By Terry Tempest Williams
Orion Magazine, July/August 2004
Terry Tempest William's Engagement is the lead essay in the Reader this fall as the importance of political engagement writ large takes on particular importance. The engagement she writes of illuminates the citizen as creator of American democracy, producer of public good, maker of a common wealth - and resists the role assigned to citizens as consumers of politics, spectators to democracy. This speaks directly to the kind of education we provide in colleges and universities that prepares students for lives as active, engaged citizens. She writes: Democracy depends on engagement, a firsthand accounting of what one sees, what one feels, and what one thinks, followed by the artful practice of expressing the truth of our times through our own talents, gifts, and vocations. Our future is guaranteed only by the degree of our personal involvement and commitment. In the open space of democracy, we engage the qualities of inquiry, intuition, and love as we become a dynamic citizenry, unafraid to exercise our shared knowledge and power.
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