Thursday, July 17, 2025

Solving problems? Know the Network.

Below is a graphic that I shared in my July newsletter, and in my library.

This article is part of an on-line library hosted by an organization called, "The Commons".  Its title is "Power Mapping to Design a Winning Campaign Strategy".  Read it here

In its introduction, the article says, "To win a campaign, you need to correctly identify who has the power to fix the problem you want fixed. Then you need to pressure them to make the right decision. Power mapping is a tool to not only identify who holds that power, but, crucially, who holds influence over that person, and, therefore, who to target with your direct actions and campaign activities."

This is a strategy that I've followed, and shared, for more than 45 years.  The graphic below is a page from a visual essay showing the "operating principles" I followed in leading volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in Chicago from 1975 to 2011.


This lists nine skills/abilities needed in planning and leadership teams to operate an effective program.  I used this to try to find volunteers to help me lead a program that grew from 100 pairs of youth/students in 1975 to over 400 pairs by June 1992.   Initially I used an Excel spreadsheet to list all my volunteers, their jobs and where they worked, then used this to sort for skills I was looking for. I could choose from three or four names based on where they worked, and how this might impact that company's support for us if the volunteer took on a leadership role.

In the 1990s I started using a FileMaker Pro database to collect information that I used to support my print and email campaigns, and used to invite people to networking conferences that I held in Chicago every six months from May 1994 to May 2015. That grew to about 13,000 people by 2003.  That's when we were forced to stop sending print newsletters due to lack of money.

I continued to use the database to recruit volunteers and donors for Cabrini Connections until I left in 2011. And, I used it to invite people to conferences until the last one in May 2015.  However, it did not translate very well to our email campaigns that began in the early 2000s. I estimate that we lost regular contact with more than half of the people we'd been sending print newsletters to. 

It still has contact information for tutor/mentor programs in Chicago that I host on the Tutor/Mentor website.   I still have it if anyone would like to do an analysis of the range of organizations I was sharing information with.

After forming the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993 I began to attend a number of meetings focused on reducing violence and improving schools.  I often thought to myself, "Who else should be in this conversation?" and "What other information should they be looking at?"   Those two thoughts have driven my thinking about network analysis for over 30 years.

In the 1990s I created the graphic that I show below.  It shows the design of a mentor-rich program, with volunteers coming from many different backgrounds and kids getting involved at one grade level and staying through high school graduation.  Our goal was that those connections would continue after kids graduated.  Today I saw a note on Facebook from one former student to a volunteer, celebrating the volunteer's birthday.  It shows that what we hoped would happen is really happening, at least for some former students and volunteers.

Another version of that is in this second graphic.  This shows how I share information via a website, blogs, social media, e-Mail newsletters and one-on-one conversations that I hope will be passed on to other people. Each spoke of the wheel represents someone who could be sharing information with his/her network.


Both graphics visualize the wide range of people who need to be involved in helping kids in areas of persistent poverty move through school and into jobs and careers.  In this visual essay, titled "Total Quality Mentoring" I use these graphics and show the role of leaders in mobilizing volunteers to support youth serving programs in every high poverty area of Chicago, not just the most visible areas.

Here's a graphic I created in the late 1990s that shows an application of this thinking.

The people in the first ring of your network may not be able to influence change.  However, if they share posts like mine in their networks, a lager circle of people are exposed to these ideas.  Ultimately, this can reach the "super hero" who has the most power and can be a "tipping point" in an organization's growth and ability to have an impact.  

Understanding who is participating.

By tracking attendance at the Tutor/Mentor Conferences I was able to create maps like the one below, showing who attended.  You can see maps from the 1998 and 2008 conferences on this page.  These show a good representation from tutor/mentor programs, but low participation from key people who need to be strategic in supporting these programs, such as business, philanthropy, government, research and media.


In the mid 2000s I began to learn about social network analysis (SNA). One of the leading thinkers was (and still is) Valdis Krebs.  In 2009 I wrote this article, titled "Nudge the Net: - how do we mobilize personal network to solve problems of inner city violence?"  I followed up with this article.  In both, I featured Krebs' work. 

In 2010 Valdis Krebs donated software to the Tutor/Mentor Connection and presented a "how to" workshop to interns who I recruited to do an analysis of conference participation.  Below is a map from a blog article created by one of those interns, showing participation in the November 2008 and May and November 2009 conferences.


