Next Week: Author Barbara Kingsolver Visits The Commons
In many of Barbara Kingsolver’s novels, characters who are very different from one another are thrown together, forced to interact, and maybe even form tight bonds. In her most recent, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Demon Copperhead, Kingsolver exposes readers to the diversity of people and experiences within Appalachia, a region often flattened into superficial portrayals that fuel what she describes as “urban-rural antipathy.” Through the novel, readers from the region can see themselves depicted in a more nuanced way, while outsiders can gain insights into an overlooked part of the country.
Join Chronicle of Philanthropy deputy editor Nandita Raghuram on Tuesday, June 3, at 11:30 a.m. ET for a conversation with Kingsolver on the ways fiction can tell the stories of people and places that politicians, pundits, and the public often ignore. And she’ll share a bit about her own philanthropy, including Higher Ground, a home she and her husband established for women recovering from addiction.
Register here for this free event.
Be Kind to Each Other, Dear Graduates
More than a few nonprofit and philanthropy leaders are taking to commencement stages to decry our country’s divisions and urge Americans to come together. More than 60 college and university presidents plan to deliver a message that civil discourse, empathy, and democratic engagement are essential to democracy.
Philanthropist Daniel Lubetzky, founder of KIND snacks, delivered the keynote address at the University of California at Berkeley. The son of a Holocaust survivor who grew up in Mexico City before coming to the States, Lubetzky has spent decades working to bring Israelis and Palestinians together. He’s also the founder of Builders, an antipolarization organization.
He told the Berkeley students:
“The last few years have been so hard on all of us — so much division, so much hate. When we feel threatened, we get tribal. We ask, ‘Is this an ally or an enemy?’
“And once labeled, we stop seeing nuance or humanity. We defend our tribe no matter what. We counteract our enemy no matter what. We instinctively don’t want to feel empathy toward them, as if acknowledging their humanity will weaken our claim.
“But denying the humanity of the other is not the answer. We don’t want to become destroyers. A destroyer is an extremist who takes action to divide, to demolish, and to diminish, because they deny the humanity of the other.
“We need to choose to be builders instead. A builder is a person that acknowledges everyone’s humanity and takes action to unite, to bring light, to build together, to build enterprises, to build schools, to build bridges. The power of this framework is that anyone can choose to be a builder.
