1942 June 3, Florence Morning News, Mutt and Jeff Comic Strip, Page 7, Florence, South Carolina.

A note on our model.

While we have to admit that it is tempting to set out to fix the worsening relationships across political, racial and economic differences where “the light is better,” The Village Square “looks for the quarter” where we believe it was lost – between people in communities that form the glue of civil society that must exist as a precondition for people to feel connected, problems to be solved, leaders to be elected, and democracy to thrive. And while the “light” might also seem better when applying solutions that provide more data, create more think tanks, more debates with more rules and more civility pledges – all hoping for rationality to finally prevail and scale – we see the “quarter” in plain sight two blocks down the street where we form relationships of trust and belonging with our fellow citizens around our geographic connections and common humanity.

“Looking” in the right place tends to significantly increase the odds of success.