At Civity we talk about the power of relationships to make it possible for different people to “see” others and care about their well-being. Relationships – especially relationships between people with different social identities – enable communities to face tough challenges together rather than splintering apart. To create and strengthen relationships that bridge our differences, …
Category Archives: Blog
Empathy and Infinity
Civity relationships are relationships of respect and empathy. Respect has always seemed straightforward to me. The root of the word – the Latin “spec” – means “to see”: To respect someone is to “see” them. Most of us are familiar with the idea of respect for people in social positions above our own. Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, …
Reaching for Civity
Krista Tippett, host of NPR’s On Being, struggles with the word “civility.” In a recent Living the Questions segment, Tippett names the danger of using “civility” as a “passive-aggressive weapon” to silence anger. “My concern is that the word is too meek, that it’s about being nice and tame and safe. And I don’t think …
Civity Iceland: “Thingvellir” or the “Assembly Field”
Who would have thought that I would find reverberations of civity while sightseeing in Iceland? Last month,I attended a conference in Reykjavik and then had the opportunity to spend a few days exploring Iceland with my husband. We rented a car and drove along the coast, taking in Iceland’s amazing waterfalls, glaciers, fjords, lava beds, …
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The Race Story and the Civity Story
Stories matter. Stories do work – they guide what we do. If our stories discount or degrade Others, then our actions exploit and marginalize. If our stories acknowledge the human dignity of Others, then we draw our community lines inclusively so They become part of Us. The race story in the United States, a story …
It’s the Relationships! #WeaveThePeople
Photo Courtesy: Lena Yarinkura My Civity co-founder Malka Kopell and I had the opportunity last week to be part of the #WeaveThePpl gathering in Washington, DC. We joined with people who are also “healing America’s social fragmentation by weaving deep connections across difference in their communities.” People came from rural Nebraska, from a forgotten corner …
Weaving a Civity Cloth
New York Times columnist David Brooks brings a compelling voice to the conversation about how Americans should be with each other. He has been bearing witness to the pain of feeling isolated and disconnected, of feeling forgotten and left behind. He has been speaking and writing about dignity, decency, and truthfulness. In talking to people …
Listening to Understand the “Who” as Well as the “What”
Larry Kramer, president of the Hewlett Foundation, recently asserted the value of “listening with empathy” in the nation’s current political and social climate of “polarization” and “tribalism.” It is essential, he says, for us to be able to “debate and reason with those with whom we disagree.” Kramer also asserts that listening to others, even …
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“Civity” by Any Other Name…
The word “civity” is not new. The Oxford English Dictionary lists “civity” as an archaic, no-longer-used word for “city.” “Civity” calls us back to the essence of “city,” which originally meant the people. The people of a city. Civity comes from the Latin civis, meaning citizen, and civitas, meaning the body of citizens. Other English …
Seeding Civity: An Update From Louisville
We asked Louisville community leaders to share examples of spaces in the Louisville community where they see Civity connections happening or potential for them to happen. Over the past year, we have been steadily strengthening the foundations for Civity connection in Louisville, Kentucky—the 29th most-populous city in the U.S. and one of the pilot communities …
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