Unfortunately these interns were only able to help me for a short period of time and I've not found anyone to continue this work since then.  Thus, I was not able to map more of the conferences and move to the next stage of understanding "Who is missing?" and "How do we get them involved?"

Around this time I created the concept map shown below, showing "talent needed" in any successful organization.  A parallel map shows "networks needed". 

These maps build upon what I was doing in the 1970s and 80s.  In many articles I've suggested that people use these as planning tools for building their own organization, making sure that someone has each of the talents highlighted.  And I've suggested to researchers that instead of just mapping "who participated", use concept maps like mine to show "Who needs to be involved".  Then compare the participation maps to the "aspirational" maps, to learn "Who's missing?"


In 2012 I created a network analysis map showing my Facebook followers. You can see the analysis in this PDF essay.   

I've written about network building and network analysis often since starting this blog in 2005. Here's a 2009 article that uses the concept map shown above.  And here's an article from 2023.

Are you doing this type of analysis? 

How can we apply ideas in the Power Mapping article to better understand who is part of the ecosystem of people and organizations that need to be working collectively toward building and sustaining programs and policies that address all of the challenges shown on the concept map below?

This map shows many of the issues progressives want to address and that the current administration seems to want to make worse for immigrants, people of color, people living in high poverty areas, and people with special needs. 

Using concept maps like I show above, researchers could build a database showing all the different people and organizations who need to be included in on-going learning and problem solving, for many years.  

I'm still connected to the boy I first tutored in 1973. He attended college and has to sons who have graduated from college.  

As you read the above, one thing you may, or may not, be thinking about is, "How does an individual, or an organization, do all of this network building, mapping and analysis?" How do they keep doing it for 20-30 years? Where do they find the money?"

Read some of my articles about having universities adopt my work, with it funded by wealthy donors.   

Become the "YOU" in the graphics shown above and share this article.  Maybe you, or someone you know, will use the Power Mapping ideas to identify one or more people who will move these ideas forward.

Thanks for reading.  Visit this page to see where you can connect with me on social media.

And, visit this page to make a contribution to help me continue to do this work. 

Saturday, July 12, 2025

Connecting people and ideas

In many of my blog articles I show a 50 year strategy of "connecting people and ideas".   I posted this article on the MappingforJustice blog this week to illustrate how I do this by adding links to my library.

Here's another example.  I saw this post from the Prison Policy Initiative today on Twitter (yes, I still visit the site). 

I've followed them for more than three years and added them to the Tutor/Mentor library in July 2022. When I did that I put them on a list of "new links added" that I had just begun.

Under the listing I included a "posted in this section" link, which pointed to the page in the library where I host that link, and many others with related information.  


I've also added it to the list of resources that I share in my monthly e-mail newsletter, as you can see below and in my most recent issue.   


And, I boost their posts when I see them on social media, hopefully drawing the attention of others to their work.

Why do I do this?  The two concept maps below show why.

The first shows my goal of helping kids and volunteers connect in multi-year tutor, mentor and learning programs that help them through school and into adult lives. It also shows that kids in areas of persistent poverty face many challenges that they and their families cannot solve by themselves. View the map at this link


The second shows the many different supports kids need at each grade level as they move from first grade to their first job and a career.  All kids need these supports. However, kids in areas of concentrated poverty have fewer than other kids.  That needs to change.  Click here to view.


In the lower left corner of this map is a statement saying, "Volunteers who get involved as tutors/mentors learn about these issues, and help provide these other resources.   In high poverty areas of big cities, structured programs are needed to connect youth with volunteers."

Unless volunteer-based programs have an on-going strategy that exposes their volunteers to this information, too few will take the extra steps that I describe in this concept map.  My newsletters, website and social media posts are aimed at program leaders, board members, donors and educators who can help instill habits of "learning" among volunteers, not just students.

One way to know if they do that would be to look for a "resources" page on the youth program's website, to see if it points to libraries like mine, or if they have other strategies for educating their volunteers.

Below is a graphic that shows the role I've taken, of connecting "people who can help" with information, and with places "where help is needed".


The issues we're dealing with today have been with us for many years. Why? Because too few people who don't live in poverty care enough to devote time, talent, dollars and votes to build and sustain the programs and policies needed to help those who do live in poverty.  And that means more than just building volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs.  There are a wide range of issues that need to be addressed. None are short-term solutions.

