Last night I missed a stair, rolled my foot, and ended up with a solid sprain. I hit it with RICE which has given me some unexpected time for reading.
I had picked up Steve Wiegenstein’s novel The Language of Trees. It’s the third of four (so far) in his historical fiction account of a utopian community in the Missouri Ozarks. I’ve been savoring the series with a little pause between each one.
It hits all the right notes. I am a long student of American utopian communities in general and Missouri ones in particular. I had read the founder of the Oneida Colony John Humphrey Noyes’s excellent history of American utopian communities when I was a first semester freshman and it made a big impact on me. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Humphrey_Noyes
Steve Wiegenstein is also a fan. When the Columbia Men’s Book Club read his book of short stories he came to the meeting to talk about his book and he ended up joining our esteemed body. Being with friends with Steve makes reading his stuff a treat but the books stand on their own.
I love the Missouri history and geography and this book covers the very short and very brutal time when the old growth stands were cleared in 20 years. As devastating as the Civil War in many ways, I’m looking forward to learning something as well as exploring an important and sad time in history.
What I like most about reading Steve is his keen insight into the human condition. His characters are flawed and real and he captures the awkward struggle of navigating through life with the dialectics of our dreams and commitments and societal expectations and the yearnings of our hearts as well as anyone putting pen to paper.
You should catch the first book of the series for sure. https://www.stevewiegenstein.com/
The Secret of Overwhelm
There are a couple of secrets to dealing with feeling overwhelmed. Our fast paced modern life often feels like far more is expected of us than we can actually deliver. Overwhelm can result in frenetic activity that doesn’t bring results, like spinning your wheels, shutting down and not doing anything, or perhaps worse yet getting the “fuck it’s”, where we start doing behaviors we ordinarily would never do.
Learning to handle overwhelm with grace has been a skill I have been forced to develop. I remember when I was leading a multidisciplinary team working with hard to serve individuals in a behavioral health program and my Manager said: “You look like you feel overwhelmed”.
I said: “I don’t feel overwhelmed, I am overwhelmed.” The issue was not my emotional regulation it was the material factors of the job I was assigned to do.
My first tip is differentiate, is this a feeling or is it a situation that truly exists? If it’s a feeling we use our reliable feelings management skills of taking a moment to slow and deepen our breath. Note any tense areas, I carry my stress in my neck and shoulders, so stretching and relaxing those areas are a must for me.
Note your thinking. Question and challenge any thinking that is contributing to the feeling. Can we look at something differently to get a different result? In addition to challenging negative self talk launch some positive self talk to encourage and soothe yourself. If those helpful and comforting thoughts don’t immediately come to mind, think about what you would say to a friend.
If it’s an actual situation of being overwhelmed then prioritizing and strategically addressing the confounding issues is the key. I rank what I have to do and mostly tackle the most important things first. When you’re taking action you focus on that task with your whole attention and let the rest go until it’s their turn.
We can only do one, or sometimes two things at a time. Don’t try to tackle more than that. Make your list and work through it, most important things first. That’s it. Manage your feelings and strategically work your way back to control.
That one was for me today friends. Time to get back at the immediate concerns of the day. Thanks for reading.
Jimmy Carter – National Day of Rememberance
Jimmy Carter lived a life of service. Coming on the heels of Watergate he prized honesty and integrity above all. He put the needs of the nation ahead of his own reelection. He had hard conversations with the American people about addressing our unsustainable energy consumption. He asked for sacrifice and the American people chose the comforting lies of a Morning in America built on debt and inequality.
There is no doubt in my mind that if Jimmy Carter had caught a break and there was no Reagan Revolution we would be living on a cooler planet with far less disasters with a much smaller national debt.
He was not a strict liberal. He ushered in an era of deregulation for good and Ill. Enjoy a craft beer, thank you Jimmy Carter. I thought of JC when I had a local brew last night.
His deregulation of the trucking industry combined with the rise of OPEC led to the financial ruin of my owner operator truck driver father. I might have shared the bitterness and blame if Jimmy Carter hasn’t spent most of his post-presidency building houses for poor people.
