Inspiring wonderful places to grow up and grow old by fostering care communities and care economies for & by neighbors.
PART 1: Eric Frimpong left his wife and crying kids in Ghana to look for work in the States to give them a better life. Eight years passed without him seeing his family, and the last hurdle Eric needed to clear to be reunited with them was significant: gaining U.S. citizenship. Working as a maintenance…Continue reading Recognizing quiet (but important) contributions
If you get Tiny Village Mail, you may have seen my recent tip to GIVE a request for help. I made the point that… It’s generous (if not wise) to think of everyone as having something to give and making opportunities for them to do so, especially when it comes to folks at risk of…Continue reading Starting villages with what’s strong, not wrong
Malcolm Gladwell’s theory of cockpit culture suggests that Korean Air Flight 801 didn’t crash and kill hundreds of people because of poor planes or crew training, but hierarchy: In Korean culture, the theory goes, one complies with elders and superiors. When that means a junior pilot not questioning the call of a senior one, the…Continue reading Are self-managing teams the way to avert tragedy & scale home care?
In preparing to write this story, I listened to Jacqueline du Pré playing Elgar’s cello concerto to find the words to describe how that experience feels. I burst into tears during the first bar. Some of that had to do with the music taking me to a time when my father was alive, but it…Continue reading Our bodies will say no if we don’t
It was obvious once I heard it but, to my embarrassment, it hadn’t occurred to me before: When Black people were fighting to sit at the front of the bus, people with disabilities were fighting to get on the damned things. Fast forward many years from my “how didn’t I see that?” moment ’til now….Continue reading Working until death: a fate for many with disabilities