As a proud Worcesterite currently living in "big Worcester" (Philly, lol) I love Worcester Sucks and appreciate you creating news coverage of Worcester real deal news not being covered in the T and G or elsewhere. Hearing Keith's speech at council was heartening in these completely shit times in general in this country AND as someone who is one of many people advocating for an alternative narrative for Worcester than more boondoggles, gentrification and BS- and one that is firmly on the side of, most people don't want our tax dollars to pay for bombing the hell out of Palestinian kids. Thanks to you both and good luck Keith!
So well said Leah! And thank you, it means a lot. We’re pushing the real local journalism rock up the damn hill every day. Really nice to hear it means something cuz hoooo boy there are days
Some time ago I saw a blog post using the term "line-chart liberalism" for the kind of boosterist policy and deference to indicators that Keith is talking about, and I think the term should be more widely used. It makes caring about abstractions instead of people sound as banal and out of touch as it actually is.
Thanks Bradley. Reading this was very affirming. As I've been door knocking and canvassing, I've realized that I'm essentially collecting stories and anecdotes about how people in our community live and what matters most to them.
What the data says is less important to me than the 5 elderly folks who told me they would love to move to a small apartment, if only rents weren't $2500/month for a 1 BR. It's the elderly couple who told me they fear for their firefighter son, who can't make a good enough living to start a family, and who goes out to save people from burning buildings knowing that WFD is understaffed at the ground level. It's a guy off Lincoln Street who told me a guy tried to break in during the middle of the day, while he was home with his young daughter, and 3 calls to the police didn't yield any response.
Stories like this are what stick with me and what tend to resonate with people in their retelling. Having the data to back things up helps make the case, but so far, it's feeling a lot more effective to lead with the story and the emotions first.
Also after "young professionals" and students, the biggest demographic of people who live in my building are empty nesters who sold their house and are now spending that money on rent. Reverse mortgages are a fucking scam and they are also literally a better deal than taking the bet that you'll die before you run out of rent money from the house you sold.
One of the greatest lessons I ever learned as an organizer is that data is important, but that stories and narratives are actually at least as important and actually tend to resonate with people more. It was a lesson I had to learn the hard way while working on a project where we had all the data in the world on our side and it just wasn't moving people the way I assumed it would. A thing I teach organizers now and I think I said on literally the first episode of this podcast is "If you want to know what people need, go ask them, they'll tell you", to this day it amazes me what a mind-blowing concept this is to people, especially to those (with respect for academia) who come out of an academic background. I see so much time and money get wasted trying to figure out how to help people without once asking said people what they need. People actually know what they need, and they'll tell you if you just ask
Hi Sandra! I'm Keith. I work from home as a manager in a corporate job. My professional experience is in Project Management and Business Analysis and I currently work in IT for a midsize pharma company based in CA and PA. I've been doing this type of work for about 17 years.
I'm a first-generation college student who studied economics at UMASS Dartmouth and I have an MBA from UMASS Amherst. I worked full-time or nearly full-time for all of that at various jobs, like forklift driver, gas station clerk, and customer service rep.
On paper, I'm a pretty boring dude.
But I care deeply about the world around me and I want to pass on to my daughters a better world. I can't change the whole world, but I can least stand up and start to do that here in Worcester.
As a proud Worcesterite currently living in "big Worcester" (Philly, lol) I love Worcester Sucks and appreciate you creating news coverage of Worcester real deal news not being covered in the T and G or elsewhere. Hearing Keith's speech at council was heartening in these completely shit times in general in this country AND as someone who is one of many people advocating for an alternative narrative for Worcester than more boondoggles, gentrification and BS- and one that is firmly on the side of, most people don't want our tax dollars to pay for bombing the hell out of Palestinian kids. Thanks to you both and good luck Keith!
So well said Leah! And thank you, it means a lot. We’re pushing the real local journalism rock up the damn hill every day. Really nice to hear it means something cuz hoooo boy there are days
Thank you so much Leah, and fully agree that I think Philly and Cleveland are in an intense competition over being "big Worcester" :)
hahaha let's start a union.
Some time ago I saw a blog post using the term "line-chart liberalism" for the kind of boosterist policy and deference to indicators that Keith is talking about, and I think the term should be more widely used. It makes caring about abstractions instead of people sound as banal and out of touch as it actually is.
https://web.archive.org/web/20180505093618/https://jasonlefkowitz.net/2014/01/against-line-chart-liberalism/
Thanks Bradley. Reading this was very affirming. As I've been door knocking and canvassing, I've realized that I'm essentially collecting stories and anecdotes about how people in our community live and what matters most to them.
What the data says is less important to me than the 5 elderly folks who told me they would love to move to a small apartment, if only rents weren't $2500/month for a 1 BR. It's the elderly couple who told me they fear for their firefighter son, who can't make a good enough living to start a family, and who goes out to save people from burning buildings knowing that WFD is understaffed at the ground level. It's a guy off Lincoln Street who told me a guy tried to break in during the middle of the day, while he was home with his young daughter, and 3 calls to the police didn't yield any response.
Stories like this are what stick with me and what tend to resonate with people in their retelling. Having the data to back things up helps make the case, but so far, it's feeling a lot more effective to lead with the story and the emotions first.
Also after "young professionals" and students, the biggest demographic of people who live in my building are empty nesters who sold their house and are now spending that money on rent. Reverse mortgages are a fucking scam and they are also literally a better deal than taking the bet that you'll die before you run out of rent money from the house you sold.
One of the greatest lessons I ever learned as an organizer is that data is important, but that stories and narratives are actually at least as important and actually tend to resonate with people more. It was a lesson I had to learn the hard way while working on a project where we had all the data in the world on our side and it just wasn't moving people the way I assumed it would. A thing I teach organizers now and I think I said on literally the first episode of this podcast is "If you want to know what people need, go ask them, they'll tell you", to this day it amazes me what a mind-blowing concept this is to people, especially to those (with respect for academia) who come out of an academic background. I see so much time and money get wasted trying to figure out how to help people without once asking said people what they need. People actually know what they need, and they'll tell you if you just ask
Hi Bill, might we have a little more information, his experience, his education, etc. etc.
Hi Sandra! I'm Keith. I work from home as a manager in a corporate job. My professional experience is in Project Management and Business Analysis and I currently work in IT for a midsize pharma company based in CA and PA. I've been doing this type of work for about 17 years.
I'm a first-generation college student who studied economics at UMASS Dartmouth and I have an MBA from UMASS Amherst. I worked full-time or nearly full-time for all of that at various jobs, like forklift driver, gas station clerk, and customer service rep.
On paper, I'm a pretty boring dude.
But I care deeply about the world around me and I want to pass on to my daughters a better world. I can't change the whole world, but I can least stand up and start to do that here in Worcester.