A group of Bush staff and friends paddled in the second annual Great River Race on September 15 to raise funds and awareness for the Urban Wilderness Canoe Adventures program that works to reduce the academic achievement gap in the Twin Cities. While the team was far from placing first in the race, they did win the Team Spirit Award. They also raised way more than their stretch goal to support the program. ... more

When Juanita Brown (co-founder of the World Café  and graduate of my alma mater Antioch College) shared an invitation from John Esterle of the Whitman Institute to join a gathering of grantees and funders who focus on process and relationship-building in their work, InCommons Manager Jake Voit and I jumped at t ... more

Last month I suggested to my parents (both in their 80s) and my husband that we take a road trip to Montevideo, MN to check out  the Minneapolis College of Art and Design’s (MCAD) Rural Arts Initiative and combine it with a “roots” trip to nearby Appleton, home of my great great grandparents, August and Sophia Buchholz. ... more

Tucked on the western slope of the Appalachian Mountains is picturesque Jonesborough, Tennessee—the oldest town in the state and in 1784 the seat of power for the State of Franklin.  It is also home of the International Storytelling Center (ISC), a magnificent complex that hosts a renowned annual storytelling festival in tents and plazas in the heart of the historic town. ... more

There is something special happening in western Minnesota, where row crops of corn and soybeans give way to the Minnesota River Valley. The land is populated with artists, farmers, native people and immigrants, business owners and supporters who have a sense of place and a connection to their land and community that is powerful and contagious. Recently, a group of my friends and I spent a weekend on the 2011 Meander, an upper Minnesota River Art Crawl. ... more