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Welcome
New Publications
Director's Corner
Five Pieces Worth Reading
Community Change Collaborative (CCC)
- Spring 2023 Meetings
- March Events
Pondering Past Podcast Programs
- Julia Dinsmore: Poetically Bridging Class Divides
- Elizabeth LaPrelle: Animating the Archive of Old-Time Music
Legacy Tidings and Soundings
- Revisiting a Central Puzzle of Democracy and of Current U.S. Politics
- Learning from Appalachia
Featured Events
- VTIPG Invites You to Our Spring Open House!
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Dear friends of VTIPG and CCC,
We are excited to present this monthly update to share recent publications, announcements, and information concerning Institute projects and activities.
First and foremost, we would like to congratulate Institute Director Dr. Max Stephenson Jr. and Non-Resident Research Associate Dr. Lyusyena Kirakosyan on the publication of Re: Reflections Volume 3 (Virginia Tech Publishing), a series for Virginia Tech graduate students to share articles concerning their evolving research, interests, and experiences on topics relevant to the VTIPG mission.
We also would like to congratulate Dr. Stephenson and Virginia Tech Graduate School Director of Communications Cathy Grimes on the publication of Conversations in Community Change: More Voices from the Field, Volume 2 (Virginia Tech Publishing), a series that discusses the critical role citizen agency plays in bringing about democratic social change. Both of these books were published on February 8, 2023, the first time these authors and IPG have had two books published on one day!
To showcase content from the past, we will be featuring previous podcasts, Tidings, and Soundings with similar themes that we hope will also relate to the subjects our featured podcast guests discuss.
If you have information that you think we should include in these updates, please email me at pbilly97@vt.edu.
Best,
Billy Parvatam
Communications Coordinator
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Here is the lead in and link to VTIPG Director Max Stephenson’s Soundings commentary in February.
Tribalism is not the Nation's Central Governance Problem
Our nation's citizens are now the target of an unrelenting rhetorical attack grounded in the fact of the diverse character of the country's population. This is occurring because that actuality constitutes a mechanism by which to encourage a share of those residents to revile others who are different from themselves and to see them as the source of their perceived woes. Acceptance of such tropes accords political and social power to the individuals leading such assaults: ...
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Please visit our website to access all of Dr. Stephenson’s Soundings. https://ipg.vt.edu/tags.resource.html/ipg_vt_edu:Soundings.
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Five Pieces Worth Reading | |
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VTIPG Communications Coordinator Billy Parvatam shares five articles each week that address timely and meaningful concerns that address the state of democracy and civil society in the Five Pieces Worth Reading series, including the following items during February.
February 3: These commentaries focus on the shifting character of the demographic base of the Democratic Party, foreign crises that will determine President Biden's legacy, the attack on Speaker Pelosi's husband inspired by years of inflammatory GOP rhetoric towards her, how the Biden administration should address the current Israeli government's anti-democratic actions, and a Maryland state legislative proposal to encourage companies to move to a four-day week.
February 9: These pieces all focused on President Biden's State of the Union address discussing how his speech echoed some of the populist 2016 campaign themes of former President Trump, six main takeaways from the address, the principal economic points discussed, winners and losers, and how Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders' selection to deliver the Republican response contradicted some in the party's desire to move on from Trump.
February 16: These articles addressed Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders efforts to appeal to extreme right-wing voters in her Republican response to the State of the Union, the GOP's 40-year effort to eliminate Social Security and Medicare, how former governor and UN Ambassador Nikki Haley is not an effective alternative to former President Trump, West Virginia Public Broadcasting's battles with a state government led by officials willing to pressure it politically, and how far-right parties in Europe are preventing African immigrants from seeking refuge from climate change.
February 23: These commentaries examined how President Jimmy Carter's administration marked the end of a nearly 50-year era of democratic capitalism in the United States, President Gerald Ford's pardon of Nixon and how it relates to the situation now confronting former President Trump, why President Biden is not getting more credit for the nation's broadly healthy economy, Senator John Fetterman's decision to seek treatment for clinical depression, and the parallels between the warnings contained in George Washington's farewell address and Donald Trump's actions in office.
