“There is nothing noble in being superior to somebody else.” Whitney Young reminds us that real growth is measured against who we once were. The stories we tell about progress shape whether change feels competitive — or transformative. #WisdomWednesday
🎙️ Just published a new episode of Get Me to the Gray: Democracy, Authoritarianism, and the Ethics of War. Have a listen:
Stories shape what people think they know. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie warns that when only one story is told, understanding narrows and power follows. Narratives decide who is seen clearly — and who disappears from view. #WisdomWednesday
🎙️ Just published a new episode of Get Me to the Gray: Revisited: Edwin Raymond on Reform, ICE, and Change From the Inside. Have a listen:
Madam C.J. Walker reminds us that success means little without responsibility to others. The stories we tell about achievement shape whether progress is measured individually — or by what we build together. #WisdomWednesday
🎙️ Just published a new episode of Get Me to the Gray: The Boys: A Conversation About Friendship, Politics, and Staying in the Room. Have a listen:
Looking to the past helps us understand who we are — and build the future more wisely. Paulo Freire reminds us that reflection isn’t nostalgia; it’s preparation. The stories we tell about history shape what we believe is possible next. #WisdomWednesday
Stories shape what people think they know. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie warns that when only one story is told, understanding narrows and power follows. Narratives decide who is seen clearly — and who disappears from view. #WisdomWednesday
🎙️ Just published a new episode of Get Me to the Gray: Who Should Control the Internet?. Have a listen:
Ballot campaigns live and die on narrative clarity. COJA Services helps mission-driven campaigns develop messaging that is grounded, credible, and built to earn trust — before the opposition defines you first.
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#BallotInitiative #midterms #elections #communications #strategy
Stories move like currency — passing between people and gathering value. Tahir Shah captures something movements understand well: stories don’t belong to individuals. They circulate through communities and shape what people come to believe is possible. #WisdomWednesday
Ballot campaigns aren’t just messaging fights — they’re narrative fights. COJA Services helps organizations identify the stories shaping how voters interpret policy. Working on a midterm or 2028 initiative? Let’s talk. DM me or visit cojaservices.com.
Wisdom Wednesday: Storytelling isn’t an add-on to human experience — it’s part of how we make sense of the world.
Margaret Atwood reminds us that stories aren’t optional. They’re how people understand events, assign meaning, and imagine change.
Narratives endure because people do.
🎙️ Just published a new episode of Get Me to the Gray: Israel and Palestine: Holding Two Truths at Once. Have a listen:
But it can’t replicate the process that makes those things meaningful.
It can amplify results.
It can’t tell the story of how you got there.
#FieldNotes
The visible parts — the events, the interviews, the finished work — are real. But they sit on top of a lot that never gets seen.
Right now, AI can replicate the visible parts surprisingly well. It can generate polished language, professional images, even entire communication strategies.
Friday Field Notes: Most meaningful work isn't glamorous.
It happens in conversations that go nowhere before they go somewhere.
In reporting that takes longer than expected.
In offices built piece by piece.
In ideas that need time before they’re clear enough to share.
🎙️ Just published a new episode of Get Me to the Gray: Reform Meets Reality: Inside the Limits of Progressive Prosecution. Have a listen:
🎙️ Just published a new episode of Get Me to the Gray: GMG LIVE: Whistleblowers, Abolition, and the Gray Space Between. Have a listen:
Social media is 🔥 garbage this morning.
Trump's post is trope, and the comparison of Black people to apes is one of the oldest and most harmful racist tropes in modern history.
Tropes stay alive thru circulation. So pls don't reshare the trope. Name it and replace it with humanity.
STOP posting Trump's video about the Obamas. This is racist trope and it becomes normalized when you spread it like wild fire. Post about Obamas and their HUMANITY
Red vs blue — without the shouting.
A liberal and a conservative sit down to ask whether justice comes from fixing systems… or replacing them.
We’re surrounded by outrage, headlines, and certainty — but almost no real dialogue.
This piece is about what happens when politics becomes performance, and why the loss of honest conversation makes accountability impossible.
Want to join the conversation? Join us for a live February 11 at Tattered Cover Book Store.
Tickets at
What actually reduces violence — and why do our answers keep failing? On Episode 2 of Get Me to the Gray, I talk with criminologist David Kennedy about the space between punishment and prevention.
