Alex R., who was demonstrating in support of President Donald Trump, talking to an anti-DOGE protestor. Photo by Steven Zaitz
Words matter, as we might tell a first grader in our home or a high school student struggling to share a thought without cursing.
The same holds true for adults, especially those who disagree.
Whatever any of us might think of the policy to make English the official language of the United States, having a way to express ourselves clearly and to be heard by people on the other side of any issue is critical.
We live in a deeply divided country, where one “side” delights not only in its successes but in the failures and the struggles of the other.
This isn’t a plea for everyone to sit around chanting together or to urge us all just to get along, much as that might increase the peace and lower stress and fear.
We don’t just need English: we need a common language. We need to hear each other and to understand what the other side suggests, proposes or believes.
In a country that celebrates rugged individualism, we should be able to listen to an idea, whatever it is and wherever it comes from, and consider its merits.
It seems like spectacular hubris on the part of either side to imagine that the best policies only stem from those with whom we agree.
Take efficiency. The benefits of being more efficient in everything we do is that we can use resources better. People invested in stocks, for example, want their companies to be efficient because executives use that money to build profits.
During protests, people make competing signs that emphasize a point. Many of those messages, however, rarely acknowledge the other side or reach beyond slogans.
We need to listen to each other, to search for common ground and to make persuasive arguments that everyone can evaluate.
We need to study and learn the foreign language of those on the other side of an issue and work to adjust those words, and the ideas behind them.
Language, reflects culture and ideology and, at its root, can help us improve our lives and the lives of our children, who move together from preschool to adulthood.
Living with a verbal impasse that demonizes the other side hurts others as much as it does ourselves.
Together, our society of individuals can become more successful, efficient and peaceful if we speak the same language and build from a common foundation. Making labels and hurling insults might feel good in the moment, but it doesn’t bring out the best in us.
Words, like technology, are not necessarily good or bad. The way they are used determines their impact. Most of the people we acknowledge in the community seem friendly enough and don’t deserve belittling labels. If we start with words designed to help coalesce, we might find ways to improve our lives while feeling proud of the way we communicate in front of our children.
Port Jefferson Village Center. Photo by Heidi Sutton
By Samantha Rutt
On the evening of May 29, a crime occurred near the village center, shedding light on gaps in the village hall’s communication protocols. The incident has raised questions and concerns among residents and officials about the effectiveness of current systems for public safety notifications.
Incident details
Between 6 and 6:30 p.m., a man who had been stabbed or slashed sought help at the Village Center near Harborfront Park. Covered in blood, the victim’s appearance alarmed bystanders. The assailants were reportedly still at large, fleeing in a white SUV. Suffolk County Police responded with several police cars and retrieved camera footage from the area to aid their investigation.
Compounding the situation, a senior awards ceremony and several sporting events were taking place at the nearby school. Despite the proximity of these events to the crime scene, school leadership was not informed about the incident, raising concerns about the safety and well-being of students and attendees.
Response timeline
Seeking clarity and answers, an email was sent to village officials on May 31. The email was addressed to Mayor Sheprow and trustees Loucks, Juliano, Kassay, and Biondo. All below events are reported from Traci Donnelly’s Facebook page.
May 31, 6:25 p.m.: Initial inquiry sent to village officials.
May 31, 8:26 p.m.: Trustee Loucks responded, indicating he was unaware of any official communication from the village. He learned about the incident from the manager of the village center and noted that more than 50 hours after the incident, trustees had still not been provided with any updates or information.
May 31, 9:11 p.m.: A follow-up email was sent, questioning the lack of community notification.
May 31, 9:32 p.m.: Trustee Biondo responded, suggesting that if the incident were serious enough, the Suffolk County Police Department would have notified the community.
June 1, 7:02 a.m.: A request was made for clear communication protocols and criteria for alert systems.
June 1, 1:51 p.m.: Trustee Biondo advised attending the next public meeting for discussions and deliberation with the trustees. It was reiterated that, according to the village attorney and mayor, public comments are not meant for deliberations.
Several concerns have emerged in the wake of this incident. No public alert was issued, despite the severity of the incident and its proximity to community events, no alert was sent to residents. A lack of real-time information as schools and trustees were not informed in real time. Trustee Loucks learned about the incident from the village center manager and other trustees were also uninformed prior to the email. Additionally, it was made evident there are communication gaps as the current strategy for notifying residents about serious incidents is unclear.
