I wrote an article two weeks ago describing the first part of my conversation with a student I’m calling “Brent.” If you haven’t read it yet, I’d encourage you to check that out first. It has the first half of this story as well as four practical dialogue tips I … Read More
Four Practical Dialogue Tips from My Conversation with Brent
Estimated reading time: 12 minutes. I noticed John Paul, one of our volunteers, looked nervous in his conversation with a student in front of our poll table. I walked up and started listening so he could get help if he needed it. John Paul quickly asked me for my take, … Read More
Recognizing the Root Problem
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes. A few weeks ago I wrote about the importance of pro-life advocates being open to letting their conversation change topics. I gave the examples of religion and same-sex marriage and described how it might be more important for a given person to talk about one … Read More
My Conversation with “Mark” on Personhood and Apathy
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes. This is the story of one of the dialogues I had during our outreach at the University of Michigan. I talked to a student I’ll call “Mark” at the University of Michigan who was pro-choice. He thought personhood began in the 2nd trimester, but he wasn’t … Read More
Be Open to Letting the Conversation Change Topics
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes. Learning to defend your deeply held beliefs is really important, but it’s easy to get into the wrong mindset. Sometimes we get so focused on supporting the arguments for our view and defeating the arguments for the other view that we get…well, weird. We can get … Read More
A Simple Change That Instantly Communicates a Nuanced Approach to the Abortion Debate
It was only two months after launching Equal Rights Institute last year before we facilitated our first outreach. We had our training seminar developed by then, but we hadn’t yet had the opportunity to design our own outreach tools. So we utilized our favorite poll table option that we learned … Read More
Don’t Be Too Nice
This post is adapted from a newsletter I wrote while on staff with Justice For All. Estimated reading time: 4 minutes. “Gracious confrontation” is not a contradiction in terms; it is an essential part of mastering the art of good dialogue. I learned this in April of 2014 at a … Read More
Question: What Would Be a Better Word Than “Abortionist”?
I’d like to host a discussion in the comments below. The question is: what would be a better word to use than “abortionist”? Estimated reading time: 2 minutes. UPDATE 7/13/15: There’s been lots of great discussion in the comments, from both sides of the debate, exactly what I was hoping … Read More
A Response to My Facebook Newsfeed Today
If you’re unhappy about the supreme court decision, be a gracious loser, no need to be over the top and hassle people who disagree with you. If you’re happy about the supreme court decision, be a gracious winner, no need to be over the top and hassle people who disagree … Read More
When a Hypothetical Story Isn’t Hypothetical After All
Sometimes when I talk about abortion with strangers, it feels like I’ve already had that conversation before, because they’re making familiar statements. But the truth is, I haven’t had that conversation before, because I haven’t heard that statement from that person before. Even though some statements are very common, different … Read More