I was born and raised in yamhill county, on a farm 6 miles outside of a similar community (we played Yamhill-Carlton in sports). I lived out of state for 10 years and returned to live in Portland. I have not really been able to articulate my frustration with Kristoff, other than to say he is trying to parachute in after decades in New York and that feels condescending. The idea of storytelling as an extractive industry is exactly what bothers me. He has researched his classmates for a book and a stump speech. He hasn’t been here trying to be involved. He’s had rich people to his “farm” (I strongly react to people calling something a farm unless they are making their livelihood from it but that’s something for another day). But isn’t involved in the community. Thank you for this piece.
I just got second-hand infuriated on your behalf just reading that. As you can probably tell, because I'm not from the area I erred on the side of giving him a little bit of grace, but you articulate so well why I could have gone even harder. [The whole layer of downplaying the size and scale of the "farm" doesn't surprise me at all]. I can only imagine all of the emotions that folks in Yamhill County are having over this stunt.
YES YES YES. Speaking on behalf of other people has always been a progressive achilles' heel, but it feels like it has been supersized in the last couple of years. As long as we live such segregated lives in our local communities, I fear the digging into the thankless jobs advice you give is harder than it sounds for us. I would love to hear more stories about how people are getting over the confusion and awkwardness of that, given that we aren't going to solve segregation.
Appreciate this a ton-- and also want to make sure I get the question. Is your fear more about not having the muscles to dig into local community or that, because many of our lives are so segregated, that local action will make us less connected to other communities? In terms of the latter, I do think I was probably less specific than I should have been today in noting that I'm talking about locally-focused action for the common good (like becoming a local election clerk to make sure that everybody has a right to vote with dignity) instead of for the maintenance of privilege (such as PTA fundraising for an already super-wealthy school).
My experience personally and in listening to Barnraisers alumni and others is that one of the biggest hurdles is just knowing where and when and how to start showing up locally. The muscles are atrophied. Many of us didn't see that modeled by our families (many of whom did mostly maintenance of privilege stuff). If we don't have cross-class relationships, already, it's not going to organically happen.
Oh yeah, I see and feel the same thing, and often underestimate how helpful it can be to do more detailed story-sharing on what it looks like in practice. I definitely need to do more of that (I really enjoyed sharing this piece a few months back, but I think even then the fact that this was rooted in a political campaign makes for a gap for folks who don't see that as where they're going to fit in: https://thewhitepages.substack.com/p/its-invitation-time/comments). I think there is an understandable sheepishness (I see this in Barnraisers alums) to have their organizing stories shared because it doesn't feel big and dramatic enough yet, but my hunch is that those are exactly the kind of stories that are most welcoming to those of us who feel the pull of atrophied muscles... maybe I should write up something about our beloved friends at Get Schooled Oakland, no?
I’ve run into this question a lot, too, especially as I found it a much smoother entry to getting deeply involved once I moved back to my hometown. It was much more difficult when I lived in other places.
I was wondering how long it would take for this corner of Oregon to show up in your newsletter. I’m a teacher in a town near Yamhill that’s been on a wild and distressing ride with our school board this year. I feel like your newsletter so often dovetails with what’s happening here. Thanks for the reminder again to do the unsexy local work. I really do believe it’s the path forward.
Since this was made, we had a recall election for two of the board members who have caused a lot of chaos. The election had a 50% turnout rate, and we saw a lot of great examples of people being invested in the local community through it! However, it narrowly failed, and so we’re facing a situation where there’s no accountability for these board members who have done harm, and the future of the district is very uncertain.
So not surprising nor unique, but it's still so different when it's your school district. And I'm officially invested now! Recall campaigns are really tough, but sounds like something very real real was built even in defeat-- it's tough to keep that momentum going after an election but I hope some of the folks behind that campaign have stayed in contact.
Yes, there’s a Facebook group many of us have used to connect, and will continue to do so. It’s been making me think about how we learn about the successes of social movements, but the path to those wins was often littered with losses. Another interesting piece is that this town has a deep Quaker history, and from what I’ve observed, it seems like that community’s history of community organizing has been very helpful in all of this.
100% to that lesson from social movement history... so glad y'all are keeping it up; let me know if there's ever anything that can be done from further afield to lend a hand.
Thanks for sharing all of this. I think many of us will relate! These battles have erupted in our communities where maybe many of us didn't expect them, and it's a huge opportunity to start building local emotional investment in the civics that make such a huge difference in all of our lives. (My school district had a recall attempt that also failed, but it was the other direction. I'm sure our upcoming election will be just as charged. Solidarity.)
