Mónica Guzmán to visit Midland, discuss bridging divides
Dow, Midland County Inclusion Alliance, and Delta College’s President’s Speaker series is proud to share that journalist, author, and bridge builder, Mónica Guzmán will lead conversations with the aim to ease tensions people are feeling about the 2024 election. I had the pleasure to chat with Mike Vagnini, from the Midland County Inclusion Alliance, where he shared his enthusiasm for the upcoming event!
We hope you’ll join us April 4th from 7:30-9pm at the Delta College Gym.
Max: Hi Mike, thanks for being here! Can you start by telling us a bit about Mónica Guzmán and her work? How did the collaboration with Delta College, Dow, and the Midland County Inclusion Alliance come about to bring her to Midland?
Mike: Mónica has a distinguished background in journalism, and through her work she really came to champion the importance of curiosity not just in media, but in our day-to-day lives. Curiosity is a critical tool for building institutional and interpersonal trust when we’re living in information silos, with the chatter about each other eclipsing the actual conversations we’re having with each other. The practical advice she offers in her book can help us navigate our differences more productively, whether it’s a conversation with a neighbor or a debate across political parties.
I was listening to her book on a hike in 2022, in which she mentioned Midland in passing. I immediately got curious and found online that she lived here in 2006, working as a Hearst Newspaper Fellow for the Midland Daily News! I’d used her material in bridge-building and leadership work I had done with local companies and organizations, and I just knew we had to come full circle and bring her back to town. I’d recently joined the Midland County Inclusion Alliance (MCIA), and it was the first dream I brought to the table.
Unbeknownst to me, Kathie Marchlewski at Delta knew Mónica from their work together at the Midland Daily, and she and President Mike Gavin were looking to bring her in as a campus speaker. Erin Patrice of The Breaking Bread Village – with her power of connection – linked our efforts, and together Delta and MCIA found some additional sponsorship through Dow. I’m so grateful for Chairman and CEO Jim Fitterling and his tireless support of community inclusion, and Mónica’s mission to help us all see each other clearly is the foundation of an inclusive culture.
Max: Mónica Guzmán's book, "I Never Thought of It That Way," emphasizes the importance of curiosity in conversations. How do you see this message connecting with the residents of Midland, and why is it especially relevant in our current social and political climate?
Mike: I think it’s really easy for what’s happening around the country and in news media to imprint itself on our relationships with each other. So many ideas get engulfed in national politics – things as simple as “diversity and inclusion” – and I see the general tendency to take the worst actions on the national stage and apply that fear to our own workplaces, schools, and neighborhoods. We’re a unique place with unique challenges and unique people, and we do ourselves a grave disservice when we don’t listen deeply to each other and navigate our problems together.
When I was handing out our “Hate Has No Home Here” signs at the Farmers Market this past summer, one person who lived on the outskirts of town was really excited to post it in her front yard. Her neighbor displayed a lot of Trump paraphernalia, she said, and she knew that the sign would make him really mad. I thought to myself: that’s not the point! How did we get to the place where this sign – a universal message of welcoming – became a partisan signal? This story totally embodied the phenomenon of politics sucking up everything – that is, unless we empower ourselves to work with each other productively. There has never been a more important time to see beyond the assumptions that are loaded in the yard sign or the t-shirt, because there can often be some solidarity where we least expect it.
Max: You mentioned Mónica's background and her personal experiences. How do you think her unique perspective, as a Mexican immigrant and a liberal daughter of Trump-supporting parents, contributes to her mission to foster understanding across divides?
Mike: I can see where Mónica comes from, because she knows her parents are deeply good, loving people in the face of progressive company in Seattle that might paint them as monsters. She features them on an episode of her podcast, A Braver Way, and I encourage everyone to listen to it. I, too, am Latino and have a lot of Latino family members who have voted differently from me, and to understand how they have come to the choices they’re making has allowed us to actually have extremely good conversations. I end up learning a lot! People are complex functions of their upbringing, lived experience, and information environment, and to get genuinely curious about each other’s paths opens up a universe of knowledge, I’m telling you!
As I’ve written in the Midland Daily, I live under the LGBTQ+ umbrella but didn’t always support same-sex marriage. Someone could ask, “How could you possibly have had such internalized self-hatred?!” but I know that a better conversation would be sparked by, “Whoa, what made you change your mind?” It’s quite a story I have to share. And if I want to receive this grace from others, I have to extend it every single time.
Max: In the context of the Midland County Inclusion Alliance's mission, how does an event like this align with your goals of promoting inclusion and fostering a sense of community in Midland?
Mike: We truly hope that our community is inspired by Mónica, her story, and her strategies for building connection and trust during divisive times. She’s leading a series of “curiosity chats” throughout the day: the first with a few employee resource groups at Dow; the second with community, school, and business leaders in Midland; and the third with college and high school students from the area. Attendance is limited in these sessions, but we want folks to have the opportunity to work closely with Mónica and learn just how important curiosity is for understanding each other’s hopes and fears and – ultimately – for meeting the needs across our entire community.
The evening fireside chat at Delta will be a great opportunity for everyone to hear her message, and we hope to use it as a kickoff for other bridge-building events, such as book clubs and other community conversations.
Max: The lecture event on April 4th is open to the public. What do you hope the community will gain from Mónica Guzmán's talk, and how might it contribute to fostering open-mindedness among people in Midland?
Mike: There is so much we have to learn from each other, and setting aside our expectations and assumptions takes a lot of skill and practice. One of my favorite Mónica quotes is, “Whoever is underrepresented in your life will be overrepresented in your imagination.” I hope that we all learn ways to see each other more clearly, allowing the fears we carry to be replaced by a sense of shared empowerment for solving problems together (or even just coexisting sometimes!).
Max: What are all the details for April 4th? Where can people register to attend? Additionally, what excites you the most about Mónica Guzmán's upcoming visit to Midland, and what hopes do you have for our community as a result of this event?
Mike: The fireside chat will be held in Delta College’s Main Campus gymnasium in University Center (1961 Delta Rd.) at 7:30pm, and everyone is welcome to attend – no registration necessary! Personally, I’m very excited for different people to intersect during her visit who normally wouldn’t even be in the same room together – and I hope that becomes the seed for new and surprising relationships. Our community is so full of ideas and talent, and the less intimidating it is to connect with each other, the better for all of us. Curiosity is a powerful tool for getting there, and we’re bringing Mónica here to turbocharge it.
Max: Thank you so much for your time today, and I look forward to Mónica’s chat on April 4th!
The presentation is free and open to the community.
For more information or for disability-related accommodations, contact Kathie Marchlewski at kathiemarchlewski@delta.edu or 989-686-9389.
Do you have a Midland County story you would like to tell that aligns with our vision?