Thankful for One Another.
Keeping sight of the encouraging examples, in discouraging times. (Including a guest post.)
Children approaching the Smithsonian castle on the National Mall, in a photo from the 1970s. If the little boys of that era are still around now, they might be among the ‘Citizen Historians’ of our era working to defend treasures of American history like those at the Smithsonian, so that future generations can learn from them. (Smithsonian Archives photo.)
What’s something Americans, as a nation, might feel thankful for, in this troubling season?
Of course each family and community has its own unique balances of ups and downs. But this week I am taking time to remain aware of, and be thankful for, a collective achievement of our moment. That is the way so many people who care about this country are shouldering the responsibility to defend its values, its institutions, its claims to decency.
Not all of us. Not yet enough of us. But more and more of us—in more and more places, through more and more innovative and effective ways of standing up, standing together, standing strong.
On the many Thanksgiving weeks Deb and I have spent living outside the US, we’ve usually gathered with other Americans for what seemed like a special, private holiday. To the Brits or Chinese or Japanese around us, it was just another Thursday in late November. For the Americans abroad, over turkey or whatever large fowl we could find, it was a time for reflection on family and friends—and on our homeland, as we viewed it from afar.
This Thanksgiving week, we are in the US, thankful to be with family. But today on the Our Towns site, Deb Fallows has written about some people all around us whose bravery and inventiveness we all can learn from, and be thankful for.
This list is obviously not exhaustive. The list of examples is growing daily. (Just to mention one: The NYT’s excellent ongoing series, “50 States, 50 Fixes.”) But these are a few of the people and organizations doing what they can, where they are, when they are able. In different ways, they are “meeting the moment,” and giving the rest of us courage and ideas about doing the same.
Here is Deb’s report, from the Our Towns site.
‘Catch Them Doing Something Good.’
In communities large and small across the country, citizens are finding new ways to work together to meet the challenges of this time.
By Deborah Fallows
One of my friends, a former teacher and librarian, recently reminded me of what she described as a basic classroom management tenet: “Catch them doing something good.”
That instruction is compelling and always useful. And it is especially important amidst the chaos we are living through right now– politically, emotionally, psychologically, and practically.
On the road, from South Dakota to Florida.
Our Towns has been finding “something good” recently in Spearfish, South Dakota, where we talked with town residents and with students at Black Hills State University, known as “BH.” We heard about the statewide effort to prepare students to become “lifelong citizens,” with programs centered at BH’s new Center for Civic Engagement. And then over 400 miles east, at the University of South Dakota (USD) in Vermillion, we talked, listened, and learned about parallel programs based at USD’s Chiesman Center for Democracy.
A few weeks earlier, in late October, we were part of a conference in Jacksonville, Florida, organized by the innovative “10 Across” program, known as “10X,” from Arizona State University (ASU). The 10X initiative connects cities that lie along the I-10 Interstate highway, which runs from the Pacific oceanfront in Santa Monica, on its western end, to the waterways of Jacksonville on its eastern end.
The idea behind 10X is that this southern tier of the US is “the premier observatory for the [nation’s] future,” where every 21st century American challenge shows up in stark relief. Extreme weather; extremes of economic opportunity and outcome; the advantages and challenges that come with rapid growth, and from immigration; and much more.
10X in Jacksonville assembled a novel “convergence” of three groups that might not seem like natural partners: philanthropists; bureaucrats; actuaries. These were leaders of community foundations; “sustainability” and “resilience” officials from local governments, who pay attention to effects of climate change; and leaders of the insurance industry, whose entire business is being upended by the same climate changes of drought, floods, temperature swings, etc.
Something good definitely emerged from these meetings: Three very different groups recognized the many interests they had in common and engaged seriously on short- and long-term collaborations to protect their communities.
Doing what you can, where you are, when you are able.
Back home in DC, looking for something good has been an antidote to the toxicity creeping into our everyday life here. In the past few months, we’ve been witnessing random ICE stops along popular and safe corners and streets where errands take us daily, and running into National Guard (some now armed in DC), who were clearing brush along the Potomac River’s popular and safe bike path.
With a positive spirit, we’ve been deliberately tracking creative citizen movements, both here in our beleaguered hometown and around the country. Some of these arose in response to questions we have increasingly heard from people in all corners of the country, “What can I do?” “How can I have some effect?”
