[Vision2020] "Take a Blockhead to Lunch" Month

[Carl Westberg]

I actually did this with Phil Nisbet, although we each probably thought the 
other was the blockhead.  Had a great time, and uh, a couple (ahem) of 
beers.   Carl Westberg Jr.


>From: Debbie Gray <dgray at uidaho.edu>
>To: vision 2020 <vision2020 at moscow.com>
>Subject: [Vision2020] "Take a Blockhead to Lunch" Month
>Date: Wed, 24 May 2006 17:14:43 -0700
>
>Here's an interesting/fun editorial from High Country
>News/Writers on the Range...
>
>Welcome to Take a Blockhead to Lunch
>April 2006
>Jeff Golden
>
>Do you want things to change? Are you agitated or frustrated or
>just plain bored with the civic conversation in your community
>and the country at large?
>
>I am. And I´m going to do something about it. I´m going to take
>a blockhead to lunch.
>
>We keep hearing that civic life these days is deeply polarized,
>and it is. Why is that? Because we fundamentally disagree on the
>basic issues, or because we´ve let shouting, blaming and
>scapegoating become the way we do politics? Is it because our
>beliefs clash at their very core, or because the frenzy and fear
>purveyed by our crassest media and worst politicians have made
>us desperate for a set of beliefs and like-minded people to
>cling to, however incomplete or flawed they may be?
>
>Probably some of both, and maybe more. But since most of the
>current ideological and philosophical debate (if what we´ve been
>doing deserves a word that polite) is a proven dead end, what if
>we start looking harder for little cracks in the wall where a
>ray of light might shine through? What, if instead of battling
>opinion with opinion and trying to beat back their dogma with
>our dogma, we spent some time probing beneath the dogma? What if
>we listened to the music instead of just the words?
>
>I hereby declare April and May to be Take a Blockhead to Lunch
>Months. Participation is easy. As soon as you finish this
>column, pause to think of someone you know who cares about
>what´s happening in the world and whose opinions differ sharply
>from yours, whether it´s about President George Bush and the war
>in Iraq, immigration, evolution, abortion, educational testing,
>Hillary Clinton - pick your flash point.
>
>Then call him or her to announce that it´s Take a Blockhead to
>Lunch Month and that he´s the blockhead you´ve chosen; if you
>think there may be a more effective way to phrase the
>invitation, have at it. Then go get lunch together, or
>breakfast, dinner, coffee, tea, a beer. After you´ve ordered and
>settled in, ask your dining partner plainly and respectfully
>what he or she thinks or feels about issues that seem to divide
>you.
>
>There are just a couple of rules. One: Ask real questions, not
>opinions that have question marks stuck onto the end. We all
>know how this works. Despite what we learned in high school
>grammar classes, sentences beginning with "Oh, come on now, do
>you actually believe..." don´t qualify as questions.
>
>Two: Through the course of the conversation, aim to listen at
>least four times more than you talk. Use your talking time to
>ask more questions to get clearer on what your blockhead means
>and how her peculiar opinions were formed.
>
>If what he says pushes your buttons, and if you´re busting to
>answer back - and if you´re a person inclined to do this
>exercise at all, you probably will be - stretch yourself to
>listen even more. (If you do this part well, I´d personally
>appreciate any helpful tips.) If you´re just dying to express
>your own opinions, you might ask your blockhead if you can be
>his or her blockhead. It will be your turn to be taken to lunch,
>and you can reverse roles.
>
>The worst that will happen is that you´ll find out you were
>right; he or she really is a complete blockhead who must be
>living on another planet.
>
>Then again you might be deeply surprised by what you hear. You
>might catch a lasting insight that you can´t even imagine right
>now. And what could that lead to? We don´t know that either. One
>next step might be to start again and find a second blockhead to
>take to lunch, which should be easy. There are plenty of us out
>here. We´re all in a learning process. Please let us know how
>your conversation went at blockheadtolunch.com. Thanks.
>
>Jeff Golden is a contributor to Writers on the Range, a service
>of High Country News (hcn.org). He is a writer and host of the
>Jefferson Exchange on Jefferson Public Radio in Ashland, Oregon.
>
>
>
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