Habitat for Humanity and the Carter Center are why President Carter is widely seen as the greatest ex-President in American history. His tireless work for peace from his modest home in Plains Georgia was simply amazing.
The New American Community is compiling a virtual thank you and condolence for his family. Please consider sharing your personal thoughts with the Carter family here: https://zfrmz.com/ljHvjD51SP8hZnF4QSJq
Ann Peters Localist Hero
During my first campaign for Columbia City Council I was encouraged by my consultants to reach out to Ann Peters. She could be difficult but could be a real workhorse if you could work with her. I found Ann to be delightful. Straightforward and gruff with strong opinions but she was my most reliable campaign volunteer.
She would drive while I knocked on doors which would double my numbers. I won that race primarily on my door knocking. While we drove around we’d talk policy and life, and became good friends.
I remember going to this bombed out trailer which didn’t even have a complete roof. Ann saw a light on and insisted I go talk to him appealing to me as a social worker. It was this totally obscure conspiracy theorist who told me about his documentary on a pedophile ring in Iowa. He neither needed help nor could vote for me as he was relocating.
Ann and I went out to Waffle House after my watch party. She was a good friend and was active as a Columbia Planning and Zoning Commissioner. She fought developers and pushed for the tree protection ordinance, storm water reform, and other sustainability changes. She also rejected NIMBYism and has a keen appreciation for infill projects.
She also was big in the No Kill movement and did some proselytizing on me to address the issue. We had our first falling out over her lack of faith in Health and Human Services oversight over the Humane Society. She called me “dangerously naive” and hung up on me when I wouldn’t demand animal control records on a Friday afternoon, certain the Director would forge numbers over the weekend.
I didn’t get any help in my next two campaigns. I did help her on her County Commission race. I was skeptical but felt I owed her the help. As I saw her run I saw her largely rise to the occasion and I became convinced enough to choose her in the privacy of the ballot box.
I felt though Ann could be rash and difficult ahe would be a bulldog for progressive change. She was smart but had a reading disability. I would have liked to have seen Boone County staff rise to the challenge of having her in leadership. She came in a respectable third I believe and didn’t embarrass herself.
She endorsed the Republican after the winner of the Democratic primary had done some negative campaigning. I had endorsed him myself over a complicated matter of a County law suit over late Tax Increment Financing reports, so I might have encouraged this.
Ann left public affairs for a quiet life in a farm she owned with her sister Betsy. She gave me some heirloom tomatoes and peppers when we visited over the 4th of July. She had developed a quiet solidity isolated on the farm through COVID and beyond. She seemed at peace.
She loves the land and loved Columbia. She left a lasting legacy with her successful work in electing progressive City Council Members, including myself, important work on the spay and neuter clinic and her 5 years on Planning and Zoning.
We were sideways again when she died. I wish I would have been more supportive in the situation that led up to our last tiff.
January 6th
It’s January 6th which means I have to get political. I prefer to tell stories, document an interesting day, share a life hack or pro trip or brag about my travels. Not today.
Today is about organizing. The New American Community formed on July 4th, 2024 to revitalize rural America and other forgotten areas through fostering local activism. Our mission is to identify, train, and support an organ in every county in America.
Today we launched our County Party Organizing Project (CPOP). We have assembled a data base of County Party leadership and I have been calling State Party leadership to see about coordinating our efforts. I have had promising early conversations in Kansas and Missouri and had planned to move forward here to mark this day.
Mother Nature had other plans. Some ice and sleet and literally a foot of snow kept at me to shovel sidewalks, porches, and decks. I also had to shovel out the van. I’d already shoveled it out once to get it in a side street since we’re a snow emergency route. I parked it on a hill and ran it out of gas. I have to shovel out the alley now to get the Yaris out with a gas can.
While I was warming up though, I did some research in Texas, where there’s not a blizzard, and reached out by phone and email. I’ve got more leads to chase down tomorrow, if you pile up messages someone is going to call you back. Most people are going to want to do something if you make it meaningful and easy. So that’s what we’re doing.
We’ve also been emailing our contacts and following up with interested activists. It feels like we are at the beginning of great things. We are calling it localism. Empowering local organizers to address hyper local issues and rack up wins through community organizing, direct action, and mutual aid instead of just trying to win elections every 2 years.