I was born and raised in yamhill county, on a farm 6 miles outside of a similar community (we played Yamhill-Carlton in sports). I lived out of state for 10 years and returned to live in Portland. I have not really been able to articulate my frustration with Kristoff, other than to say he is trying to parachute in after decades in New York and that feels condescending. The idea of storytelling as an extractive industry is exactly what bothers me. He has researched his classmates for a book and a stump speech. He hasn’t been here trying to be involved. He’s had rich people to his “farm” (I strongly react to people calling something a farm unless they are making their livelihood from it but that’s something for another day). But isn’t involved in the community. Thank you for this piece.
I just got second-hand infuriated on your behalf just reading that. As you can probably tell, because I'm not from the area I erred on the side of giving him a little bit of grace, but you articulate so well why I could have gone even harder. [The whole layer of downplaying the size and scale of the "farm" doesn't surprise me at all]. I can only imagine all of the emotions that folks in Yamhill County are having over this stunt.
YES YES YES. Speaking on behalf of other people has always been a progressive achilles' heel, but it feels like it has been supersized in the last couple of years. As long as we live such segregated lives in our local communities, I fear the digging into the thankless jobs advice you give is harder than it sounds for us. I would love to hear more stories about how people are getting over the confusion and awkwardness of that, given that we aren't going to solve segregation.
Appreciate this a ton-- and also want to make sure I get the question. Is your fear more about not having the muscles to dig into local community or that, because many of our lives are so segregated, that local action will make us less connected to other communities? In terms of the latter, I do think I was probably less specific than I should have been today in noting that I'm talking about locally-focused action for the common good (like becoming a local election clerk to make sure that everybody has a right to vote with dignity) instead of for the maintenance of privilege (such as PTA fundraising for an already super-wealthy school).
My experience personally and in listening to Barnraisers alumni and others is that one of the biggest hurdles is just knowing where and when and how to start showing up locally. The muscles are atrophied. Many of us didn't see that modeled by our families (many of whom did mostly maintenance of privilege stuff). If we don't have cross-class relationships, already, it's not going to organically happen.
Oh yeah, I see and feel the same thing, and often underestimate how helpful it can be to do more detailed story-sharing on what it looks like in practice. I definitely need to do more of that (I really enjoyed sharing this piece a few months back, but I think even then the fact that this was rooted in a political campaign makes for a gap for folks who don't see that as where they're going to fit in: https://thewhitepages.substack.com/p/its-invitation-time/comments). I think there is an understandable sheepishness (I see this in Barnraisers alums) to have their organizing stories shared because it doesn't feel big and dramatic enough yet, but my hunch is that those are exactly the kind of stories that are most welcoming to those of us who feel the pull of atrophied muscles... maybe I should write up something about our beloved friends at Get Schooled Oakland, no?
I’ve run into this question a lot, too, especially as I found it a much smoother entry to getting deeply involved once I moved back to my hometown. It was much more difficult when I lived in other places.
I was wondering how long it would take for this corner of Oregon to show up in your newsletter. I’m a teacher in a town near Yamhill that’s been on a wild and distressing ride with our school board this year. I feel like your newsletter so often dovetails with what’s happening here. Thanks for the reminder again to do the unsexy local work. I really do believe it’s the path forward.
Thanks Kelly! Would love to learn more about the local school board situation! I’m so sorry that you’ve got to deal with that as well.
Thanks Garrett! Unfortunately what’s happening here is not unique.
We’re at a place where so much has happened that a news station made an interactive timeline: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.koin.com/news/timeline-newberg-school-board-saga/amp/
Since this was made, we had a recall election for two of the board members who have caused a lot of chaos. The election had a 50% turnout rate, and we saw a lot of great examples of people being invested in the local community through it! However, it narrowly failed, and so we’re facing a situation where there’s no accountability for these board members who have done harm, and the future of the district is very uncertain.
So not surprising nor unique, but it's still so different when it's your school district. And I'm officially invested now! Recall campaigns are really tough, but sounds like something very real real was built even in defeat-- it's tough to keep that momentum going after an election but I hope some of the folks behind that campaign have stayed in contact.
Yes, there’s a Facebook group many of us have used to connect, and will continue to do so. It’s been making me think about how we learn about the successes of social movements, but the path to those wins was often littered with losses. Another interesting piece is that this town has a deep Quaker history, and from what I’ve observed, it seems like that community’s history of community organizing has been very helpful in all of this.
100% to that lesson from social movement history... so glad y'all are keeping it up; let me know if there's ever anything that can be done from further afield to lend a hand.
Thanks!
Thanks for sharing all of this. I think many of us will relate! These battles have erupted in our communities where maybe many of us didn't expect them, and it's a huge opportunity to start building local emotional investment in the civics that make such a huge difference in all of our lives. (My school district had a recall attempt that also failed, but it was the other direction. I'm sure our upcoming election will be just as charged. Solidarity.)
You had me at "storytelling as another extractive industry." This is great as always, Garrett!
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💯💯💯 on all of this. Thank you, Garrett!
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Oh wow, thanks! And I agree (with the point CS Lewis is making their, not the one that Screwtape is making of course).