Last month, I mentioned the idea of writing a book to express the central ideas of this campaign. And, while the process of outlining it might of been helpful, the more I thought about it, the the less in line it seemed with the core principles of participation and consensus that this project is all about. Writing is, after all, a solitary pursuit, and really I think I’ve said all I have to say in that medium for now in  A StoryBook.

Instead of discussing abstract ideals and debating ideology, what we really need to do is take a better look at what’s happening to the real people all around us. Southwest Florida is often held up as a model of growth and prosperity, but now hunger is a growing problem in Lee County.

Not only does this story illustrate the need to address this growing problem here, it makes me wonder what’s happening in the rest of the country, particularly in those areas where we know times have been tough for a while…