We’re also asking questions and listening. We have a draft of a survey we’re shopping around to stakeholders. We’re completing our data bases and getting our nascent social media up and running. And shoveling snow.
If you want to get involved sign up on our website: https://newamerican.community.
Report from Blizzard Country
I had planned to write about stoic virtue and what it means for the good life today but shoveling snow and a long walk in the snow took it out of me.
If you’ve been reading you know I just moved into a new house. I had been pushing to get everything moved before the snow but that didn’t happen. We did get all the big things moved and I managed to get the canoe moved right as it started to spit yesterday afternoon.
Our piece of Snowmageddon began as sleet and freezing rain and everything was covered in ice by dark. It made for an exciting last load of stuff. I went to pick up the 18 yo at work and stopped by the hardware store for a dryer vent. A big dually was side ways on the hill leading the hardware and I ended up turning around and going to Home Despot.
We made it home on the ice and I made Swiss steaks that came out well. It was cold enough that when it switched to snow it absorbed with the ice and there doesn’t seem to be a coat of ice below the snow.
I walked to the old house to let the water drip as the temps drop but forgot the key. A four mile walk through the snow was still an adventure. Tomorrow it drops to single digits with negatives in the forecast. Our 10″ of snow is blowing. I might shovel the van out again to take the 18 yo to work or on an errand.
Hopefully I’ll get some work done and write a more substantive blog post. Until tomorrow faithful readers.
#FreeKevinBromwell part 2
I have been working to win the freedom of Kevin Bromwell for over six years. Kevin is 65 years old and has served over 35 years for a crime he may not have committed.
I was recently contacted by a falsely convicted by Josh Kezer who served 16 years for a crime he did not commit. Since being freed through the efforts of citizen activism he has spent his time volunteering with the attorney who freed him and a law professor who leads a class in freeing the innocent.
I turned over Kevin’s voluminous files to be scanned and digitized and reviewed to see if there is a case for Kevin’s claims of innocence. The team is reviewing five other cases besides Kevin and will litigate one or two.
Even if Kevin is chosen it will be a long road to dike an appeal and see it through the court process. As a senior, a Geriatric Offender Release Bill would be the quickest path for Kevin’s release. Ex-Offenders over the age of 60 have less than a 1% recidivism rate, they are expensive to house and pose little risk to the community.
SB-438 would only apply to offenders who have served over 30 years. At the end of the post I’ll have suggestions on who to reach out to move SB-438 forward as well as Kevin’s contact information should you write him a letter. Before that I’ll review the facts of Kevin’s claims.
On May 16th, 1988 a terrible crime occurred. A woman was murdered, and her apartment set ablaze during a burglary. Later that night Kevin Bromwell was arrested on an unrelated charge. Kevin had been heavily drinking in the company of numerous witnesses. Three participants in the crime were arrested and they identified Kevin as the murderer, two of them testifying in his trial. All received minimal sentences and served less than five years.
Kevin has maintained his innocence for the 32 years he has served after being convicted and sentenced for 30 years to be served consecutively for Second-Degree Murder, First-Degree Burglary and First-Degree Arson. Kevin Bromwell (#181047) who is now 60 will not be eligible for parole for another 62 years.
Kevin’s attorney refused to call exculpatory witnesses and conceded his presence at the crime scene against Kevin’s expressed wishes. She did not challenge the serious issues with evidence tampering and police brutality. Kevin lost his appeal regarding ineffective assistance of trial counsel when his attorney at the time presented no evidence. Kevin has been filing habeas corpus petitions pro se which have all been dismissed without prejudice.
There are six key facts that demonstrate there is not reasonable confidence in Kevin Bromwell’s conviction:
- A new witness proves Kevin Bromwell is innocent. The enclosed affidavit of Lewis Watkins, who as a boy witnessed the crime, swears that Kevin was not there. This affidavit is new evidence.
- Kevin’s clothing was taken by police back to the crime scene. When initially arrested, no blood of any consequence was noted on his clothing except a small amount on his right shoe from a fight earlier in the day. Subsequently the clothing was taken back to the crime scene by the police and then later when trial counsel examined the clothing it was covered in blood.
