This Wednesday we’ll talk to Jenni Casale, a founding member of Action Together Suncoast, one of the many Indivisible groups in our area. But she’s also the author of the popular blog Democracy Alive, a fact-based discussion of current and controversial issues. We’ll talk about her writing and the concerns all of us have for democracy.
Jenni is a retired educator from Illinois who decided to forgo winter and move to the sunny state of Florida in 2013. Jenni’s career took a convoluted path, but always focused on helping people. Beginning in 1978 with substance abuse counseling and moving through juvenile probation work, and then venturing into education by helping schools develop student assistance programs, her work focused on service to the community. After several years of working with schools, she decided to get a teaching certificate and became a high school social studies teacher. Helping kids see the connection between history and their own lives might have been a challenge, but it is a crucial part of preparing the next generation of citizens.
Since retirement, Jenni has stayed passionate about making the world around her a better place and being of service to the community. Beginning in November 2016, Jenni became a founding member of Action Together Suncoast, one of the many Indivisible groups in the area and has worked on getting out the vote for Democratic candidates at the local, state, and national level. The teacher part of her has stayed active trying to educate people about current events. Initially this took the form of many letters to the editors of local papers. But about a year ago, she decided that she had more to say than could be said in 200-300 words. Thus, began a blog entitled Democracy Alive.