Gray's Donation Podcast Episode · Radiolab · 20 February · 27min

An astonishingly beautiful story from Radiolab about the power of loss and love.

How a person who lost someone very precious went from feeling that she was a boat being tossed around by a dangerous uncaring ocean to being powerful; to being the caring ocean.

podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/r...

Each history is part of the truth, and it's not like your truth is better than mine. It's like we have to live with each other's truths, and if we put them side by side together, we will find truth, and we can do that in music. Because that's what we do in music. From Classical Music Happy Hour: The Smokies: Mountains and Forgotten Family with Yo-Yo Ma, 22 Oct 2025 https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/classical-music-happy-hour/id1839323732

History isn’t a competition. Caring for each other’s history is an important practice, especially when those histories apply to the same space and place, and sometimes, even the same time.

From ‘Our Common Nature’
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#AusPol #CaringDemocracy #Connection

#comebuildwithus #connection #caredemocracy | Remo Ostini Had a delightful time on the weekend weeding a local wetlands area with a committed band of locals. Good to get my hands in the dirt doing my little bit to maintain a lovely piece of public infrastruc...

Some thoughts about how Common Endeavour's work is like digging in the dirt to maintain important public infrastructure! 😊

www.linkedin.com/posts/remo-o...

The Australia Dialogues is in Melbourne in April, talking about Australia's role in the defence of Taiwan.

brisbanedialogues.org/so/82PpVvpb2

Hugh White, Mark Harrison and Alice Yang will provide a deeply informed conversation at Ormond College.

An excellent opportunity. Wednesday April 15.

Not all disaffected voters are turning to One Nation Independents continue to outperform protest parties in the lower house, where governments are decided.

RE PHON, Rachel Withers makes the point that disaffected voters are also turning to Independents when they can. A party like @commonendeavour.bsky.social would complement Independents for these voters in the many seats that don’t have a good indie option.

www.crikey.com.au/2026/03/27/o...

#AusPol

'Elevates the mood': Third places providing a space away from work and home In an increasingly digital world, Brisbane residents are still heading out to enjoy third places to take a break, enjoy life, and expose themselves to new ideas.

Terrific piece about the importance of third places to communities.

Attractive, low cost places that people can share are vital for people’s social connection and for community health. They need to be looked after.

#Connection #Democracy #Care

www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03...

The cover of the booklet: The Care Manifesto by the Care Collective. Subtitle: The politics of interdependence.

One delightful outcome of a busy week last week was some reading recommendations. Keen to get into The Care Manifesto from the Care Collective!

It will be very interesting to see how the Politics of Interdependence in this work translates to Common Endeavour's Politics of #Connection.

#AusPol

CAPaD Activity - Canberra Alliance for Participatory Democracy CAPaD is working to make our political system work more democratically. Look below to see what we are doing and what we have done. Please explore Please click on the tab to open that activity What do ...

The Assembly worked the poll results up into a pair of proposals for our MPs encouraging them to:

- get serious about taxing gas exports, &
- get serious about gambling harm

Report available at canberra-alliance.org.au/activity/

Direct link to the pdf at canberra-alliance.org.au/wp-content/u...

A nice definition from a behavioural perspective that recognises the importance of our connections.

In the newsletter Sam is pushing back against the idea that some people shouldn't have opinions about what their government is doing.

#AusPol #Connection

A nice definition of #politics from this week's Braver Angels newsletter by Sam Rechek:

"politics is an undying argument about how some individual or group of people should treat some other individual or group of people. We are all qualified to argue about how we ought to behave to one another."

"Music is an extraordinary feature of the human species." Universal and wildly diverse. It doesn't only affect our emotions, it also affects how we think and understand. It defines us and it heals.

Music is such a big, beautiful part of Australian culture.

www.apa.org/monitor/2026...

#Connection

CAPaD Activity - Canberra Alliance for Participatory Democracy CAPaD is working to make our political system work more democratically. Look below to see what we are doing and what we have done. Please explore Please click on the tab to open that activity What do ...

The CAPaD Pol.is "What Canberran's want their MPs to do" results are now available.

Thank you to everyone who participated! The results are informative.

The same page provides the link to register for a Community Assembly on March 8 to discuss the results.

canberra-alliance.org.au/activity/

Why we need to care about each other.

Hannah Arendt is always a good for a reminder that we need to live together.

That doesn’t have to be a bad thing.

Abolishing collaboration?! Can we discuss that? On practising "soft skills" for a hard future Opposition education spokesperson, Julian Leeser, has apparently decided that the most important issue to weigh into on tertiary education right now is a...

“We are, and always will be, responsible for each other, and have to learn to live with the consequences of each others' actions. It's a silly libertarian fantasy to pretend otherwise.”

In which I pit Julian Leeser against Hannah Arendt

in-between-days.ghost.io/abolishing-c...

A picture of the Common Endeavour home page with links to an About, a Motivating Ideas, and a What's Next page.

We've refreshed our home page to reflect a growing clarity around care democracy as our guiding framework (About) and to highlight that we are in a building phase (What's Next).

Have a look and tell us what you think.