- Kevin had no stolen items on his person when arrested. As substantiated by police reports, there were no stolen items on Kevin’s person on the first police report when he was arrested. However, subsequent police reports mention stolen items that were on his person when arrested. The items mysteriously appear as part of the State’s case.
- Kevin was in no shape to commit the crime. Kevin had received an SSI check that day and had no need to commit burglary. As many witnesses will testify, Kevin was so intoxicated that night that he was staggering drunk and could barely walk much less commit a crime.
- The victim’s door was not kicked in as testified by witnesses against Kevin. Two of the individuals involved in the crime knew the victim and Kevin did not. The Fire Marshall’s report stated the door was in the unlocked position and not kicked in.
- Kevin had an alibi which trial counsel refused to use. Trial counsel’s strategy was to admit guilt and go for a conviction on a lesser charge then first-degree murder. Kevin wanted to maintain his innocence and go for a not guilty verdict at his trial. Trial counsel refused to do so.
If you live in Missouri you can find out who your Representative is at this link: https://house.mo.gov/FrontPageMobile.aspx Write them and ask them to sponsor SB-438 to save tax payer dollars by releasing those over 65 who have served at least 30 years. You can also write your Senator: https://www.senate.mo.gov/LegisLookup/Default
Folks anywhere can reach out to the Senate Majority Leader and request SB-238 be given a hearing: https://www.senate.mo.gov/Senators/Member/18
To write Kevin:
Kevin Bromwell #181047
3D-266
South Central Correctional Center
255 West Highway 32Licking, MO 65542
A long day and a nice meal
Hello constant reader. It’s been a long day so I’m going to go concrete. I baked the New Year’s ham a day late and with a bit of a rush job. I was pinched for time on New Year day so sliced off some steaks and pan fried them to speed along dinner.
I had a honey glazed ham which was half the price per pound as ham hocks. The invisible hand is pretty funny sometimes. I did the package directions but had already eaten most of the slices so it wasn’t as sugary which is a good thing. A little goes a long way.
I note the glaze is sugar, brown sugar, and dried honey so I’ll use the rest next time we run out of sugar at least.
For a side I took some pinto beans I’d made for chili and mashed them up with a red pepper and a sweet onion with cumin, ranch seasoning, crushed red pepper, a few drips ghost pepper sauce and after I added the beans I added a pack of taco sauce. I mashed them some and they were pretty good.
I had made cranberry salad yesterday out of a can of the jelled and some smashed blackberries and was pleased the 15 y/o smashed them who always mocks canned cranberries.
I finished it with a simple salad of mixed greens and yellow pepper. For a dressing I did a red wine vinaigrette with red wine, a nice olive oil, apple cider vinegar, apple butter, a shit ton of basil and cilantro, white pepper, and garlic powder. It was excellent.
Mostly though it felt good to be loved and all of us are still giddy about the wonderful new home. Shae said it’s like being in love again where you have to stop and just be in awe about how great life is.
To work hard and come home to someone who loves you and is excited to show you what she arranged during her kick back time it’s pretty special.
Blessed New Years
I was blessed to ring in the new year with my fiance in our new home. We closed Thanksgiving week but it’s her busy time at work and we traveled to Michigan/Ohio for the holidays so we didn’t get to move in in earnest until December 30th.
It was a lot of work with us and the two teenagers but we pulled together nicely and got it done in time to kick back a little and enjoy the new year coming in. It was nice to only have to get out of bed two minutes before the new year for my sparkling juice toast and sweet kiss and I was back in bed before 12:02 when I got a Happy New Year text.
Moving and setting up house in a new relationship brings a lot of changes. One of the things that brought my partner and I together was a commitment to sustainability as part of our values.
Shae was a single mom but still really on it as far as recycling. Her oldest is into cooking and has done a lot of research on nutrition and learning to make healthy food versus ultra processed stuff. Being able to support and build on all that has complemented my long interests in what I would call right living, using moral reasoning to choose the best course of life considering sustainability, justice, and neighborliness.
