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In 1998, Joan Blades and Wes Boyd, co-founders of Berkeley Systems, a software company, drafted a one-sentence petition they hoped would end the public blood-letting and disruption of government that had resulted from President Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky. The President had been accused of the affair in January, and the country had already endured […]

It was only a living room conversation.  But: this living room conversation, earlier in the month, was between two clashing political titans: the co-founder of MoveOn.org, Joan Blades, and the co-founder of Tea Party Patriots, the largest and most authentic of the Tea Party groups, Mark Meckler.  Neither represented their respective organizations; they were there in their

It was a mind-blowing political tableau: a co-founder of liberal bulwark MoveOn sitting in her Berkeley living room, laughing, sharing homemade blueberry scones and occasionally agreeing with a national Tea Party figure. Truth is, MoveOn’s Joan Blades – clad in Lululemon yoga pants and clogs – and Mark Meckler, sporting a leather cowboy vest, boots and a belt buckle larger

Joan Blades, founder of MomsRising.org, and guest speaker Jackie Salit, author of Independents Rising, hosted an event in San Francisco on Saturday to discuss a new political culture in America; one focused on understanding different perspectives. Salit opened the discussion with a light-hearted memory of the barriers she faced at a young age. “I don’t remember ever becoming an

I recently invited people to share blog posts explaining How You Will Change the World in 2012 for the new Social Good Blog Series I launched earlier this month. Changing the World requires planning and it’s important to think about what problems really need solving. I wasn’t sure what kind of response I’d get to this call