Testimonials

Lisa S

CPL Member

"Lisa Swallow’s Crossing Party Lines meetup offers a rare opportunity in today’s political climate, one I find deeply satisfying. I had been looking for a way to engage respectfully with people of the opposite political persuasion when someone mentioned this group. From the first meeting, it was a great learning experience. Lisa lays out some guidelines for respectful conversation, but more than that, she creates an atmosphere that encourages courtesy without sacrificing honesty. She has also done her homework. She brings in background materials on how people form their values and perspectives, giving us a framework from which to consider our differences. An important aspect of the approach is that we are not trying to change people’s minds but understand more fully each others’ reasoning. The really fun part is that we go away from each meeting as friends. I would like to see this kind of conversation begin to take place all across the country."

Jenn

Library Project

“Working with Lisa Swallow at Crossing Party Lines has been truly an amazing experience! Lisa is an incredibly kind, patient, and competent mentor/teacher. I felt supported by her through every step of my project. She did a wonderful job of offering guidance & direction while also empowering my teammates and me to take ownership of our project. Lisa provided us with the materials and knowledge to prepare for our event, helped us set goals, and offered constructive feedback through every step of the process. Overall I felt well prepared, satisfied with the outcome of our project, and happy with the knowledge and experience I took away from working with Lisa.”

Fabio

Youth Member, Brazil

"I really enjoyed this Crossing Party Lines experience.

The whole series of conversations was really interesting. The themes and questions that organized the interactions were thought-provoking. Personally, I was able to discuss how people who think differently understand, for example, the role of the media and the importance of dialoguing in politics and elections, and it was amazing to see how people can have different views and still be civil and respectful when there is a structure to the interaction.

This experience was really insightful and it helped me to better understand other generations and personalities. The dialogues were very engaging. I especially remember the 5th class, about fear in the elections. It was very surprising for me to find out how people from both sides of the political spectrum were afraid that something might happen after this year’s elections, like the denial of the results, or even violence. This was one of the biggest experiences for me."

Norm

Facts Workshop, Oregon

"Hi, I've been working on a journal this past year. Here is something I wrote a while ago that says something about what attracts me to this Meetup: This is my commitment and hope for humanity: Learning to live in dignity, with gratitude and respect of others rather than incivility, ingratitude and disrespect of others. Listening from the beginning point of giving others the benefit of the doubt that they are coming from a place of good faith and intent, rather than assuming, right off the bat, that others of opposing views are not worthy of being given the benefit of the doubt (assuming the goodness, rather than badness; the best of, rather than the worst of others".

CPL Workshop Participant

Workshop Participant

"This was new for me as this was my first step to taking action and not just passively (although digging in with purpose) taking in information but being able to do something with the information I have gathered. For the past 7-10 months, I have been overloading myself with information as I have been trying to stay on top of everything going on as the current administration has "flooded the zone" with new things to either try to fit it all in quickly or to distract so that people do not have enough capacity to deal with any one issue because they continue to add more issues. I really appreciated this talk since I am trying to talk politics with the people in my life who have neutral or opposing views, so these tips and tricks will definitely be in my back pocket to try to bridge the gaps. Thank you!"

Lisa S

Jenn

Fabio

Norm

CPL Workshop Participant

General Info

CPL 200: Moral Foundations in Political Conversation