OOTC: Weaponization of Information
L. Joy is back in the Office of the Citizen and for this lesson for our next lesson. She is focusing on how propaganda, misinformation, and disinformation work as tools of political control, and how a high-speed, low-literacy information ecosystem can keep people reacting instead of organizing. To get deep into this lesson, she brings Dr. Michelle Taylor back to the front of the class.
Next Semester: The Office of the Citizen
This episode of #SundayCivics, L. Joy preps us with the syllabus for the next semester on The Office of the Citizen. In this political moment when the floor is shifting beneath our feet, we shouldn’t react in panic but with clarity. Clarity about who we are and what democracy actually asks of us as citizens, because the highest office in a democracy is The Office of the Citizen. Over the next weeks, we will learn to break down systems together so we can rewrite the rules and reclaim the office as ours.
Building Civic Infrastructure
L. Joy is back on the stoop for the last of the Porch Light series with reflection and a clear invitation to move into 2026 with intention. She reiterates the lessons from the porch and references Kwanzaa’s third principle, Ujima (collective work and responsibility), she asks us to pause before the new year and ask ourselves: What did we learn? What did we survive? What are we carrying forward? Then L. Joy brings Emma Bloomberg, founder and CEO of Murmuration to the front of the class.
What Change Actually Requires
L. Joy is back on the the porch solo to have a deeply personal, faith-rooted conversation with us about what real change demands of us. Not in theory, but in practice. She draws from the Black faith tradition and the wisdom of movement ancestors like Septima Clark, Ella Baker, Bayard Rustin, and A. Philip Randolph, to reframe democracy not as a belief system or a moment, but as a daily practice. L. Joy points out that many of us love the idea of transformation, the language of justice, freedom, and democracy, yet resist the requirements that come with it. We often hesitate when those ideals ask for discipline, sacrifice, or personal change. Faith without works, as L. Joy reminds us, is dead, and so is democracy without participation Change is not magic. Change is not permission. Change is commitment.
Who Writes The Rules
L. Joy is back on the porch thinking about the constant political chaos with court rulings dropping daily, government shutdown threats, manipulated maps, and state legislatures advancing restrictive laws. She reminds us that the chaos is designed, not inevitable. With thirty-six governors, forty-six state legislatures, and countless local offices on the ballot in the 2026 midterms, and we have to power to design a better future for us all by engaging with who writes the rules around how we vote. L. Joy brings CEO and Executive Director of VoteRiders, Lauren Kunis, to the front of the class for this conversation.
For Love and Philanthropy
L. Joy opens this episode on the porch by unpacking the difference between charity, philanthropy, and government responsibility. She explains that charity is personal and immediate, philanthropy is institutional where a small group decides which problems matter and governs without public accountability, and government, she reminds us, is supposed to be us: the collective decision-making that uses our tax dollars to guarantee basics like food, housing, healthcare, and dignity. Teresa Younger, president and CEO of the Ms. Foundation for Women, joins L. Joy at the front of the class to expand the conversation.