Alex and Katie: Separated at Birth?

Now that Katie’s home from her last great adventure (and has clearly slept more than any Koala Down Under), it’s time for her to re-engage with humanity in a constructive way.

Tomorrow she starts a week of learning about social justice at a student workshop called Exploring Your Social Justice Community. This is sponsored by the Resource Center for Nonviolence in Santa Cruz. It’s just the kind of thing you’d expect from Santa Cruz!

If you aren’t familiar with us, we’ll we’re kind of known for our liberal slant especially when it comes to individual freedom. So I’m expecting Katie will get a fairly biased indoctrination this week.

Update: Wanna know just how liberal this community is? This should make you chuckle.

But that’s where the fun begins.

They say kids are often mouthpieces for their parent’s politics but that is seldom the case in our house. While she does share my opinions on civil rights, she’s often the Alex P. Keaton around here arguing with me, my mom and anyone else who isn’t a moderate conservative! I don’t think these workshop people know what they are in for.

I’ve coached Katie to listen. Even if she disagrees. If she’s truly interested in a career in diplomacy, I explained, she has to be open to other points of view and to understand the rationale behind that point. That’s the only way she can influence people and help them see her point of view.

So we’ll see how this goes. I promise an update as the week draws to a close. I’ll try to capture little pieces of insights and learning along the way. At a minimum, at least she’ll have something to do this week!

Update! Here’s what happened!