Ann Braden

Crossing Our Divides, One Honest Word at a Time

My column in the Brattleboro Reformer this month examines the role that honesty plays in our ability to cross divides, whether it’s a class divide, a racial divide, or if it’s about guns, a theme that run through The Benefits of Being an Octopus. I also had the chance to talk with Olga Peters on WKVT-Green Mountain Mornings… Read more »

It is official!

In just over a year from now, The Benefits of Being an Octopus (previously titled Zoey and the Screaming Monkeys) will be an actual book. Actual readers will be able to read it. This is serious.        

Podcast: Making Room for Civil Discourse

The cultural divide that exists in The Benefits of Being an Octopus is not one that’s easy to cross, but it is possible. Recently, I had a great conversation with Chris Lenois at WKVT Radio’s Green Mountain Mornings about the work that’s needed for civil discourse and my visit to Rutland High School to find common ground… Read more »

Using First Person Accounts to Understand the Realities of the Working Poor

I have long been a believer in the power of first person accounts. My Masters-in-Teaching thesis began by focusing on all the problems of history textbooks and then morphed into a 200-page alternative U.S. History textbook that relied entirely on first person accounts. Not only do first person accounts put regular people smack dab in… Read more »