Writing The Practical Guide this year has sharpened my interests in areas I’ve lagged in like personal health. Having a chapter on lifestyle as an instrument of change means you have to eat and exercise to optimize for health and avoid medical intervention. So I’ve done that to good effect.
With helping my partner through a difficulty, house hunting and then moving, starting a political action committee and completing a manuscript and seeing it through publishing has been a lot. Through it I’ve recycled, minimized my food waste, made real food at home for the family, and all the other right living tasks I could reasonably pull off.
When I’ve had to I’ve grabbed the fast food, skipped the gym, or made some other compromise with my overall values to have a smooth flow of life. You don’t have to mail it every time to get a comparable impact but not stressing over that last 10% that would take effort beyond my abilities.
I elevated for a couple days to get the move done and worked harder than I should. I cut a few corners though to make it a bit easier. My brother John says “Most moral choices are between the right thing and the easy thing.”
I want to work hard for a better world and for my family but I also want to take the time for self care, companionship, kindness, and especially whimsy when it can be found.
What are you doing to be happier, healthier, or more sustainable in 2025? I’ll be blogging everyday through Bloguary. Look for an update on #freeKevinBromwell and as January 6th approaches I’ll be talking about the County Party Initiative for the New American Community. Stay warm constant reader.
Resolutions ABCs
Hello readers. As 2024 comes to a close it seems like a good time to talk about New Year’s Resolutions. I have been a student of the change process for nearly 40 years and when I decided to write the The Practical Guide to Building a Better World I started the outline on January 1. The timeframe worked out and I liked the symbolism.
I laid out my schedule for the year and got it to the publisher a month early. My success this past year was built in many failed resolutions in the past. The resolution articles I have seen this year have been based on SMART goal planning, mostly recommending being realistic and measurable.
This sound advice is easily found and self explanatory so I am taking a different tack. Most folks fail at resolutions because behavior change is hard. We are driven by historical inertia, habit, and static social structures that ensure that today looks a lot like yesterday and tomorrow won’t be much different.
As a student of the change process I recommend developing a plan that involves, small steps, data tracking, and rewards for progress. I also believe the most meaningful change is through developing moral character. Most moral choices are between the easy thing and the right thing.
Being a good person is a great life aspiration but an inadequate goal because it lacks specificity. It would be better to work on what a good person would do or say. I was called out for taking a sharp time with a young person when I was just frustrated in general.
As I look to address this an old school behaviorism technique immediately came to mind – ABC Sheets. Antecedent, Behavior, and Consequence tracking are a great way to generate data to fuel a behavior change agenda.
First, just tracking negative behavior reduces its occurrence. Knowing you are going to be accountable brings instant improvement.
Antecedents are the factors that come before the target behavior. Knowing the circumstances can help point to patterns and consequently levers where work can be applied to make change.
For me some reflections identified the fact that we were moving houses, we had just returned from holiday travel, and there was a lot of work to be done to be ready. This underlying situational stress definitely played a role as did some personal dynamics that I’m not going into in this format.
More concretely I was also shouting from another room which means I started out yelling. I also realized I was nursing some resentment. The fact I was also bustling around, thinking about tasks, and drinking coffee which are possible factors that could be significant if I tracked the behavior over time.
Reflecting on the specifics of the behavior I would like at my sharp tone and unkind words out of proportion for what I was yelling about. More details can help understand the behavior and ways to shape it into more helpful and friendly communication.
The Consequence is what comes after. Understanding negative consequences can help us remember not to do certain things. We can also identify hidden rewards from the behavior. If I take a sharp tone and people do what I yell about I get rewarded. It’s hard to stop negative behaviors we use to get what we want.
In this case the consequence was I got checked, I apologized and noted my behavior. I tried, not with total success, to be mindful of my tone through the stressful move. I also was able to give a little advance warning of where I was at emotionally, which some found helpful.
Understanding the costs of our behavior or how it is rewarded by getting our needs met can be helpful to identify ways to change those reward systems to better live out our values and be the best version of ourselves.
The biggest issue with behavior change is folks think they can make a big choice and lots of things will be different. Really our life is made up of many many choices we make everyday. Real change is making more and more of those choices that improve our lives and those we share a life with.
Multiconstruct 
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