The Prison Policy Institute does a great job of calling attention to one part of the problem, which is the massive incarceration rates of people in the USA.  Another is the Incarceration Reform Resource Center, which I also list in my newsletter.  Unless more people see the information they are sharing and hosting on their websites, too few will understand the problem and be motivated to do anything about it.

What's your role? Be the YOU in this graphic. 


Share my posts. Share my newsletter. Share information in the Tutor/Mentor library.  Start a learning circle in your family, business, social circle, faith group, college, etc. where you use the information I and others are sharing to become more informed and more active in finding, and funding, solutions.

As I write this, I'm not forgetting the huge challenge facing our freedom and democracy. Many of the policies being rolled out by the Administration hurt poor people, and people of color, more than others. They hurt all of us and are making the world an even less safe place.  I started this section of the library during Trump's first term to help you find resources to improve our government.  The links I include should also be part of your reading and learning circles.

Connect with me on LinkedIn, BlueSky, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Mastodon. (see links here)

And, if you value what I'm sharing, and the library I host, please visit this page and make a contribution to help fund the work.

Thank you. 

Wednesday, July 09, 2025

New look for visual essays and videos

I spent the last week reformatting pages on the Tutor/Mentor website where I have shared videos, visual essays and concept maps in the past.

This is the revised format for my video library.  I'm showing page 1 of 3 pages. 


Below is what the page looked like before.


The new format is two columns wide.  Each image is larger than on the previous format. Where this really makes a difference is when you view the page on your phone.  Instead of seeing the whole page scrunched onto your phone screen, you see one image at a time as you scroll through the page.

Below is page 1 of 5 pages of the reformatted visual essays page.


Below that is the first page of my concept map library.


I also reformatted pages showing visualizations and videos done by interns between 2005 and 2015. I posted this article on the intern blog to share those. 

As you look at my collection of visual essays you'll see presentations like this, where I've encouraged high schools, colleges and universities to create a Tutor/Mentor Connection study and action program on their own campus.


The interns who worked with me spent time reading my blog articles and looking through my website, then created their own interpretations, using various forms of visualization.  They were building new skills while learning new ideas. They were actively helping share ideas that could help more youth living in areas of persistent poverty get on-going tutor, mentor and learning support that would help them through high school, college and into adult lives and careers.  

Their articles focus on Chicago. The last were done in 2015, 10 years ago. That means there is a lot of new content that could be reviewed.  Any university in Chicago or any other place could have students doing this same work, and could soon have a page on their website showing student work, just as I do.

A few years ago I wrote an article titled "Tipping Points: Growing and Supporting New Leaders". In it I showed how universities could be building a new wave of leaders who work directly in youth serving organizations while training others to become more proactive in supporting nonprofit and social benefit organizations from their roles in business, professions, policy makers, etc. 

It's the type of article student learners could review and reproduce in ways that might influence more people to actually adopt the ideas!  Many might continue such work through their adult lives.

That's the goal.

I can be found on LinkedIn, BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon and Twitter (see links here).  I hope you'll connect with me.

If you appreciate what I share on my blogs and in the Tutor/Mentor library, please consider a contribution to help me pay the bills.  click here

Sunday, June 29, 2025

Drawing attention to tutor/mentor programs

When we formed the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993 our goal was to build an information base consisting of "all that was known" of volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs and apply that knowledge to expand the availability and enhance the effectiveness of these services to children throughout the Chicago region. This led to building a list of Chicago area programs that we initially published in a printed Directory (1994-2003), then an on-line Directory (2004-2018) and that we used to invite programs to gather and share ideas through May and November conferences that we hosted in Chicago (1994-2015). It's still available on this page of our website. 

As I wrote in last week's post, the www.tutormentorexchange.net site has been reconfigured after being moved to a new server.  That results in a revised look and feel. But it also meant that I've had to fix a lot of broken links and formatting problems.

Yesterday I updated all the links on the "In the News" page shown in the two graphics posted below.  These are media stories generated through the strategy we launched in 1993.



This page has a long list of stories.  Included is a link to an archive, that shows additional stories, including those that focused more on the Cabrini Connections part of our local-global strategy. 

This media strategy was Step 2 in a 4-part strategy developed in 1993. It's visualized on this concept map.


It's important to keep in mind that when we formed a new organization in late 1992 our first goal was to create a volunteer-based tutor/mentor program that would continued support to 7th graders who had aged out of the program hosted at the Montgomery Ward headquarters in Chicago (which I led from 1975 to October 1992) to help them move through high school.   We named that Cabrini Connections. As we launched that strategy in  January 1993 we were also in the beginning stages of building the second strategy, which became the Tutor/Mentor Connection.


