No need to beat around the bush with the title.

That’s what this is about.

You might as well know where I’m heading.

I’ve never really talked about it with strangers, let alone put it on the internet. But I’ve been thinking a lot about mental health while writing Decent Discourse and today I listened to a professional responsibility presentation about depression in the legal profession. So it’s on my mind right now, and I figured talking about it might, just maybe, be an encouragement to someone out there who is struggling…

Well, it happened. Last night Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

There are enough takes on this already to completely break the internet, so I’ll keep mine brief. After all, I’ve spilled enough digital ink on Ukraine already: in the Omaha World-Herald last month and on this blog in November.

But here are just a few additional thoughts on horror and hope from the first day of this expanded conflict.

Hello friends! Today I’m providing this exclusive (i.e., only for people that read this) look at Decent Discourse:

• why you’ll like it,

• more about what it is,

• how we got here, and

• what’s next.

One Saturday morning last March I sat down to write.

I had never done anything quite like it before—writing just to write. To get thoughts of civics and politics and reason and patriotism and selfishness and partisanship out of my head. To shed some of the weight that was making my heart heavy and my mind full.

As I wrote, I became hopeful. A vision started to crystalize for how each of us could be effective at changing the direction of our country for the better.

• One conversation at a time.

• One relationship at a time.

• One family at a time.

• One neighborhood at a time.

• One community at a time. (You get the idea.)

I’ve continued that writing a lot of mornings, nights, and weekends since last March. And now (oops)—it kind of adds up to a whole book. It’s called Decent Discourse, and we’ll launch it this Spring…