Welcome guest blogger Erin Solaro!

By Diane Silver

I am pleased to welcome Erin Solaro, author of Women in the Line of Fire, to Becoming The Change. She will be guest blogging over here for a bit. First up are her thoughts about the news media and the death of newspapers.

The news media are an important topic for this blog. We can't promote progressive change in society without having a free, open and functioning media. If newspapers -- or more importantly, newspaper style journalism -- is dying, then this country is in big trouble.

As a former newspaper reporter, I know all too well the problems in the industry. However, we dare not allow the newspaper style of journalism to choke to death on the demands of Wall Street.

Independent investigation and a willingness to go into issues in depth keep a democracy healthy. Although newspapers have been known to fail at those tasks from time to time (well, often many times), at least newspaper editors still believe those are priorities. Whether that style of journalism survives in hard-copy print, on the web or in some other form, it has to continue or else our society will become a democracy in name only.

Thanks so much to Erin for offering her thoughts on this vital issue and on other issues to come. Erin also blogs at The Woman Citizen.

The sun rises on a new life

By Diane Silver

That's the sun peeping over the horizon of Lake Ontario as a new day dawns on the Great Lakes.

And yes, although I grew up on the lakes, I now live on the Prairie. However, I wanted to mark today with what for me is a beautiful image of a new dawn. That is because this Monday is a new dawn for me personally and for this blog.

Today marks my return to full-time writing and activism, and I couldn't be happier. What this means for me personally is that I get to tackle projects I've been putting off for years. I also get to work harder and longer than ever before, but oh, the satisfaction of being able to do what matters to me. And yes, I suppose I am that selfish.

What this means for Becoming the Change and the other Hope & Politics blogs is that I'll have the flexibility to update more frequently and to pursue independent reporting. In some ways, Becoming the Change is one of the most important projects I've ever started. I look forward to putting more time into contemplating, reporting and seeking a true understanding of how we can bring about the change we want to see.

What is a changemaker's perspective?

In my first post, I talked about how one of the regular chores of this blog will be to look at the news from a changemaker's perspective.

The next thought that popped into my head, of course, was: So, what the heck IS a changemaker's perspective?

There are several answers to that question.

1. Honestly, I have no frigging idea. You do realize, don't you, that I'm making this up as I go along.

2. Different folks will probably have different, and equally valid, ideas about such a perspective. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the subject.

3. Given that I've assigned this task to myself, though, I really do have to make a first attempt to define the phrase. Thus, my first, best guess is that a changemaker would view the top stories of the day with a skeptical eye and would ask herself the following.

• Is the lead -- the angle or theme -- of the story what's really happening, or is the true story being missed?
• What questions should have been asked, but weren't?
• What is the frame of the story, and is that the only way to think about whatever events are being reported?
• Is this the most important news of the day, or is the real top story being missed?
• Based on the information in this story, should I take action? If so, what should or can I do?

Am I on target? Do I have rocks in my head? What do you think?

The problem with water, & why I started this blog

We are all fish.

Some of us are little fish, darting past the lumbering giants known as corporations, the government, the military. Sometimes we attach ourselves to one of those giants in the hope of nibbling enough off of them to survive. Sometimes we fend for ourselves, flitting here and there to glean what we can.

But some of us are the giants. We are the political leaders, the CEOs, the vice presidents, the generals, the executive editors and big-time journalists, the middle managers climbing the corporate ladder.

A tiny few of us are even the hated CEOs who lead our companies to failure, but take hundreds of millions of dollars with us when we leave. We are the people with the power – the presidents, both Republican and Democrat; the speakers of many houses of many state legislatures, not to mention the fact that some of us are the leaders of Congress.

All of us, though, no matter how powerful, are struggling. We may succeed, but never quite the way we want. Often, we don’t even get close to doing what we set out to do when we were idealistic youngsters. Even worse, we may well decide that idealism is suited only for children.

As practical adults, we give up the idea that we can live in a society where all can get a fair deal and all can live an authentic life. It’s simply the way it is, we think, that some are poor, some are desperate, some are second-class citizens and many (most?) of us are struggling to put meaning into lives that seem to be without purpose or connection.

We accept limits. We make our paychecks.

We live in such a way that we know we’re poisoning the world, yet we can’t figure out how to stop. We know about the genocides (Darfur today; where else tomorrow?). We know about war and death and dismemberment (Iraq today; where else the day after?). We know about terrorism ( New York and DC on 9/11, Madrid and London after that; where else next?) We know about torture. (Guantanamo Bay today; where else next month?) What can we do, though? We yearn to break free, but our lives are constrained by the water we swim in.

We believe the problem isn’t the water itself, but our closeness to it. As metaphorical fish, all we truly know is water. Day in, day out, we swim round and round in our culture, and even though we feel constrained and yearn for something different, we can’t fully imagine what that other thing could be. Because we are immersed in our culture, we can’t get enough perspective to see how to create the change we all need.

That’s why I created this blog. Call it the audacity of a lowly fish who wants to see what the ocean really looks like.

This blog is an attempt to leap straight out of the water of our culture and to look around. By doing so, I hope Becoming The Change will provide the perspective us dreamers so desperately need, along with giving us a safe haven where we can discuss ideas, tactics, frustrations and successes.

Becoming the Change will:

• Review the news from a changemaker’s perspective;
• Provide resources on political issues and links to organizations and individuals engaged in creating change;
• Provide a forum for discussion.

Among the topics this blog will tackle are:

• Changing Politics (How can our civic life be transformed so that it is fair and representative of all the people?)
• Changing the News Media (How can journalism morph itself so that citizens get a more complete and accurate view of our culture?)
• Changing Ourselves (How can we learn to step beyond our own fears and issues? How can we participate in civic culture in a constructive and effective way?)

Read. Comment. Email me your thoughts.

Right now, I will be the primary blogger at Becoming The Change. Writer and attorney Nancy Jane Moore, a woman of perspective and great humor, will post periodically.

I'm also looking for other bloggers to help with this project. If you want to get involved, please email me directly at hopeandpolitics@yahoo.com.

As many of you may know, I’ve been blogging for more than a year now at a little place called In This Moment. I intend to continue to keep In This Moment going. Now, though, that blog will include links to posts on Becoming The Change, as well as In This Moment originals.