The incident has prompted several questions from concerned residents, in Donnelly’s post she asks “Why wasn’t the incident on May 29 considered a public safety issue warranting a Code Red alert? Who decides when these alerts are issued and who is on the village’s emergency response team? Were all trustees informed of the incident in real time?”
The community is calling for increased transparency and the development of a comprehensive communication plan with public input. Residents are encouraged to email trustees directly for accurate information and to avoid relying on social media for critical updates.
“It is important to have communication between village officials and residents. We are looking to wirk alongside residents to have an effective emergency response system in place,” village trustee Rebecca Kassay said.
The email exchange regarding this incident is available upon request for anyone interested in complete transparency.
Idon’t know if teeter-totters exist anymore. Remember them? Two people sit on opposite ends of a board, with a support in the middle. They start at the same height, facing each other, with legs extended. One person pushes up while the other bends his or her legs and gets closer to the ground. The one on the bottom pushes off, while the one on the top heads toward the ground.
The image seems like an apt simile for conversations.
You see, one person talks, while the other listens, and then, the listener becomes the speaker and the speaker the listener. Such simple descriptions don’t work in group dialogue.
In one-on-one conversations, these interactions sometimes involve prolonged periods when one person is on the ground, and the other is stuck in the air, waiting for the speaker to stop talking so he or she can come to the ground and share some thoughts and reactions.
I have had numerous experiences where it seems the teeter-totter gets stuck in one position, much more often than not with me dangling in the air. Yes, I am a decent listener. No, I don’t hear or register everything my wife or anyone else tells me. I do, however, have an ability to listen to a meandering story that includes many detours, recitations of facts that aren’t germane to the main thread of the story, and to self editing. To wit:
“It was a Tuesday that I lost my dog.”
“No, wait, it was a Wednesday and it wasn’t my dog, it was my cat.”
“No, no, it was a Tuesday, and it was neither my dog nor my cat, but it was my car keys. The point is that I lost something before I found it. That was also the day I got a new job.”
Somewhere along the lines, I wonder what happened to the fine art of conversational teeter-tottering, with a predictable and relaxing back-and-forth rhythm.
The stories from another person continue, with one bleeding into the next one so endlessly that I feel like I’m listening to excerpts from several different books on tape.
As I listen, I wonder what my role is. Clearly, the other person doesn’t want or need to hear much from me.
I sometimes wish there were a swimmer’s clock behind the person’s head, which would allow me to time the minutes between sounds like “uh huh,” and “oh yeah,” and “really? no way! That’s terrible/wonderful/amazing/ridiculous!”
It’s the Mad Libs version of listening to the same story, or a variation of that story, while throwing in the appropriate, or sufficiently irreverent, adjective.
I raise my eyebrows periodically in response to the tone of the person’s voice, going through lists of chores in my head, wondering who didn’t give this person a chance to speak when he or she was younger.
An actual pause periodically arrives. My toes dig happily into the welcome sand beneath me, reveling in the auditory opening.
I don’t want to wait too long to say something, because people aren’t always comfortable with quiet, which can restart an ongoing monologue.
After I express an idea, or sometimes just a phrase, I feel my body ascending back into space. Wait, did I not make it clear that I wasn’t done? How am I dangling above the ground again?
Suspended in mid-air, I suppose I could consider those moments as the equivalent of listening to a bird singing a repetitive tune echoing among the eaves.
Perhaps in the future, we can create a verbal shorthand when we feel we’ve lost conversational balance. Maybe, we can just say “teeter-totter” when we need to speak.
The village's website will undergo significant revision in the coming months. Screenshot from portjeff.com
The Village of Port Jefferson Board of Trustees and staff members convened for a work session on Friday, Oct. 28, tackling the various features of the local government’s communications network.
Mayor Margot Garant called the meeting as part of an ongoing effort within her administration to enhance communications between the various entities interfacing with the village government. She set the meeting’s objective. “I want us to create some priorities as a team and then find out where we’re going from here,” she said. “I want the outcomes of this meeting to be defining our priorities for the next six months.”
Centralizing the message
For Garant, effective communication starts with communicating with the general public but goes further than that end alone. She maintained the village could carry out exchanges more efficiently by modifying the existing communications framework in all its facets.
“Communication goes beyond just communicating to the residents and the public,” Garant said. “It goes to communicating internally to staff and everything else.”
Garant said she sees regular communications meetings as essential. Through these dialogues, the team can establish a basis for deciding upon important stories, producing the content and then broadcasting its message.
