Dealing with Social Issues ...

On a day when the announcement comes about DACA being rescinded, here are a few comments on a couple of titles dealing with social issues …

TALES OF TWO AMERICAS is edited by John Freeman and contains essays and poems from thirty-six contemporary writers such as Larry Watson, Julia Alvarez and many more. Each author has contributed to these “Stories of Inequality in a Divided Nation.”   They often write of their youth and what they know, with Sandra Cisernos (“I changed my name from sand-druh sis-narrows to sohn-druh seez-neh-ros”), for example, contrasting Chicago neighborhoods, describing her childhood and her reasons for leaving. Timothy Egan asks “Was It Better Then?” when he attended University of Washington and worked part-time as a longshoreman in a past where he says “people without college degrees … could live well, in the same neighborhoods as the swells.” Exploring current politics, Richard Russo writes, “Losing your job makes you scared; losing your work makes you angry” and he notes the importance of seeing people, of valuing and respecting their work.  Annie Dillard uses a two paragraph entry to describe a good day’s work, calling to mind Emily Esfahani Smith writing recently in the New York Times: “a good life is a life of goodness — and that’s something anyone can aspire to, no matter their dreams or circumstances.”  TALES OF TWO AMERICAS received a starred review from Booklist and deserves consideration for inclusion in our Senior writing classes since it offers students short introductions to quality writing by authors they may not have yet read.

DESIGN THINKING FOR THE GREATER GOOD by Jeanne Liedtka, Randy Salzman and Daisy Azer is published by Columbia University Press and discusses applying design principles from the business sector to non-profits and government.  It is split into three parts: first, an introduction which defines design thinking (“a problem-solving approach that is human centered, possibility driven, option focused and iterative”); then, the majority of the book which contains ten stories of its application; and a third part which offers insights for adopting design thinking in the reader’s organization.

The authors note that we are seeing the democratization of innovation from trained experts to everyone and argue that their case study participants “used the tools of design thinking to reduce risk, manage change, use resources more effectively, bridge the communication gap between parties, and manage the competing demands of diverse stakeholders.”  One example involves “turning debate into dialogue” at the FDA. Another describes the “power of local thinking” at the Community Transportation Association of America in order to better meet needs of low-income workers. The tone of this book is rather academic, but the message is powerful:  “have a passion for exploration and learning and the courage to try” while focusing together on key questions like What is? What if? What wows? and What works?