Citizens’ answers are in line with the guiding sentiment of universally-admired and Our Towns friend, the late Jane Goodall: Do what you can, where you are, when you are able.
Preserving history, in DC and beyond.
We all know the most familiar response, the No Kings protests, happening at a person-by-person level outside the front doors and in the neighborhoods of anyone and everyone around the U.S.
Less well known is this one from Washington DC, called Citizen Historians. The Citizen Historians project was founded in August of 2025, offsetting the Trump administration’s call for a review of all the contents of the Smithsonian Museums. Pointedly, the review was aimed at (among other things) “all wall didactics, placards and gallery labels currently on display” to ensure alignment with the administration’s definition of “the American story.”
The movement was the idea of two Georgetown professors of history, Jim Millward and Chandra Manning. The goal is simple but massive: to “document everything on display at the Smithsonian’s 21 museums, the national zoo, and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial museum.”
Over seven weeks, until the government shutdown closed doors and gates in October, some 1500 volunteers photographed and submitted nearly 50,000 images and videos of the exhibits. Here is a link to the immense trove amassed thus far. Another Georgetown University colleague, Jessica Dickinson Goodman, is building an infrastructure to eventually store all the current digital assets.
Since the Smithsonian properties have reopened after the seven-week federal shutdown, volunteers have been back at work, documenting the rest of the holdings.
Protecting ‘America’s Best Idea,’ our National Parks.
DC’s Citizen Historians follows the model of the Save our Signs project, the citizen-powered response to Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum’s ask of people to report on any National Park sign, display, or program that would “improperly minimize or disparage certain historical figures or events.” Save our Signs is, in turn, part of the national Data Rescue Project, a clearinghouse for rescued at-risk government data of all sorts.
As reported in Maine Public, at least 10 signs have been removed in Acadia National Park, signs referencing damage done to the parks by climate change, descriptions of historical roots of indigenous tribes to the park’s natural assets, and even suggestions for minimally-damaging tourist behavior, like sticking to pathways.
From Citizen Historians, to Citizen Journalists.
We have been following another citizen movement from The Land, an online journal in Cleveland, Ohio area. Part of The Land’s original mission is to increase civic engagement by enlisting and training local citizens to report and write about stories in their home communities. Stories that will resonate with readers, inform and even inspire them to take action to improve the well-being of their Communities.
So far, over 100 people have been trained and mentored by The Land’s professional journalists. The 12-week program covers story development, reporting and interviewing, writing, editing and fact-checking, and publishing, and offers a $300 dollar stipend.
One of our favorite stories from a recent citizen journalist graduate at The Land, Sharyn Arai, describes her experience at the Citizen Police Academy (CPA) in the nearby suburb of Lakewood.
She writes about the program, one of many hundreds of CPAs in the country: “During a time when police around the country are facing increasing scrutiny and decreasing public trust, the Lakewood Police Department offers citizens a chance to connect, ask questions, and learn about life as a police officer.”
The program in Lakewood is over 25 years old. This year’s 12-week spring course graduated 14 students, introducing them to everyday police activities like traffic stops, jail visits, K-9 meet and greets, gun range and crime scene investigations. They tested tourniquets and blast suits, and shadowed officers on a 4-hour ride-along. A newly-formed alumni organization encourages graduates to maintain their network and the “spirit of their experience.”
Grass-roots organizing and local participation is not new to the US. Many are in the “citizen scientist” category. From arguably the largest, Ebirds, a global database of more than 1 billion bird observations, to the modest and dedicated local Turtle Patrols along the west coast of Florida to track sea turtles, which we wrote about in Our Towns here.
What is new and worth calling out now are some examples of how any citizen today can follow Jane Goodall’s mantra to get involved. This also a reminder to us at Our Towns to notice and celebrate “something good,” and to recognize the people taking action and inspiring others.
This is a lovely and necessary commentary. And next time you are in Los Angeles, visit the Metro YMCA (26 sites across LA County) to witness how the organization has stepped up to address food insecurity, homelessness, and the challenges faced by undocumented people who fear leaving their homes. The Y works closely with local government, NGOs, and the business community to make things better in these dispiriting times.
Jim I also remember Thanksgivings in foreign lands.
We have much to be thankful for with family and friends.
That turkey in the White House might reflect that our first Thanksgiving was when Native Americans provided a feast for some hungry immigrants from across the Atlantic.