Deputy Mayor Kathianne Snaden identified some of her priorities. While she said the village has a highly competent staff, greater coordination between these individual units could better advance a common end.
“We have fantastic pieces and parts,” she said, yet “each one is in a silo, somewhat. There’s obviously crossover, but I think … it’s just getting them to work efficiently and overlap.”
Trustee Lauren Sheprow, the village’s communications commissioner, referred to this overlapping method as “the cascading effect — create once, publish everywhere.”
The mayor offered her agreement: “We’ve been completely disconnected, and no one knows who’s driving the bus and where the bus is going.”
Garant also discussed the need for a central chain of command, with the communications team controlling how messages get out. She stressed the need for all parties to go through this decision-making body.
“It’s directing traffic,” the mayor said. “And it’s also creating a very clear line on who they should be talking to and who is giving them the direction.”
Sheprow pitched the potential value of implementing a “global event calendar” and a “content management calendar” within the village government, enabling better organization and tracking of upcoming deadlines.
Garant also identified the need to promptly formulate a plan for circulating emergency information.
“We have the winter season coming up, and that’s usually when we have emergency-type situations,” she said. “You’re going to have a different team at the table when it comes to that. You’re going to have the fire marshal, [code enforcement] chief [Fred] Leute, the ambulance company … you have different threads, different protocols, different everything.”
A website overhaul
In the coming months, a focal point for this administration will be modernizing the village’s website. Garant explained some of the difficulties she experienced using the existing web format.
The current website has several inefficiencies, some of which were identified during the meeting. The future overhaul of the website will emphasize user-friendliness.
“The most important tool we have is our website, and right now I can’t find things on it,” Garant said. “I think that [a revamped website] will have a tremendous impact on how we operate.”
Regarding the website, Kevin Wood, the village’s director of economic development, highlighted some areas for revision. He indicated the existing platform provides too many search results, which clutter the page and overwhelm the user.
“The problems with the website are plentiful,” he said. “One of the things that drives everybody insane is that if you search for just about any topic, you’ll get [results from] 2011, 2012,” adding, “we have to change that.”
Getting the message across
Another discussion point was the matter of producing press releases. Garant argued that generating content can help spotlight prominent stories within the community.
While producing more frequent press releases can help the village get its message out, Wood added that press releases are not limited to a written format. “We should be doing 1-minute video press releases,” he said.
The director of economic development added that compiling information for press releases requires coordination between the various entities involved in a story. For example, a press release spotlighting a particular aspect of village history may require commentary from local historians, public officials and other stakeholders.
“It’s not as simple as taking an email and writing a press release,” he said. “The idea of a press release has to be collaborative.”
As the meeting ended, Garant expressed satisfaction with how much the communications team had accomplished to date. While the village continues to implement its vision for more effective internal and external communication, she expressed confidence in the group assembled. Garant said the committee is headed up by Wood and Charmaine Famularo, a staff member, with trustees Snaden and Sheprow.
“I feel confident that we have the right team, and I think it’s going to be good,” the mayor concluded.
When she was little, my daughter loved to build sand castles. She’d put wet sand in a bucket, gently pull the bucket back and marvel at the details in the castles that came out.
My son wasn’t as interested in building castles. He derived special pleasure out of stomping on the castles she made. It wasn’t just that it gave him power over the sand: he also felt power over his older sister, who was furious with him for crushing her castles.
While I tried to reason with him, which is almost as effective today as it was when he was two, I came up with an alternative plan that required additional energy from me, but that created peace on the beach. I’d quickly put together a ring of 15 castles, grabbing wet sand and dumping it several feet from where my daughter was working on her creation.
Like a young Olympic sprinter, my son would race over to the collection of castles and stomp all over them, while my daughter slowly built her own city of sand.
These days, it seems, we are surrounded by people eager to stomp on everyone else’s sandcastles.
Sure, it’s satisfying to feel the figurative sand in our toes and to revel in tearing down what other people have created.
But, really, given all the challenges of the world, I think we should ask a few questions of all those people who are so eager to belittle, attack and undermine others. What’s your solution? What are you doing better? How would you fix the problem?
Insulting others for their efforts, their awkwardness or their perceived flaws often seems like a form of ladderism. No one wants to be on the bottom rung of a ladder, so people try to push others down or to shout to anyone who will listen about how much better they are than the people below them. That seems to be a sign of weakness or insecurity, reflecting the notion that other people are below them.
