Since January we have all been seeing or hearing about such things as polarization, partisanship, no compromise, how divided our county, state and nation is at this period of time. Several opinion pieces/ letters to the editor such as: “Make the most out of 2024 with civility and respect”, “Word on the Street”, for example have addressed anxiety and concern about our upcoming elections. During informal conversations around town League members have also heard there is also a deeper concern about how we treat each other and how our community can work together to solve problems.
Statewide other groups have come together to address these problems too. In the MN Legislature a Civility Caucus, chaired by two lawmakers from the House and Senate, one Republican and one Democrat, has been formed. Another statewide campaign that “calls on Minnesotans across the political spectrum – liberals, conservatives and independents – to help reduce hostile polarization during what promises to be a politically divisive election year” will be hosting a series of events. This group includes League of Women Voters Minnesota, Braver Angels, the chairs of the state’s two major political parties plus 21 organizations that include elected officials, colleges and universities, Minnesota Public Radio, professional associations, and religious & civic groups. Other groups are starting to present programs to help Minnesotans have better political conversations.
LWV Park Rapids with support from Lakes Country Chamber of Commerce, and Park Rapids Enterprise, is hosting Citizenship in an Anxious World. The program will be on Thursday May 2nd in the Northwoods Bank Community Room. It will start at 6:30 pm. It is free and the room is handicap accessible.
We will have several guest speakers including:
- Joshua Hawn: the pastor of First Baptist Church for the last fourteen years. He met his wife Amy at MBBC (Watertown, WI), and after getting a B.A., moved to Park Rapids. He has five children which keep him as busy as his church family and other community commitments do.”
- Stephen C Norby: the Lead Pastor at Calvary Lutheran Church, Park Rapids since 2009. He has a Master of Divinity from Luther Seminary St. Paul and a B.A. from Concordia College with majors in Religion and Psychology.
- Jessica Baum: a trauma informed clinical mental health professional at GroupWorks Wellness and Recovery Services for five years. She has a B.A. from the University of St. Thomas in Communication and M.A. from St. Mary's University of MN., in Counseling Psychology. Jessica's professional focus is healing grief and trauma through compassion training, self-care and mindfulness practices for mental health recovery.
- Two youth leaders from Park Rapids High School
- Kent Hering: a 20+ year resident of northern Minnesota and a retired Electronics Engineer. In retirement, Kent and his bride pedaled across America from San Diego to Bar Harbor, Maine. On the journey, Kent was touched by the heart of America. The kindness of strangers transcended opinions and politics. After that journey, Kent became an Ambassador for Braver Angels, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to bridging the partisan divide by providing the skills and safe spaces we need to be able to listen to each other, to better understand our differences, and to identify common ground from which we can move toward solutions to the issues that face our communities and our nation.
LWVPark Rapids is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to researching complex questions from multiple viewpoints. We promote access to nonpartisan information about candidates and help new voters register and understand the voting process. If you have any questions or need more information about this program, please email lwvparkrapids@lwvmn.org.
