Over the last several weeks, we at Reach Out Wisconsin have continued to find ourselves in high demand by the media. It’s been thrilling—we’ve had a couple more newspaper mentions, as well as radio spots on programs based in both Madison and Milwaukee. (Check out my news archives page for updates!)
It seems that publicity begets more publicity. When one station airs a story about us, others want us to come on their shows too.
At times, I wonder whether all this attention is deserved. After all, none of us have formally studied dialogue and none of us are political experts. But I’ve realized that simply through our own unusual experience of talking and listening across the political divide, we’ve gained more knowledge of dialogue than most people have.
If we lived in a healthier society, where more people spoke to each other respectfully, we wouldn’t be so special. But unfortunately, respectful conversation is so rare that Scott, Carol, Ron and I are apparently considered very wise!
Here’s a summary of the news pieces, in case you want to check them out.
After our fourth forum, there was one brief mention of us in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, the largest paper in Wisconsin. Our mention was buried in the middle of Patrick Marley’s article about the deteriorating tone of Wisconsin politics, but we were still proud of it, since once again, a writer was holding us up as a piece of good news amidst all the bad: “Civility lost in political upheaval.”
Then, the following Monday, Wisconsin Public Radio’s The Joy Cardin Show contacted us—they’d learned of us through the Journal-Sentinel article. It was Thanksgiving week, and Joy was planning on doing a show that Wednesday morning about political Thanksgiving discussions. Could we send two representatives from our group? We decided to send one liberal and one conservative: me and Scott.
Being on the radio was exciting, though a little nerve-wracking. It was fun to get an inside peek at a radio station: the big, intimidating microphones and headsets; the many computer screens, knobs, and buttons; the soundproof glass windows; the casual atmosphere (we met Joy only five minutes before the show began!).
Once we were on the air, I found it hard not to see my audience. I had to just guess whether I was connecting well with listeners, and it was sometimes difficult to come up with things to say to callers on the spot. I was thankful for Scott’s soothing presence and Joy’s professionalism.
Despite being slightly overwhelmed, I felt I did okay and spent the remainder of the day feeling happy, moved by all the interest in Reach Out Wisconsin and excited to be helping spread a positive message throughout the state.
Here’s a link to the show; push the play button in the upper right corner to listen.
Meanwhile, we’d already been gearing up for another appearance. A couple months ago, an online program called Who’s Right?! contacted us asking if we’d agree to be filmed discussing political issues. The show is a product of a local Republican Party branch and has a segment called Table Talk that brings in people with differing perspectives.
We’d agreed, and this month, they filmed what may be the first of several segments with the four of us.
Our conversation lasted around 40 minutes. It was filmed just after Reach Out’s forum on the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street, so that was the topic of our discussion. For those of you who have read my many posts about Scott, Carol, Ron, and Reach Out Wisconsin, watching this will be a chance to see the four of us in action! Here it is, if the video below doesn’t load properly in your browser.
I greatly appreciate what the program is doing: broadcasting an example of respectful dialogue among people of diverse perspectives. It’s not the first time I’ve been impressed with the local Republican Party; hats off to them for this!
The next spot came early this month: we were pleasantly surprised when a friend contacted us to report that another article about us had appeared in the paper. This time we didn’t know it was coming! It was written by Dan Simmons of the Wisconsin State Journal and was the top editorial on the Opinion page that day, entitled “Group a great example of civility.”
Simmons wrote:
[A] small but growing group of political opposites in Madison provide some hope for greater civility. The State Journal has written about them before. But they deserve extra attention and credit. …And here’s the best part—their numbers are growing. Dozens of people are now joining them for monthly dinners featuring highly opinionated—yet respectful—discussions. They call themselves Reach Out Wisconsin.
We were thrilled!
And finally, over the last couple weeks, we’ve had a flurry of additional radio spots.
Ron was interviewed on community radio for The People’s Mic: Madison’s Progressive Talk, then a week or so later, he and Carol were guests there for a full hour. This being a progressive station, we admired Carol for her courage—she was subjected to many pointed questions by the host and callers about her stance on unions. But she held her own, and together she and Ron were able to redirect the conversation back towards dialogue.
Also last week, all four of us called in to two separate shows on Milwaukee Public Radio’s show Lake Effect to answer questions about Reach Out. This was exciting—Milwaukee is Wisconsin’s largest city, and if our ideas could spread there, our message of dialogue could reach many people. We’ll keep our fingers crossed.
The interviewers asked great questions: If we’re not trying to convert each other, what does happen when we talk respectfully about the issues? How has Reach Out Wisconsin changed our reactions to disrespectful behavior? Do we see a potential for more people to join our movement?
We explained that dialogue is helping us see the “other side” as human beings, people with personal stories that help us understand their perspectives. It takes practice, but by meeting and listening to each other, we’re able to dial down our anger, feel more hopeful, and even sometimes discover common ground. And we’re hoping that over time, our ideas will spread and affect how politicians interact with each other, too.
Scott’s and my radio spot is here, and Ron’s and Carol’s is here. Stay tuned for more! 🙂