Thus, over the 19 years that I led this two part strategy our first priority was always what we called the "Kids' Connection".  This map shows our location in the Near North part of Chicago and the location of other tutor, mentor and learning programs in other high poverty areas of Chicago.


We created the Tutor/Mentor Connection to draw needed resources to EVERY other program in Chicago as a strategy to help draw more of these same resources to OUR OWN program.  The information that has been archived in the Tutor/Mentor library was first intended to support the volunteers, students, leaders and donors of our own program. 

The media stories shown on the "In the News" page and the archive show how successful this strategy was despite having consistent challenges caused by the loss of our major supporter, Montgomery Ward, in 2000, then the economic downturns of the 9/11/2001 attack, and the financial collapse of 2008-10, which led to the split in mid 2011 which led to me forming the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC to keep the T/MC available in Chicago and help similar efforts grow in other cities.  

In most of the articles posted on this blog I've encouraged programs in Chicago and in other cities to embrace a "Tutor/Mentor Connection" type strategy and for universities to lead it.  Doing so can draw more support to your own organization, while helping your city fill all high poverty areas with needed youth serving programs.

I hope you'll take time to look at these media stories.  If you can find a similar list of stories created by anyone in your own community, over such a long period of time, please share it.

If not, then why not put together a team and duplicate it. The problems are still with us, and may grow more severe in the coming months and years.  

Share you thoughts and resources with me on LinkedIn, Facebook, BlueSky, Twitter, Instagram and other sites.  See links to my social media on this page.

If you want to recognize, or reward, or support my efforts, please visit this page and make a contribution to help me keep doing this work.

Thank you for reading.  Good luck to you.

Monday, June 23, 2025

New look for my website.

 Below is a view of the home page of the www.tutormentorexchange.net, which serves as the resource library for the Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present).

This is not a rebuild, or re-design, but the result of upgrading my Joomla package from the very first version of Joomla, used to create the site around 2007, and the most recent version of Joomla, which is the update completed this week. 

That work was needed since the control panel at my web hosting site was out-of-date and would shut down at the end of this year.  I had to move to a different hosting, and find a developer to help me.

I started working on this in late March 2025 and while the new site is on-line today, there is still work to be done on the site configuration.  Then, there is a huge amount of work needed to reformat content, since the new version spreads the text wider than in the previous version, which creates too much "white space" and too many fragmented text paragraphs.  Plus the tables that I built to host pages such as https://www.tutormentorexchange.net/conceptmaps don't format well when you view the site on your phone.

The phone version. That's the big change.

This new version has been created to work better with phones.  I hope in the end, that is true.  

The difference is that in the previous version the home page fitting onto your phone screen meant that everything was very small.  Unless someone went to the effort of enlarging the page, they might not open the various sections.


I created this PDF a couple of years ago to show all the information on the site.  On the old version you'd see that entire home page on your phone.

The opposite of this is now you can easily see sections, but all of the elements of the home page now "scroll" on your phone.  If you're used to the site on the computer, this should not bother you. However, if someone visits the site for the first time, using their phone, they won't see the "big picture" of how all of these sections are part of one big information-based strategy. I've added a "for phone users" element that will show up first on phone versions. 

In addition, those pages built using html tables do not format well on the phone at all. There are many other text formatting problems as well. You'll see sentence fragments on the PC and Phone versions for a few months to come. Please be patient. 

All the content is the same, so once the site is fully reformatted I'll update the PDF, switching out images, but keeping most of the text the same.  

As these changes have been made, the site has been shut down for one, or two, weeks at a time. 

The major hosting changes are finished.  Now fixing the formatting begins, along with adding new links to the library that I've been holding for the past three months.  The formatting changes will take much longer since I must do this work myself.  I'm finding out that there are huge differences in how the first version enabled me to create and organize content, and how this new version works.  It looks like a steep learning curve. I'm figuring things out by trial and error.  

Note: If you're a VOLUNTEER with Joomla experience and want to help edit the pages on this site so they format better on the PC and on a phone, please reach out to me. You don't need to be in Chicago.

I want to thank two donors who made gifts of $2,000 and $1,000 over the past six months. Without these, I could not have hired the developer who did this work for me.  If you want to make a similar contribution I could hire a writer/editor to update the website.  Visit this page to donate (note, it is reformatted from previous website version). 

