Hey Mitch, I read this with great interest because of my brief but intense time working with you at ACORN in Baltimore. ACORN's later demise was such a sad and infuriating betrayal by professional liars. We organizers were more trusting then, especially (as you noted) the caring people on the front lines at ACORN who just wanted to help people. Now, regrettably, we all have to sift and analyze nearly everything because the liars have multiplied. I'm glad you've found other ways to build and organize, and to find peace in the process.
thanks for commenting Barbara. I hope you will continue to follow and subscribe. I am building a media program here for looking at these types of issues in our society and how we can advance the future. Thank you for all your help at ACORN back then. It was an important group for Baltimore.
I resonate with your description of "creating a machine for turning frustration into action". I have seen other organizations in my lifetime rise and fall, grow and heal, and then dissolve. Sometimes the dissolution was needed and welcomed, sometimes it was disappointing and tragic, but always a result of "humanness", which by definition, is imperfect and filled with multiple pitfalls and challenges. As corny as it sounds, I still believe in Love and that we can make a difference if we continue to unite and move forward with a shared vision of what is possible.
Fascinating. Seriously, that line about ACORN being a machine for turning frustration into action realy hit home. What if more places today had that raw, grassroots energy, you know? Not just virtual spaces, but those tangible hubs that genuinely change people, like that old office obviously did.
Great article and I one hundred percent know the feelings of what you wrote about! Thank you for letting me know about it!
Glad to make a new organizer friend on here.
Me too! Are you in New Orleans still?? One of my favorite cities.
Hey Mitch, I read this with great interest because of my brief but intense time working with you at ACORN in Baltimore. ACORN's later demise was such a sad and infuriating betrayal by professional liars. We organizers were more trusting then, especially (as you noted) the caring people on the front lines at ACORN who just wanted to help people. Now, regrettably, we all have to sift and analyze nearly everything because the liars have multiplied. I'm glad you've found other ways to build and organize, and to find peace in the process.
thanks for commenting Barbara. I hope you will continue to follow and subscribe. I am building a media program here for looking at these types of issues in our society and how we can advance the future. Thank you for all your help at ACORN back then. It was an important group for Baltimore.
I resonate with your description of "creating a machine for turning frustration into action". I have seen other organizations in my lifetime rise and fall, grow and heal, and then dissolve. Sometimes the dissolution was needed and welcomed, sometimes it was disappointing and tragic, but always a result of "humanness", which by definition, is imperfect and filled with multiple pitfalls and challenges. As corny as it sounds, I still believe in Love and that we can make a difference if we continue to unite and move forward with a shared vision of what is possible.
me too Tina. Me too. Thats why we are connected.
Fascinating. Seriously, that line about ACORN being a machine for turning frustration into action realy hit home. What if more places today had that raw, grassroots energy, you know? Not just virtual spaces, but those tangible hubs that genuinely change people, like that old office obviously did.
Good article, Mitch