In addition to dumping on others, we live in a society of people for whom hearing views that differ from their own somehow turns them into victims. Surely we have more choices than simply, “I’m right and you’re wrong.” If someone doesn’t agree with you, maybe it’s worth finding out why.
Anger, frustration and hatred, while they may make us feel slightly better in the moment, aren’t solutions and they don’t improve our world. They are a form of destructive energy, like stomping on sand castles.
We should ask more of ourselves and from our leaders. I’m tired of hearing about politicians who will fight for me. I don’t want to send people into office to fight against others who are trying to do the best they can for the country. I want leaders who will learn, listen and, gasp, reach across the aisle in the search for solutions.
While platforms aren’t as sizzling as slogans or take downs, they include ideas and potential solutions.
Civility makes it possible for us to hear and learn.
We have enough threats to our lives without needing to turn against other people or to give in to the urge to crush other people’s sandcastles to feel better. We don’t all have to be best friends, but it’d be nice to look forward to a holiday season and the start of a new year that focused on a shared sense of purpose. We need better ideas, not better ways to attack.
Stony Brook University recently announced that the School of Journalism will be renamed to the School of Communication and Journalism. The School is the first, and only, in the 64-campus SUNY system that is accredited by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC).
The new name aligns more closely with the School’s expanding undergraduate and graduate degree programs, and with the increased demand for professionals with backgrounds and experience in different communication-related disciplines.
“Communication goes beyond journalism, and Stony Brook’s School of Communication and Journalism will offer new opportunities for our students to explore important fields in science communication, health communication and mass communication, in addition to journalism,” Fotis Sotiropoulos, interim university provost and dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences said.
In the past year, the School has begun to offer graduate programs in science communication, in collaboration with the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science, and in public health, in collaboration with the Stony Brook Program in Public Health. Additional programs are in development.
“Faculty at the School and the Alda Center work closely on communication research, particularly in the field of science communication, and by renaming the School, we will be able to foster additional communication research,” said Laura Lindenfeld, dean of the School, executive director of the Alda Center, and vice provost for academic strategy and planning at Stony Brook. “Effective communication builds trust among people, enhances mutual understanding, and creates opportunities for collaboration. Now more than ever, we need effective communicators, and Stony Brook is eager to help fill that need.”
The School of Journalism was founded in 2006 and enrolls approximately 250 students. Its faculty include Pulitzer Prize winners, award-winning international and foreign correspondents, and experts in digital innovation. Graduates have gone on to work as reporters and media professionals at organizations around the country, including the New York Times, Buzzfeed, Moth Radio Hour, Council of Foreign Relations, Major League Baseball, and Nieman Lab.
Words are the symphony that warms the skin and colors the silence.
Words can be like the sound of reinforcements coming over the horizon when we feel penned down by an adversary. They rescue us just as we use them to swaddle others in their warmth.
As we make the transition from Halloween to Thanksgiving, Black Friday and, eventually, the December holidays and the new year, we can take solace in the anticipation of words that provide warmth through the darker days of winter.
We might take a trip to Central Park, where the sound of sleigh bells from carriages around a corner alerts us to the appearance of an approaching horse, even as the animal might remind us of a city that predated internal combustion engines.
Just the words “sleigh ride” might inspire our minds to play a song we performed in high school.
Words can also convey the remarkable scents of the coming seasons, with the air carrying the mouthwatering Pavlovian cue from gingerbread houses or holiday cookies.
I recently attended a wedding where a few well-chosen words triggered an almost immediate and reflexive “awww” from an audience delighted to hear how much a younger brother was inspired by his older brother, the groom.
Reading about how important our coat donations are can inspire us to rummage through our closets to help a child or an adult become more comfortable in the frigid air.
Well-chosen words can provide the kind of environment that empowers people to see and appreciate everything from the inspirational image of a person overcoming physical limitations to the intricate beauty of a well-woven spiderweb shimmering in the low light of winter.
Sometimes, as when a friend or family member is going through a significant medical procedure or crisis, words or prayer or encouragement are all we have to offer, giving us something to do or say as we hope the words provide even a scintilla of comfort.
Words can feel insufficient to express how we feel or what we hope happens when someone who has been in the foreground of our lives for years seems suddenly vulnerable.
Simple tools which we all take for granted, words can take us to a peaceful beach with the sound of water lapping on the coarse sand under our feet, transporting our minds and bodies away from the cacophony of busy lives.
