22 Comments
Nov 3Liked by Anne Helen Petersen

As a former member of Crossroads and someone who went through the Undivided program years ago when it first started, it was almost an out of body experience reading this interview. Over the last 5 years I've deconstructed my faith (and moved away from Cincy, entirely unrelated) and have spent a LOT of time untangling what I was taught to believe and what I /actually/ believe. Even though I have a lot of evangelical baggage, Undivided opened my eyes and helped me think critically about racism in my community which I think is invaluable for a 23 year old white girl. I still think about some of the conversations I had in that setting.

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author

Cannot imagine how weird that must feel — I think you'd find the book SUPER interesting!

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Nov 3Liked by Anne Helen Petersen

Thanks for this one. Weird to read about a church getting something right, ha. It feels adjacent to the concept that some of the most relevant, life-changing voting happens in local elections.

Also, the Undivided program outcomes felt reminiscent of the Purpose Driven Church (based on Warren’s book) program that swept through in the early 00s. I was a teen, very involved in church, and this program revitalized our entire community because it connected people who were not normally in the same room. My small group was all women, ranging from 13-75, and I had never felt so cared for by non-family.

I don’t do church (or god?) anymore, but I do think they can be powerful community connectors, and I’m so interested in how that kind of widespread-but-hyperlocal, cross-sectional, vulnerable, focused gathering can create deep, sustainable change.

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Nov 3Liked by Anne Helen Petersen

Because of the subject matter, I find it weird that Dr. Han used the phrase “officer-involved” to describe murders of Black folks by cops. So that put me in a cynical mindset as I read the rest of the interview.

I’m glad that Undivided exists and seems to do real work. I guess I just hate that it’s so hard to be vigilant against racist/white supremacist/capitalist concepts and framings all the time—myself included, of course.

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Nov 3Liked by Anne Helen Petersen

This has me thinking about one of the principles of adrienne marie brown's Emergent Strategy: small is all. Systemic social change works like this--in micro settings, rooted in community. Prof Hahn's work is so interesting, excited to see it highlighted here.

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Nov 3Liked by Anne Helen Petersen

Thanks for using this Sunday to draw my mind to real work I can be doing in my community instead of being distracted by thoughts about the election which I have zero control over.

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Nov 3Liked by Anne Helen Petersen

Former Cincinnatian here! I am interested in checking this out as someone who only knows Crossroads as the church that blocked traffic so that it was impossible to get to Target on the weekends.

I'm curious if the book discusses the international missions they do, as someone who is very cynical about Americans flying across the world to "help."

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I loved the description of Crossroads and read the Super Bowl Sunday part aloud to my husband, lol. I am not Christian and I struggle with the idea of God… but I also deeply want to believe in something. I love the belonging before belief mantra.

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founding
Nov 3Liked by Anne Helen Petersen

Thank you for the link to the Book Forum piece! It tapped into so much of what I felt reading the book.

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I came here to see if anyone else wanted to comment about it. I didn't read the book but still agreed so hard. I am aging into the age in which not having children is become a notable feature of my life, and I have not (yet?) felt so much of the disdain and comments she mentioned at the start of the piece, it is a strange transition.

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Was this linked in the interview or separately?

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It's in the links at the end. Moira Donegan on liberal discourses of pro-natalism

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Argh, drats. I switched to in-app notifications only and forgot there’s stuff I can only get in the emails. Thanks!

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Is there any way there could be a notification at the end of the "free for all" post in the app reminding paid subscribers that there are links in the emailed version? I often remember to check, but this week I didn't, so I'm glad I saw these comments!

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author

I need to figure out a solution to this — I always do links at the end of the Sunday post, but when I have no paywalls at all (like I did on this post) I put the links in the footer, so you're right, a reminder would be useful. I wish the footer would just show up for subscribers in the app!

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Is there any way to get this part in the app? I'm a subscriber but only access in the app, don't receive the emails. Now I'm wondering what else I've been missing...

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author

When I don't paywall a post I use the "footer" to send all the week-end links/Just Trust Me to subscribers — I wish this wasn't the case for people who only get posts via the App! I need to keep working to figure out a solution.

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founding

I mean, I haven’t felt disdain from people in person, but I’ve definitely gotten loaded comments (about how “fun” my life must be, or a mom saying she wanted to be me when she grew up). Certainly have felt disdain from a certain VP candidate!

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There's something really healing and hopeful about this interview. Thank you for sharing, I'm adding this one to my TBR stat!

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OT but I wanted to share a link to the film Zurawski v Texas, produced by Jennifer Lawrence, and Hilary and Chelsea Clinton, which allows you to watch FREE this weekend before it gets distributed. The film follows the stories of the women suing the state of Texas over its sadistic, murderous abortion legislation. Since its premiere in August, it's played to packed theaters and standing ovations, and I'm not surprised: I watched it last weekend and I was blown away by it - these women and their legal team are amazing, fired up with a righteous anger and grief, persisting in the face of the most egregious hateful legislation, and an inspiring example to us all of what it means to fight, fight, fight.

Please watch, and please share this link widely, especially if you have friends/family in Texas. Here it is: https://bit.ly/ZurawskivTexas

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This quote summed it all up for me - "If their faith calls them to believe in grace, then the encounter of grace with the world calls them to invest in justice."

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Thanks so much for this - really interested to read the book! Two things it made me think of were the Iona Community - a radical Christian community founded in Scotland in the 1930s and with a similar honeycomb structure, which my grandparents were involved in, and which helped keep my grandmother voting for progressive politics and acting with generosity to all despite her conservative and racist beliefs. And work by JK Gibson-Graham on post capitalism, which includes the idea that we can bring about a revolution not just through sweeping top down change but also by building and investing in non-capitalist forms of exchange, support and care at much smaller scales.

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