By Rev. Wendy Slaback, Menomonie UMC
For three consecutive Saturdays in the fall of 2025, a few dozen people gathered in the fellowship halls of the First Congregational UCC and the United Methodist Church in Menomonie for a series of workshops on polarization and what we can do to help bridge political divides in our community. For some, this was a broad, general concern about the wellbeing of our nation. For most, it was also personal: we wanted to know how to repair relationships with some of our dearest loved ones whose differing political views have pulled us apart.
All of the workshops utilized curriculum and/or a trained facilitator from the organization Braver Angels whose mission is to “inspire and equip Americans to practice courageous citizenship across political differences through skill-building, convening, and collaborative action.” These workshops were focused primarily on skill building. We learned to depolarize ourselves by reading more mainstream thought leaders from various political persuasions, rather than believing that the most outrageous extreme opposing positions represent the whole group. We also learned to disagree more skillfully by practicing curiosity and seeking common ground.
Overwhelmingly, participants found these workshops helpful and several members have continued meeting to explore possibly forming our own Braver Angels Local Alliance in Menomonie. Most of our participants at the workshops were liberal-leaning citizens though, so we have some work to do to recruit more conservative-leaning voices. It is a requirement that every Braver Angels Local Alliance must have at least one “Red” co-chair and at least one “Blue” co-chair. We are also working to find a good meeting space that would feel neutral and safe for all participants.
When Lynn Buske learned about these workshops and the potential for a new local alliance, she encouraged me to reach out to Martha Nieman who has done similar work here in the Chippewa Valley, along with Cheryl Lochner-Wright, Peggy Burke, and Kim Lien. I had a great phone conversation with Martha to learn more about the process her group has used to bring people together in conversation. She shared that she, too, had explored Braver Angels as a possible option, but ultimately felt that the focus on political affiliations wasn’t quite right for the group she was helping to create. Instead, the format they settled on is “Living Room Conversations”. They met four times in 2025 to facilitate good conversations on topics like “polarization in social media”, “ranked choice voting”, and “climate change”. The point of these conversations is not to debate or convince others, but simply to build trust. The goal is to see one another as humans with valid reasons for responding the way we do.
I was heartened to hear that Martha had a really positive experience when she was tabling at the Juneteenth celebration in Eau Claire. She noticed that the Republican party was tabling there too, so she approached their table and struck up a conversation, inviting the Republicans to join the Living Room Conversations. As it turned out, the man she met that day was the chair of the Republican party in Eau Claire, and he has indeed joined their conversations and has invited others to come too. He even reached out to ask Martha to attend a meeting with the Republican student organization at UW-Eau Claire during a tense controversy around Halloween. Martha listened both to the Republican students and to the protesters gathered outside their meeting and noted that each side was afraid of retaliation. While misinformation was part of what fueled the tension, she also observed how easily conversations can be distracted by surface action and words that keep us from hearing the deeper concerns being expressed on all sides. Issues are too complicated to be faced without including diverse perspectives, and we individually don’t have the full picture or the solution.
A surprise takeaway for Martha in the Living Room Conversations she has participated in so far is that those with differing views brought up things she never would have thought of. She finds it freeing to hear and see things differently than she ever did on her own. She appreciates the Quaker belief that everyone has “that of God within” and when we meet one another from that place of deep humanity, we all learn and grow. She believes there are pros and cons to any conversation and we get a better understanding if we include more perspectives. We just need to work as individuals to overcome our fear of reaching out to people we assume believe differently than we do.
I am heartened by Martha’s willingness to engage in courageous conversations and I am hopeful about the same “courageous citizenship” organizations like Braver Angels are helping to cultivate. I look forward to 2026 as a year of overcoming polarization, one conversation at a time.