In big moments, athletes often suggest that they are at a loss for words. In reality, their words and emotions are undergoing so much competition that their brain experiences a word bottleneck, with a flow of ideas and words awaiting the chance to dive from the tip of their tongues to the eager ears of their friends, family and fans.
The coming holiday season is filled with diametrically opposed experiences, as the joy of opening presents and reconnecting with friends and family for the first time in months or even a year is counterbalanced by the stress and strain of those people who feel overwhelmed or alone.
People who work at suicide hotlines or as 911 operators can and do use critical words to save people’s lives, bringing their minds back from the brink, restoring hope and offering a comforting verbal lifeline.
We take words for granted because we see and hear them so often, but the right word at the right time can transcend the routine.
Finding words that resonate is akin to strolling into a restaurant and discovering a combination of familiar and exotic flavors, all mixed together with a palate-pleasing texture that energizes us.
Port Jeff resident Dom Famularo and Mayor Margot Garant discuss important issues to the village during its new video series. Image from PJV Facebook
Port Jefferson Village is facing an array of issues threatening to upset the status quo in both the near and long term. To help in keeping taxpayers informed on the important set of circumstances likely to impact property taxes and other aspects of daily life in Port Jeff, village Mayor Margot Garant will appear in a series of videos to be released on the village’s website and Facebook account called “Port Jeff Update with Mayor Garant.”
The conversations feature Garant and village resident Dom Famularo in a one-on-one setting responding to questions sent in by members of the public. The first video, released Oct. 16, tackled the village’s tax certiorari legal battle with Long Island Power Authority and the impact an impending settlement will have on villagers’ property taxes going forward, which the mayor dubbed “LIPA 101.”
Garant said the goal of the new communications was to provide her the chance to address the community directly in an uninterrupted fashion, giving her the ability to inform the public on the issues and address misconceptions she said she regularly sees on social media and in conversations.
“The internet right now doesn’t give you the opportunity to have that sort of exchange and people were asking lots of questions,” she said in an interview. “I was trying to figure out, do I like a town hall setting? And I was like, the town hall setting is still not going to give me the opportunity to control the conversation. And I think that might sound egotistical to a certain extent, but the issue is I just want the whole thing on the table.”
In the video, Garant said the village entered into a settlement agreement with LIPA in April to establish a gradual reduction of the amount of money the utility pays in property taxes based on the assessed value of its Port Jeff based plant. The legal cases are based on LIPA’s contention its plants are over-assessed based on decreasing energy demand. Garant said the village is essentially waiting to sign the paperwork to finalize the settlement, as LIPA continues analogous cases with the Town of Huntington and Northport-East Northport School District which is holding up the official completion of the village and Brookhaven Town’s agreed-in-principle settlements.
The Mayor added that about $3.2 million of its roughly $10 million annual operating budget comes from LIPA, and as part of the agreement that number will be cut in half gradually over an eight-year span. As a result, village residents should expect their Port Jefferson Village property tax bill to increase incrementally during that span. Garant said the village is planning to establish a calculator tool for residents to enter in their own pertinent property tax information which will illustrate how much individuals should expect their taxes to go up.
The first video is about 11 minutes long and as of Tuesday afternoon had nearly 2,000 views on Facebook. Garant said Famularo was selected as the other party for the conversations because of his personality, presence and grasp of the issues.
“I decided to get involved so I could assist with clarifying information and prevent social media rumors,” Famularo said in an email, adding he has been a member of the village’s parking committee for eight years and has never shied away from getting involved. “I did not want to just be that person that is not involved and complains … I am honored to sit with the mayor and have time to ask pertinent questions so all PJ residents can hear and be educated in the tasks at hand. We all need to be involved and take an active role.”
Garant said the next video will address efforts to revitalize upper Port Jeff Village and will be released in the coming days. The videos can be accessed by visiting www.portjeff.com or by typing “Port Jefferson, NY” into the search bar on Facebook.
Born in response to tragedy, the organization aims to start conversations about immigration rights, racial divisions, social injustice
Tom Lyon, center, and Gregory Leonard, right, of Building Bridges in Brookhaven with an attendee of the group’s 2017 Martin Luther King Day Jr. event. Photos by Will McKenzie
By Daniel Dunaief
Tom Lyon, Mark Jackett and Susan Perretti, among many others, don’t have all the answers. In fact, they are filled with difficult questions for which the Town of Brookhaven, the state of New York and the country don’t have easy solutions.
