The Brink
Last year I received a phone call from the hospital that nobody wants to get. I picked up, and a nurse identified herself and said, “Get a ride to the emergency room right away - you don’t have enough blood in your body right now and your heart might stop at any moment.”
Time slowed down. I was freaked out. I knew I had been bleeding severely from a fibroid (benign tumor) in my uterus, but I didn’t know until that moment that the amount of blood in my body had gotten dangerously low. I went to the emergency room…
How to Facilitate a Spontaneous Citizen Discussion
Last week, I arrived on time to attend the Rep. Ro Khanna Town Hall in Fremont, but the room designated for the meeting, as well as the overflow room, was already filled to capacity.
Step 1: identify a possible need
I found myself in the third space, surrounded by people eager to share perspective and questions with the representative and with their community. There was a tangible sense of frustration as people murmured wondering about what was going on, were we going to be able to see the congressman, etc…