One feature of the new site design is this "Who's Online" feature, which is on the lower left side of the home page.  My analytics for the previous version never captured all of the traffic that I felt the website was getting.  This shows "570 guests" on-line, at 2 pm, 6-23-2025.  

I checked this again at 8:38 pm, 6-23-2025 and it shows "4058 guest on-line".  I don't know if this is cumulative, or the number on the site at that specific time.  It's a new feature with the Joomla upgrade that I'll need to learn more about.  

At 4:04 pm on 6-24-2025 the "Who's Online" shows "14713 guests".  

I'll keep you posted. If you've been trying to access the site and it's been not opening for you, I hope you'll return again and keep using the site as the resource it is intended to be.

The "fund T/MI" page is still working and I hope one or more people will make generous contributions to help me keep paying the bills. Thank you!

Wednesday, June 18, 2025

Tips for Starting, Leading a Volunteer-Based Tutor/Mentor Program

I led a volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs serving 2nd to 6th grade youth in Chicago from 1975 to 1992.

Based on what I had learned from my networking with other programs in Chicago, and my 17 years working in retail advertising for the Montgomery Ward corporation, I formed the Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC) in 1993 to collect and share information that anyone can use to build personal and/organizational strategies that reach more k-12 youth living in high poverty areas and help them stay in school, stay safer in non-school hours, expand their network of adult support, and move toward graduation, advanced education and to jobs and careers.  


As we formed the T/MC in 1993 we were also launching a new volunteer-based tutor/mentor program aimed at helping kids who aged out of the first program after 6th grade have continued support all the way through high school. I led that until 2011.

I'm still connected to former student and volunteers from the programs I led, and now I see them posting photos showing their own kids finishing high school and college. That was the goal.

In 2011 I formed the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC to help keep the T/MC in Chicago and help the ideas spread to other cities with high concentrations of persistent poverty.  I still lead both. 

Note the use of maps in my essays. I focus on actions that need to be repeated over and over for many years in many places of Chicago and other cities. Such actions would lead to high-quality, mentor rich programs operating in every neighborhood with high concentrations of poverty. The information I share was intended to be used by our own volunteers, students, staff, leaders and donors at Cabrini Connections, the program we lead.

It's also intended to be used by others in the for-profit world, education, and the for-profit world. In fact, if leaders in business, religion, health care and universities adopt this leadership strategy, employees can form tutor/mentor support teams using the ideas we share.


As we enter a new school year staff and volunteers at tutor/mentor programs throughout Chicago and the rest of the country are beginning to plan 2025-26 events.

I'm sure that somewhere, meetings are being held where someone is asking "what roles are we looking to fill on the year-end dinner committee or volunteer recruitment committee?"

Since the programs I led aimed to empower many teams of volunteers and students to support different activities and events throughout the year, I thought I'd share some ideas that I've learned over my 35 years of leading a volunteer-based tutor/mentor program.

I'm not going to write a long blog article, instead I encourage you to open this "Steps to Start a Program" pdf and use it as a guide in forming teams that want to have an impact.



Then review this "Operating Principles" pdf which focuses on good planning. I show two pages from that essay below.



This page of the "Operating Principles" pdf focuses on types of talents that need to be part of an effective committee.

Do you have someone who can be the project manager for your committee? Or someone who is an effective communicator? Perhaps the most important role is that of a "recruiter" who can find people with these talents and bring them onto a committee or a board.

This Tutor/Mentor essay shows how volunteers from the business community can help expand learning opportunities in organized tutor/mentor programs.  


This Total Quality Mentoring visual essay shows the same ideas, but in a different format. 

I hope these planning guides help you identify the skills and talents your volunteers might contribute to one or more of the projects your planning for the coming school year.

If you're with a business or a university and can form teams of volunteers, your team can help every tutor/mentor program in Chicago and other cities by the way it mobilizes resources and points them to individual organizations.  You can use the ideas from this volunteer recruitment visual essay.


If you find these ideas useful please connect with me on LinkedIn, BlueSky, Twitter, Mastodon, Facebook, or Instagram. (see links here). 


Use your own media to help share the ideas and others that you'll find in dozens of articles on this blog.

I depend on a small group of donors to continue doing this work. If you can help please visit this page and send a contribution.

Friday, June 13, 2025

After, or before, the march, do the reading.

