Blog
Stepping Stones – Storytelling – Part 1
Tags: linda stout, Stories, Storytelling, training
This is the first part of a three-part series on storytelling and community organizing. Indigenous communities have used stories for teaching and passing down information for thousands of years. Today, science is catching up and starting to understand the importance of storytelling. Storytelling isn’t just a better way to connect with your audience: It also […]
A Remembrance of Connie Fitzgerald
Connie Fitzgerald, passed away peacefully at her home after a seven year battle with ovarian cancer on January 25, 2019. She was Spirit in Action’s Operations and Finance Director for the last 10 years, working through mid-December 2018. Connie was the backbone of Spirit in Action, the glue that made sure everything was working smoothly. […]
Spirit in Action’s Fall 2018 Newsletter
Tags: civic engagement, Collective Visioning, community organizing, dismantling racism, empowerment, get out the vote, linda stout, spirit in action, training
Read the entire Fall 2018 Spirit in Action Newsletter here. Dear Friends, I can see how it happened every step of the way. There are breadcrumbs all over the place. Go back with me nearly four decades, when the Right created a plan to change what we teach our kids. In the 1980s, the Rev. […]
Let the Youth Lead – My Thoughts after the Parkland Massacre
Tags: civic engagement, community organizing, cultural shift, empowerment, get out the vote, leadership development, linda stout
Again we have news of a horrific school shooting, this time in Parkland, Florida. Having cried many tears this week, I find myself wondering why we can’t we get legislation passed that would make these kind of shootings less possible. And, how can our leaders be so tied to money from the National Rifle Association […]
Why Rosa Parks Really Sat Down On the Bus
As we come to the end of February and Black History month, I am reposting a story about the role of women in the civil rights movement. Just as history often overlooks the contributions of African Americans, so does it overlook the story of women, telling “his-story” as opposed to “her-story.” I hope you will […]
If my mother could challenge racism in 1960 North Carolina, what will you do for Justice today?
Tags: civic engagement, community organizing, cultural shift, empowerment, get out the vote, linda stout, spirit in action
I remember when I was about seven years old, my mother took me with her to a small country store that served as a store, gas station, post office and now I know a voter registration center. We went in and stood in line behind another woman at the post office window. It was the […]
How do we sustain HOPE in times of crisis?
Tags: Collective Visioning, community organizing, cultural shift, empowerment, leadership, linda stout, popular education, spirit in action, We the People
It’s really hard to have a positive outlook or hope with all that’s happening in the world today: political chaos, hate, violence, environmental disaster, and a list much too long to write here. And worse, it seems that people are feeding off all this hatred and chaos and it continues to grow, taking over everything […]
Celebrating our Victories and Preparing for the Future
I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was. Over the last year, I attended two dynamic national conferences: one called “Creating Change,” which included more than 4,000 LGBTQ activists and organizers across the country working on multiple issues that affect disenfranchised people, and another dealing with building power through voter engagement. I was […]
Alligators & Frog Legs: The Face of Hunger (Part 2 of 2)
Tags: cultural shift, empowerment, hunger, linda stout
Last week I wrote about growing up hungry. If you missed Part 1 of this blog, click here. Yesterday’s local paper carried the headline that 450 local students were homeless and needed food and other items to survive. As I wrote last week, I am haunted by a billboard on our way to the interstate […]
Alligators & Frog Legs: The Face of Hunger (Part 1 of 2)
Tags: cultural shift, empowerment, hunger, linda stout
A couple weeks ago, I got fooled into eating some alligator at a festival (I thought it was a super-sized chicken finger) and also frog legs (which I thought were chicken wings). The taste is different, although does resemble some taste of chicken in the mix; but they are certainly not something I would choose […]
