Citizen University TV: The Story of Our Roots at Civic Saturday

08/03/19 • 57 min

Eric Liu says we are all "gardeners" of our democracy and our community. He says we ought to pay more attention to our roots and root systems and know what it is we believe and why. Liu believes we are a mixed, intermingled group of gardeners tending a mixed, intermingled plot. He admits it's a complicated concoction, but if we tend it just right the result could be new forms of civic responsibility. Other speakers include Citizen University's Jená Cane and Taneum Fotheringill, and poet Ebo Barton.
This address was delivered at El Centro de la Raza as part of Citizen University's Civic Saturday, the civic analog to a faith gathering.

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Citizen University TV: Creatively Deviating from the College Path at Civic Saturday

Civic Seminarian Kristin Leong leads a special presentation of Civic Saturday, introducing guest speaker Aliyah Musaliar, a first-year student at the University of Washington. Musaliar reveals her turmoil as she wrestles with the only question people seem to be focused on: What are you going to be? And that leads to even greater anxiety for Musaliar since the predetermined path her parents envision does not align with her own interests. This, she says, is the reality for many members of Generation Z. "We're told to dream big, but those dreams need to be kept in check by how the market is fluctuating," said Musaliar in an address delivered April 27, 2019, at Hillman City Collaboratory as part of Citizen University's Civic Saturday, the civic analog to a faith gathering.

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Citizen University TV: What We Celebrate at Civic Saturday

As we celebrate this season of gratitude and forgiveness, Eric Liu adds three things to celebrate: our presence, our openness, and our heritage. Liu says presence matters because it's getting too easy to retreat into small circles of comfort. He says openness is to be celebrated because open and inclusive societies tend to outperform and outlast closed, exclusive ones. And when it comes to celebrating our heritage, he advises us to have an open mind, saying "Who we are as Americans is this: a people ever arguing over who we are as Americans."

Liu's address was delivered December 7, 2019, at the Town Hall Forum as part of Citizen University's Civic Saturday, the civic analog to a faith gathering.