Progressives on the Prairie

Next Meeting — Dr. Susan Strauss

progotp — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 16:07:31 +0000

Join us to hear from Dr. Susan Strauss, local author, former teacher, consultant, and expert witness for harassment lawsuits. who has written the book“Sexual Harassment and Bullying: A Guide to Keeping Kids Safe and Holding Schools Accountable”. There is much confusion surrounding the definitions of bullying and sexual (and other forms of) harassment. Bullying has become a catch-all phrase describing student misconduct while in reality, it may be the misconduct is illegal harassment. Sexual harassment is the denial of a student’s civil rights; in Minnesota this includes GLBT students. If misconduct is mislabeled as bullying when it is harassment, it has implications for students, parents, educators and community members. Dr. Strauss, who is considered a national expert in this area clears the confusion and addresses the consequences of both bullying and sexual harassment. She will take questions.

Tuesday, March 13th, 7 p.m.
Star Bank Community Room
250 Prairie Center Drive Eden Prairie
Across from the Eden Prairie Center Penney’s parking lot

Faithful Citizenship and the 2012 Legislative Session

progotp — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 01:57:29 +0000

Brian Rusche, Exec. Director of the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition, will be speaking on “Faithful Citizenship and the 2012 Legislative Session”. The new MN Census has confirmed that the child poverty rate is at 15.2%, or 192,000 children. Mr Rusche’s program will inform us about the sobering connections between economic justice and upcoming legislative decisions.. Mr. Rusche will take questions after his presentation.

Jan 9, 7 p.m.
Star Bank Community Room
250 Prairie Center Drive
Across from the Eden Prairie Center Penney’s parking lot

Amusing Ourselves to Death: Is Our Culture Anti-Intellectual?

progotp — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 15:34:22 +0000

Eden Prairie civic organization Progressives on the Prairie is hosting the public forum “Amusing Ourselves to Death: Is Our Culture Anti-Intellectual?” on Monday, November 7th from 7:00-8:30 at the Star Bank Community Room. Join us for a thought-provoking evening with noted educator Dr. Stephen Schroeder-Davis, who has made hundreds of presentations on topics such as ant-intellectualism, academic excellence, and giftedness. His presentation and discussion will examine the implications of and potential remedies for the following:

• American Idol and Survivor occupy the top 11 spots from the last decade’s television viewing. The lone news show in the top 125 (60 minutes) does not appear until # 116.
• Fifty percent of Americans polled are alliterate (they can read but rarely do so) and watch television over 4 hours daily
• Sixty-percent of eligible voters did not participate in the last general election.

Star Bank is located at 250 Prairie Center Drive, across from the Eden Prairie Center mall.
Progressives on the Prairie is a civic organization dedicated to promoting the thoughtful discussion of important issues. Our goal is to sponsor public forums with high quality speakers who offer expert information and different perspectives that lead to thoughtful reflection and discussion.

Minnesota Demographic Change and the New Normal with Tom Gillespy

Chelsea — Fri, 06 May 2011 03:52:10 +0000

Thursday, September 22nd, 7 p.m. Community Meeting Room, Star Bank, 250 Prairie Center Drive, Eden Prairie

Dizzy from the Spin Cycle? Separating Political Fact from Fiction

Chelsea — Fri, 06 May 2011 02:51:45 +0000

An interactive activity and discussion
Are you having a hard time deciding what is really news and what is spin? Join us as we empower you to recognize the strategies used by all political parties to shape the truth into a desired message.
Monday, May 23rd, 7 p.m. Community Meeting Room, Star Bank, 250 Prairie Center Drive, Eden Prairie

The Muslim Experience in Minnesota

progotp — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 02:42:22 +0000

Date: January 27th, 2011
Time: 7 pm to 8:30 pm
Location: Star Bank
250 Prairie Center Drive, Eden Prairie
Located across from the J.C. Penny’s side of Eden Prairie Mall.

AhmedTharwat, “Not a clash of civilizations, it is a clash of fundamentalism.”

Come and share a thoughtful night with Ahmed Tharwat, the host and producer of the Arab/Muslim American TV show Bel Ahdan (with open arms), a weekly TV show that airs on public TV every Saturday. As a regular speaker and contributor on, All Thing Considered, he shares his unique view of the world and American political and social events. Mr. Tharwat contibutes to the Star Tribune, the Pioneer Press, and the Twin City Planet. He also has written for national and international magazines, such Slate, Diversify Inc. and Al Jazeera English.

Mr. Tharwat says, “When it comes to politics, nobody has a monopoly on stupidity.”

Aughts were a lost decade for U.S. economy, workers by the Washington Post

progotp — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 18:04:49 +0000

For most of the past 70 years, the U.S. economy has grown at a steady clip, generating perpetually higher incomes and wealth for American households. But since 2000, the story is starkly different. Read this article from the Washington Post to learn more.

Mayor RT Rybak: Job Creation

progotp — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 17:43:33 +0000

Perhaps the biggest issue facing our country is the economy, and job creation is an important part of the solution. Eden Prairie civic organization Progressives on the Prairie is hosting a public forum “R.T. Rybak on Job Creation” on Thursday, November 11th from 7:00-8:30 in the Community Meeting Room at Star Bank in Eden Prairie. Join us for an informative evening with Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak as he shares his thoughts and ideas on job creation. Star Bank is located at 250 Prairie Center Drive, across from the Eden Prairie Center Mall.
RT Rybak is the mayor of Minneapolis and was a candidate for the Democratic endorsement for the
Governor’s office in the 2010 election. He has been a stellar representative of the people since his entrance to the public arena in 2001 as mayor of Minneapolis. Prior to that he had gone from working as a journalist for the Star Tribune to running the Twin Cities Reader, before it moving on to a career as head of Internet Broadcasting Systems, working with WCCO and other television stations across the country. He lives in the East Harriet region of Minneapolis and is involved in projects far and wide across the community, including such things as being on the board of directors of Nice Ride Minnesota (a public bicycling program),and community energy services. He maintains a blog called themayorblog.com, where he keeps us up to speed on his community involvement.

Amazing video…a new way to look at our commonalities

progotp — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 19:24:01 +0000

Empathic Civilization

Jeremy Rifkin
In this RSA Animate, bestselling author, political adviser and social and ethical prophet Jeremy Rifkin investigates the evolution of empathy and the profound ways that it has shaped our development and our society.

Civil Discourse

Karen — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 19:19:13 +0000

Civil Political Discourse a Dinosaur?