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All the new thinking from chudgar.com, all in one cozy place.

Telling the “big stories” of the City of Saint Paul

Telling the “big stories” of the City of Saint Paul

Under the leadership of Mayor Melvin Carter, Minnesota’s capital city has become a national hub of inclusive, liberating civic innovation — but without a central communications office, Saint Paul had nobody to tell the “big stories” of their work. That’s when they called me.

Two pictures from picture books in which clothing has been applied to a naked boy and goblin using clear tape.

Who’s afraid of a goblin’s butt?

If you can believe it, a tiny part of a tiny part of me actually admires Moms for Liberty for censoring naked pictures, which it finds truly terrifying. This week, some plural reflections on the grown-up effects of childhood fears.

Some new bodies to try this week

Some new bodies to try this week

I’d been feeling crappy for weeks — not sick enough to take off work, but just sick enough to work slowly and badly. Thursday I finally decided to do something about it, and what happened was a remarkable development in this Year of Living Plurally: I ended up in a new and better body.

That tinkling you hear is the sound of breaking streaks

That tinkling you hear is the sound of breaking streaks

Last week I broke a long streak of daily meditation, a small bummer that got me thinking about how and why we track our own evolution over time. This week’s theme is streaks: how they work, how to choose them, and how to diversify your timescales to understand how you are growing in more ways.

New year, same you! 🎉 Some plural anti-resolutions for a mellower start to so-called 2024

New year, same you! 🎉 Some plural anti-resolutions for a mellower start to so-called 2024

The beginning of a new year can be an exhausting period of anxious urgency that ends, predictably, in failure and remorse. How unpleasant! Here are some ways that living more plurally can help you feel more comfy at the beginning of the arbitrary slice of time we call “2024.”

An image of the year laid out in a grid, with 12 drawings of complex objects with faces arranged across the mont

Join me in a Year of Living Plurally

In 2024, some friends and I are trying an experiment in bucking American individualism: a “Year of Living Plurally.” Every week or so, I’m going to share some reflections about how multiplicity, diversity, and community show up in our daily lives and the culture around us. Want to come along?

How one school district meets harm with repair

How one school district meets harm with repair

As our national life becomes more polarized, educators need new ways to respond to acts of hatred in their school communities. Leaders at Osseo Area Schools created a clear, just, and replicable process for responding to such incidents with healing and repair. Here’s how.