 Are you planning to march in a "NO KINGS" protest tomorrow? Have you been protesting already?  I've been limited due to carrying an oxygen tank with me whenever I go outside, but I'm going to try to go out tomorrow.  Be safe.

A few days ago I found this article on my LinkedIn feed. 

I hope you'll read it. As the world descends deeper and deeper into chaos it is more important than ever that we find places to connect and learn from each other.  

I've been building the Tutor/Mentor library since the 1970s, with books, videos, articles and research that I've found interesting and useful and have archived, to make it available to others.  I started putting this on the Internet in the late 1990s and have added to it regularly since then. 

Below is a map showing the entire library. Click here to view

This now has more than 2000 external links, plus hundreds of articles, visual essays and videos created by myself and interns who have worked for me in the past.  Many of the websites I point to have their own extensive libraries.  

Imagine all of the people who work in these organizations or write these article were connected in a huge information and problem solving web. Twitter had that potential. No longer. Other social media sites have also offered that potential.  I started connecting with others in the 1990s via email list conversations, then Yahoo Groups, then Google+.  

I built my library using this on-going question: "What are all the things we need to know and do to reach all kids in high poverty areas with organized tutor, mentor and learning programs that help them move safely through school and into adult lives, with jobs and careers that enable them to raise their own kids free of poverty?"  

Each node on the concept map has a small box at the bottom that leads to an external web site or another concept map.

One section that I've been building for the past 10-15 years focuses on race, poverty and inequality, which are root causes for why we need extra programs and where they are most needed.  This concept map show sections in this part of the library.

In 2016, after Donald Trump was elected to be President of the United States, I began building a list of articles on a DropBox page, showing the harm he was causing. I've expanded this list over the past nine years to show the forces that have put the rich in power over myself and the masses of ordinary people. 

A mid 2024 addition was a video of the Midnight Kingdom Lecture Series, which is described as "a deep dive into the history of how our world was constructed using white supremist lies, religious mythologies, and poisonous conspiracy theories".  It's based on a book by Jarod Yates Sexton.


Open this link to view Episode 1 of the series.  I've only watched the first two videos so far, but it's already pretty depressing, and a strong reason to vote for Kamala Harris, just to slow the forces working against us.

That video is only the most recent of a long list of articles I've put on this page. The graphic below shows a few added in mid 2022.


In a July 2024 article I wrote about the Internet as a force for Change.  By that, I meant that the Internet makes all of this information available to everyone with access. It's there, if you're motivated to look.  It does what the printing press began to do about 550 years ago.

In Episode 2 of the Midnight Kingdom lectures Yates shows how those in power try to control media and all forms of learning to shape a world view that supports them staying in power.  He also shows how people who are oppressed find ways to learn about issues and unite to create change.

The frightening thing is that they then become the ones in power, who apply the same tactics to stay in power.  This is a constant, never-ending battle.  

Now that Trump, and Project 2025 are in power, you can see them implementing the things Yates and others forecast in their articles and videos.  People are rising to stop these actions. 

That's where libraries like mine become important.

Here's a concept map showing another section of my library. It focuses on innovation, knowledge management, mapping, community building and collaboration.  

While much information is available to show the problems we face, too little shows how we can learn, share and come together to try to solve these problems.  The articles I point to in this section of the library can be used by people in any part of the world, to try to solve any complex problem.  Open and close the links under each node, just to learn what's available.

As long as people make an effort to aggregate and archive resources that show what's happening and why, we have a slim chance of blunting the power-grabbing tendencies of those in power and give representation to the rest of us.

This only works if before and after we protest, we're spending time learning ways to be more effective.  

Keeping this information available to you is an on-going effort. Since 2011 I've been the only one managing this effort (and paying for it from my own pocket and a small set of donations).

The history I point to extends back to the beginning of civilization when people in power began to use religion to force people to do the will of the people in power.  It will continue into the future.

Beyond my lifetime. Maybe beyond the current version of the Internet.

Thus, I appeal to young people, future thinkers, technologists, etc. to reach out and take ownership of my archives (and those of others) to keep the library updated, and to move it to new platforms as the current ones are shut down.

You can find me on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, BlueSky, Facebook, Mastodon, etc.  See links on this page.  Please share my articles so others have access to this information.  Reach out if you want to help.

Finally, I appeal to you to join the small group of donors who make annual contributions to help me pay the bills.  Visit this page