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Community Change Collaborative (CCC) | |
CCC meets weekly during the Spring 2023 semester on Fridays from 3-4 p.m. Members typically discuss books, articles, and films focused on community and social change. Please contact graduate research assistant Brad Stephens at bas615@vt.edu to join the CCC listserv to receive more information about meetings and events. | |
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CCC will host three guest speakers in March:
- March 17, 3 PM- A Conversation with Dr. David Mclvor from Colorado State University
- March 23, 1 PM- Faculty Forum with Dr. Marc Stern, College of Natural Resources and Environment
- March 31, 3 PM- Faculty Forum with Dr. Claire Cahen, School of Public and International Affairs
All events will be available via Zoom, but the Forums with Drs. Stern and Cahen will also be held in person. All event updates will be sent via the IPG and CCC listserv. Meanwhile, please contact Brad Stephens should you desire more information.
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Pondering Past Podcast Programs | |
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Trustees Without Borders (TWB) is a podcast series produced by the Virginia Tech Institute for Policy and Governance (IPG) and the Community Change Collaborative (CCC). IPG Senior Fellow, Andy Morikawa, has hosted the series for more than 10 years. TWB features leading practitioners, thinkers, and designers working to reframe and strengthen communities, doing so without borders or limits on their ideas and aspirations, without borders on what they think is possible, without borders concerning with whom they will work and without constraints on their dreams for a more just and inclusive community.
From this rich repository, we highlight two podcast episodes that are thematically related and present a particular concept related to community change praxis with complexity and depth. The following conversations with Julie Dinsmore and Elizabeth LaPrelle focus on bridging class divides and how the arts can illuminate the stories of communities.
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Julia Dinsmore: Poetically Bridging Class Divides | |
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By sharing her first-hand account of dealing with poverty, Julia Dinsmore teaches her audience about socio-economic inequality while encouraging those individuals to be part of the solution. She invites listeners to think critically about the actual and imagine divides that alienate people experiencing poverty in society; in particular, she shares how sacred knowledge can be shared through "oral culture," which she contrasts with "print culture" and the dehumanization that can result from acquiring undue wealth.
Presented in partnership with Virginia Tech University Libraries, the Center for Humanities at Virginia Tech, and the Office for Inclusion and Diversity Advancing the Human Condition Symposium at Virginia Tech.
Listen here: https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/aTFopNLrBxb
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Elizabeth LaPrelle: Animating the Archive of Old-Time Music | |
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On this episode of Trustees without Borders, LaPrelle discusses her creative practice of animating archrival materials and the legacy of old-time music. Through music and storytelling, she seeks to explore timeless truths about people and communities. In this conversation, she suggests the significance of music to our understanding of place and culture. She seeks not to view old-time music simply as a historical reference, but instead to bring it into our modern world.
Listen here: https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/aHo3a5mtBxb
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Legacy Tidings and Soundings
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Here is a previous Soundings (January 8, 2018) and Tidings (Jan. 12, 2018) by Dr. Max Stephenson, Jr. that discuss rural America and how citizens in those locations may have felt forgotten since the U.S. shifted away from a democratic capitalistic system. | |
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Revisiting a Central Puzzle of Democracy and of Current U.S. Politics
One of the enduring enigmas of Donald Trump’s presidency is the strong support he continues to receive from white working-class voters who live in rural areas that have suffered catastrophic economic decline in recent decades as globalization has proceeded and the character of the United States economy has changed. Trump has enjoyed that following even as he has embraced policy positions and taken regulatory steps antithetical to the interests and welfare of those offering it. ...
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Learning from Appalachia
One of the privileges we enjoyed at the Institute this past year was working with leaders and citizens of two small middle-Appalachia communities, Pennington Gap, Virginia and Montgomery, West Virginia, as they sought to chart a future course. Both towns are small— approximately 2,000 or so individuals live in each—and both have experienced catastrophic economic decline in recent years. ...
Read More
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VTIPG Invites You to Our Spring Open House!
IPG is pleased to announce our spring Open House! Please place Thursday, March 30, 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. on your calendar and plan to stop by for conversation and lunch at 201 West Roanoke Street, Blacksburg, VA. We will send event updates via the IPG email listserv. Meanwhile, please contact Billy Parvatam should you desire more information (pbilly97@vt.edu).
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Institute for Policy and Governance
201 W. Roanoke Street
Blacksburg, VA 24061
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