That, however, hasn’t stopped them from trying to bring people together in Brookhaven to address everything from social injustice to immigration rights to racial divisions.
Members of Building Bridges in Brookhaven, Lyon, Jackett and Perretti have met regularly since 2015 when the group formed in the wake of the shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
Members of the group Building Bridges in Brookhaven share the common purpose of opening up community dialogue. Photos by Will McKenzie
Building Bridges personally connects with people, according to Tehmina Tirmizi, who is the education chair at the Islamic Association of Long Island. Building Bridges members attended an interfaith event at IALI in late 2016, and its members have gathered with others for monthly vigils to support Muslims.
Tirmizi said she appreciates the understanding, solidarity and unity and feels members of Building Bridges are out there for support.
The group meets on the second Monday of each month from 7 to 9 p.m. to get together and talk, forge connections, understand differences and encourage peace. They have met at churches throughout the region, as well as at the Center for Social Justice and Human Understanding at the Suffolk County Community College campus in Selden.
“The origins were in response to the shootings,” said Jackett, an English teacher at Smithtown High School West. He added continued gun violence is part of what the group is trying to address. “It’s part of the sense of urgency.”
Jackett decried the drumbeat of hatred, negativity and division in the country and in communities on Long Island.
“We’re trying to be a voice speaking up in favor of bringing people together and finding ways that we have common ground and respecting the dignity and humanity of all people,” Jackett said.
The gatherings bring together people of different backgrounds, ages, races and sexuality and attract a crowd from a wide cross section of Long Island.
This past year, the organization hosted a celebration on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in January and a Unityfest at Bethel Hobbs Community Farm in Centereach in September. The MLK event drew more than 200 people, while the Unityfest brought almost 300.
The Unityfest enabled Building Bridges to donate $1,600 to support Hobbs farm and highlight its program to supply fresh produce to local food pantries.
Coming in February, the group will host its second annual MLK festival, which moves beyond King’s iconic “I have a dream” speech and embraces his broader approach.
“King talks a lot about the beloved community,” said Lyon, who is also one of the founders of Building Bridges. “That was his ultimate vision for the world and it involves a lot more than [defeating] segregation.”
Lyon said former head of the FBI J. Edgar Hoover had an enemies list, as did former President Richard Nixon. For King, his enemies were militarism, racism and materialism.
While BBB formed in response to violence in a church and brought people together through church organizations, it is an interfaith group, Lyon said.
The group encourages people to contribute to, and participate in, other efforts on Long Island as well.
Many of the group members belong to other organizations, according to Jackett. Building Bridges has also been supporting other efforts, which include Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense and People Power Patchogue, a group dedicated to defending civil rights and creating stronger and safer communities.
Building Bridges has also formed subcommittees on immigration rights and criminal justice reform.
Jackett said efforts to address and combat racism need to be done regardless of who is in office.
“We try our best to do that work and highlight the need,” he said.
“We’re trying to be a voice speaking up in favor of bringing people together and finding ways that we have common ground and respecting the dignity and humanity of all people.”
— Mark Jackett
The group has a Facebook page and the group is working on a website too. A mix of retired people and people still in the workforce, the members of Building Bridges have been discussing the architecture for a web page. It is also hoping to forge deeper connections with millennials through Stony Brook University, Suffolk County Community College and a new Artists Action Group in Patchogue.
Perretti, a retired writer who worked as an editor at St. Joseph’s College, suggested that Building Bridges is looking to create a network of people who can respond to various needs.
“We need to build ourselves into a community more and more and when that happens, more people will come,” Perretti said.
The group is also focused on jumping to action during times of crisis.
“This is the opportunity to get to know people who may be the targets of hate or violence and to develop a friendship and alliance with them,” Perretti said. “When something happens to them, it happens to us as well.”
Looking ahead, Perretti said the group has to find ways to attract and encourage involvement from a broader base of community members in 2018.
She said she would like to make room for people who have vastly different views. She encouraged people with different opinions to engage in courageous conversations, without fear of reprisals or attacks.
“It’s nice and fun and easy to be with people we are like, [but] it’s really hard work to talk to people who hold different opinions who may argue with us,” she said.
Members of the Building Bridges community know they face uncertainty with the issues and challenges ahead.
“We don’t have all the answers,” Perretti said, adding that the group’s primary mission is to start conversations about the things happening in the United States.
“This is a community that wants to build and grow,” she said. “We need to hear other people. We’re open to ideas.”
