How do we get better at finding Purple Points?

The same way you get to Carnegie Hall...

Practice, Practice, Practice!!!

The Purple Points Protocol is designed to help us all have calm and reflective conversations about potentially hot-button issues. Just like anything else, the protocol takes practice to implement smoothly.  The great thing is, you can practice daily in fun and silly ways.  Each time you try it, the protocol gets a bit easier...and more fun! 

We've been practicing the protocol in big and small ways for months now.  Purple Living Room parties start with a "Personal" discussion round to warm-up and get everyone used to the protocol together.  These "Personal" rounds are fun and light-hearted...and you can try them anywhere, anytime!

What does that look like?  

Here are a few examples of "Just for Fun" Purple Points Conversations we've had recently to practice the protocol...

What ice cream should we have for dessert?

Answer: Vanilla with Chocolate Chips!

What's a movie we all love to watch over and over?

Answer: The Princess Bride!

Original Star Trek or Star Trek the Next Generation?

Answer: No matter which you love most, Star Trek brings families together!

Silly?  Yes.  

Helpful?  Definitely!

The more you practice, the easier it gets. 

A fun and relaxed way to get involved with The Purple Living Room Project Launch Week would be to invite some friends over sometime during the first week in November to try a "Just for Fun" protocol practice session.

See how many ways you can try out the protocol--and let us know in the comments or on the Facebook group what common ground you discover together for fun!

The Purple Living Room Team

It's been almost a year since the 2016 election. 

A year of dramatic news cycles. 
A year of increasingly divisive rhetoric.
​A year of escalation.

On the one-year anniversary, let's take a breath...

And find time to listen to one another.

​The Purple Living Room Project is nearly a year old and after months of  redesigning and fine-tuning, it's ready for lift-off. The first full week in November will be a Launch Week for The Purple Living Room Project.  

Here are a few QUICK & EASY ways you can help launch the project...

• Talk to your friends and neighbors about the project
• Share the website on social media.
• Join the Facebook group and invite your friends to join 
• Like our Facebook Page
• Subscribe to the Purple Living Room Project YouTube channel
• Like the videos on YouTube

Did you notice the nifty new purple social media icons on the left of the page?  Try them out!

Here are a few HARDER, but more REWARDING ways to help...

• Host an interest session in your community
• Gather friends together to practice the protocol
• Host a Purple Living Room Party

In our community, we're planning a launch event where we will explain the project and then practice the protocol with a fun set of "Personal" round questions. We're planning a collaborative art component of the evening to express visually what makes us grateful to be Americans.

​What can you do to light a spark in your community?  

Let's launch this project together...

3, 2, 1...Lift-Off! 

The Purple Living Room Team

Remember when Facebook first came out with emoji reactions? Finally, we could move past the bland 'like' into a new world of responses. We could express surprise...or sadness...or anger!

Lately, that angry face seems to be cropping up everywhere.

A shared video of a senator in the opposing party--hate it!  
A shared article about a policy you don't agree with--hate it!
Trolling comments on posts--hate, hate, HATE them all! 

There's a lot of anger floating around right now. No matter what your beliefs, indignation is only a click away. We could spend every waking moment sliding down the rabbit hole of disbelief and frustration.

But what we need to do is...    p a u s e.

It seems like what we're missing in our media universe is a "HUH" emoji reaction. 

I don't love it... I don't hate it... it just makes me go, "Huh."

This brings us to the Purple Living Room Project's origin story. My name is Jen and I'm a Kindergarten teacher.  The day after the 2016 election, I drew this sketch...

"That's it!" I thought.  "Let's start a political dialogue group called "Help Us Heal." We can all share our different perspectives and collectively say, 'Huh. That's interesting.'"  

I called my mom, who always tells it like it is, and she of course said, "HUH...Love the idea, hate the name."

Back to the drawing board.  

During that post-election week, it was hard to find anyone,
on either side,
who could speak dispassionately about where we find ourselves as a nation. 

"THEY don't listen."

"THEY don't understand."

THEY...THEY...THEY.

And I kept thinking, "What about WE?"

WE the PEOPLE.

What about US?

And who are THEY, anyway?

THEY are our neighbours.  
THEY are our colleagues.  
THEY are our family members.

And sometimes, ​THEY are even our friends.

What if we could dialogue with the "THEM" in our daily lives?  What if we could meet with people we know and trust in our own living rooms to exchange ideas and look for solutions?

We could focus on one issue at a time and then take action by contacting congress together.  We the people.

Within a few days, and after many conversations, "The Purple Living Room Project" became the working name for the group.

​Now we just needed a logo.

Do you remember this from your Kindergarten days?...

The classic Venn Diagram helps students sort how objects are similar and different. This was the image that kept coming to my Early Childhood educator mind when talking about the project with others.

There could be thousands of points on the 'red' side or the 'blue' side, but there must be at least a few 'purple' points in the middle?!? Surely, we need to focus our attention as a nation on those areas of agreement where blue and red perspectives overlap.

And so here we are today...

The whole point of the Purple Living Room Project is to come together with people we know to listen to one another, look for common ground, take a small action together, and have a little fun in the process.

It's not about changing anyone's mind.  It's not about proving how WE are right and THEY are wrong. It's about listening to one another and saying, "HUH."

And we need many voices to make this project work.

So, will you join us?  

HUH?

Welcome to the Purple Living Room Project blog!

Our new campaign is called "Meet in the Middle". Our goal is to encourage people from across the political spectrum to come together at least once a week to look for common ground--the purple points where blue and red perspectives overlap.  

We'll update this blog each Wednesday, the middle of the week. Posts will set a monthly focus for Purple Points Conversations and highlight the important work being done to find common ground across the country and around the globe.

Hope to see you here each Wednesday.  Meet us in the MIDDLE...of the week!

-The Purple Living Room Team