And if you like what you see, come build with us.

commonendeavour.org

#AusPol

A screen shot of one of the Six Things Psychologists are talking about this week. It says: 3. Friendships are as Important for Your Health as Romantic Relationships, Experts Say High-quality friendships are essential for both mental and physical well-being. Research highlighted by The Washington Post shows that strong social connections can reduce the risk of depression and even make physical obstacles, like a steep climb, feel less exhausting. Yet society often fails to value these relationships as highly as romantic ones, notes social psychologist Bella DePaulo, PhD. Experts recommend nurturing friendships by being accessible during both good and bad times and practicing the reciprocity needed to build lasting trust.

Friendships are good for you - in addition to their inherent awesomeness.

They're a place where trust and care come together in a special way. They are relationships to nurture.

#SocialConnection #Connection #Care

Two big tax holes are perpetuating Australia's wealth inequality Intergenerational inequality will only be dealt with by taxing the people that have the money, not by cutting the taxes of those who don't have it.

Over to you, JIm. It's time to make a difference, Albo
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02...

CAPaD Activity - Canberra Alliance for Participatory Democracy CAPaD is working to make our political system work more democratically. Look below to see what we are doing and what we have done. Please explore Please click on the tab to open that activity What do ...

CAPaD update:

URGENT

Only a week remains for people to vote on the proposals in CAPaD’s community Poll before they analyse the results.

To vote in the poll and register for the Community Assembly (Woden Valley Uniting church) on March 8th visit our website at canberra-alliance.org.au/activity/.

Can Angus Taylor get beyond slogans on immigration policy? Angus Taylor will craft Opposition an immigration policy against against a background of hyped-up community feeling.

Michelle Grattan is solid on immigration.

She reminds us that getting 'the right people' here is not the hardest part. The hardest part is how we treat people when they're here. That is often more consequential than who we give a visa to.

#AusPol #Connection

www.thenewdaily.com.au/news/politic...

The 7 values of Common Endeavour 1.     Generosity Because we all have to live together and none of us is perfect. And because we care. 2.     Courage Because it’s hard work to disagree with people. Because it’s hard work to make...

Common Endeavour has updated and added a few words on each of our values to a new 7-values page.

Yes, seven is quite a lot of values for one political organisation.

What can we say? There's a lot to Common Endeavour.

#AusPol #Subsidiarity #Joy

journal.commonendeavour.org/the-7-values...

Last night I went to an Active Democracy Bean panel discussion about some serious issues at the Australian Capital Territory's jail - the Alexander Maconochie Centre. It was an often painful and… ... Last night I went to an Active Democracy Bean panel discussion about some serious issues at the Australian Capital Territory's jail - the Alexander Maconochie Centre. It was an often painful and heart...

A post about the error of equating people with the bad things they do, the ever-present possibility of redemption, and the self-fulfilling tragedy of othering.

#CarePolitics #Connection

www.linkedin.com/posts/remo-o...

JS: Good news Re judiciaries. Although QLD did just exempt its adult time for adult crime laws from its HRA did it not?
I’m not sure we have the political infrastructure to determine what rights we want to codify and how to define them. But I may be taking rights too seriously?

Tending joy and practicing delight After listening to the 7th Episode of Krista Tippett's Hope Portal series at the On Being podcast, I've decided to accept Krista's encouragement to take up Ross Gay's practice of noticing something de...

A LinkedIn article about the poet Ross Gay, delight, wilderness, and joy. Just the usual.

www.linkedin.com/pulse/tendin...

An Iris Murdoch quotation: Love is the extremely difficult realisation that something other than oneself is real.

We should probably all be reading a lot more Iris Murdoch.

Sometimes that something is someone.

#Connection

National Poet Laureate The National Poet Laureate is a three‑year appointment that recognises an outstanding Australian poet whose work and cultural contribution have shaped contemporary poetry and its readership.

Applications are now open!

This is long overdue but utterly wonderful that Australia is finally getting a poet laureate!

Will be announced in October. Can hardly wait!

creative.gov.au/investments-...

The ‘pleasant fiction’ of a rules-based order has been blown apart. It’s time for Australia to codify a bill of rights | Julianne Schultz What’s happening on American streets makes clear that a charter of rights does not prevent state overreach. But human rights must be more than a debating point

Is a bill of rights a good way to build social capital and social cohesion as @juliannes.bsky.social suggests?

That would be great but consider Ted Mack’s concerns that a bill of rights will politicise the judiciary and weaken democracy…

#AusPol #CommEnd

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Big Ipswich battery powers up The state Government introduces a new full-capacity grid-scale battery in response to demands for affordable and sustainable energy.

Terrific news about the Ipswich big battery. An amazing development on the old Swanbank coal fired power station site.

www.indailyqld.com.au/news/just-in...

Love this idea of “rebellious connection” from the folk at Good Conflict.

People expecting division? Connect anyway. You just might see the power of diversity in action.

Takes courage but many worthwhile things do. And you’ve got it.

www.thegoodconflict.com

The goal is to build partnerships based on common ground, rather than unchecked integration.

It will take a lot more work than simply "removing barriers" but Carney thinks it will build strength.

It's also worth considering whether there are other ways to do #connection better than we have been.

But Carney is quick to warn of the reciprocal dangers of disconnection.

“A world of fortresses will be poorer, more fragile and less sustainable.”

So instead, Canada will create "a dense web of connections across trade, investment, culture”.

#AusPol #Connection #DemocracySausage