, is to infuse more and more words with this kind of identity.

So, as soon as your political opponent uses one of those words, in this case, climate change, people's minds shut off. So, they group people into groups and people don't listen to the arguments... The vocabulary affected policy... It justified treating children in terrible ways

CulturalWade Lee HudsonNovember 17, 2023communicationComment

What Conversation Can Do for Us

By Hua Hsu

Excerpts from the March 20, 2023 Issue of The New Yorker

Our culture is dominated by efforts to score points and win arguments. But do we really talk anymore?

...“In past eras, daily life made it necessary for individuals to engage with others different from themselves,” Paula Marantz Cohen explains... Cohen, a professor of English at Drexel University, is the author of “Talking Cure: An Essay on the Civilizing Power of Conversation” (Princeton). She makes the case that talking to others—sharing our stories—is how we learn things and sharpen our belief systems, how we piece together what it means to be funny or empathetic. Conversation can change our minds while sustaining our souls...

Cohen returns to true conversation as a kind of sanctuary... In its ideal form, it involves no audience or judge, just partners; no fixed agenda or goals, just process...

SocialWade Lee HudsonMay 22, 2023communicationComment

Georgia Football: Team "Connection"

In the business world, a company may hold a corporate retreat for employees for team building in hopes of producing better results.

The Georgia football team turned inward for players to get to know the guy across from them in the locker room or the person who they lined up besides or against on the practice field.

Skull sessions, they called them. It started last winter after an 8-2 season in which Georgia failed to win the SEC East for the first time since 2016 and the pandemic altered usual player interactions.

For three days a week, players met in small groups for as long as 20 to 25 minutes. They were held after weight lifting sessions. Coach Kirby Smart moved from meeting to meeting and assistant coaches rotated.

SocialWade Lee HudsonDecember 5, 2021compassion, communication, mutual supportComment

Holistic Check-ins

SocialWade Lee HudsonOctober 13, 2021mutual support, compassion, communicationComment

Cultivate Listening

What? Listening

Individuals often talk and talk and fail to really listen to or get to know each other. Many conversations are a series of superficial monologues.

So What? An intentional commitment can lead to greater, deeper mutual understanding.

PersonalWade Lee HudsonSeptember 17, 2021communicationComment

A Listening Room

SocialWade Lee HudsonJuly 23, 2021Community, communication, ListeningComment

Creating Positive Community Information Exchange

In 2001, Hector E. Garcia attended a St. Paul meeting between a Minnesota immigrant group and the INS (Immigration & Naturalization Services — federal agency charged with handling immigration matters, which was converted after 9/11 into three separate departments — CIS, ICE and CBO). The meeting was one of a series of tense interactions between INS and the immigrant community in person and through the media. Hector observed that community members left angrier than when they arrived and no solutions had been identified.

After the meeting, Hector suggested to Curt Aljets, District Director of INS, and to a Pastor who spoke for the community that it was possible to attain more constructive results from such meetings. Hector, at that time, was MN/Dakotas District Director for NCCJ (National Conference for Community & Justice). He offered to hold an interactive session with Mr. Aljets' staff. Out of that session, evolved a group decision to start the Twin Cities Immigrant Community Roundtable.

SocialWade Lee HudsonJuly 28, 2020community, communicationComment

Platinum Communication Tutorial

SocialWade Lee HudsonJuly 11, 2020community, relationships, communicationComment

Community Dialogs

SocialWade Lee HudsonSeptember 22, 2019communication, communityComment