Try an Orange Ribbon
A band of fabric promotes civil discourse.
By Sarah van Schagen
Tuesday August 22, 2006
If you see James Madison University alum Kai Degner hanging out in Harrisonburg, Va., you might notice a strip of orange fabric tied somewhere on his belongings. You might even say to him, "Hey, what’s that orange band?"
Funny you should ask. That’s just what Degner was hoping you’d do; he wants to talk to you about the poor water quality in the Shenandoah River. At least, that’s what he wants to talk to you about today. Other days he wants to talk about the importance of community or the value of a good conversation. That’s because Degner is the cofounder and executive director of the OrangeBand Initiative, a nonprofit "dedicated to empowering people to have and promote respectful conversation about what matters."
But OrangeBand is no LIVESTRONG anti-cancer bracelet. In fact, the bright orange scraps made their first appearance several months before Lance Armstrong’s yellow rubber bands became the accessory of choice, and spawning look-alikes of all colors and political stripes. And despite its name, OrangeBands are more likely to be found tied to backpacks or dorm-room doorknobs than a lanky limb. But the most important difference, Degner says, is that OrangeBand isn’t preachy: "We’re not telling people what matters; we’re not telling people what they should be talking about; we’re not telling people what we want them to promote. What we’re inviting them to do is use an orange strip of fabric to spark a conversation about what they think is important," whatever that may be. And without that conversation, the OrangeBand says nothing at all.
Degner’s big idea started as—what else—a conversation. Over lunch three years ago, Degner (then a sophomore) and his friends found themselves complaining about the lack of meaningful conversations on the JMU campus. From there the idea of OrangeBand was born. The group decided to hold eight discussion forums, all focusing on different aspects of the war in Iraq. And for that first week, the war was the only issue OrangeBand represented. But after handing out some 2,000 strips of orange fabric over a number of days, Degner and his friends decided the idea could be something even bigger.
Since that lunch conversation, OrangeBand Initiative has held over 100 forums, drawing the attention of students and faculty at JMU as well as members of the local community and the media—including national coverage on C-SPAN. The group estimates they’ve distributed some 8,000 OrangeBands, and they’ve received inquiries from more than 40 campuses hoping to start their own chapters.
Degner’s also been working hard to expand the OrangeBand website, adding in recent months a blog, a public forum (called the OBOard), an OrangeBand theme song and 30-second flash intro, and earlier this month, the ability to phone in a podcast explaining your own OrangeBand issue.
Their forums aren’t meant to be debates. The idea isn’t to "win" a talking point. Instead, the aim is to open a space for dialogue and create an atmosphere in which ideas can be exchanged with mutual respect.
Inspired by the book Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community by Robert Putnam, OrangeBand Initiative emphasizes the importance of "social capital"—"the fabric in a community formed by the personal relationships between people." Along with promoting civil discourse and encouraging civic engagement, this focus on creating a healthy community comprises the core of OrangeBand’s philosophy. And its part of what drew JMU sophomore Rebecca Ledebuhr to the group.
"You walk around a college campus now, and you see people on cell phones, you see people with the iPod ear bugs in, and no one’s actually connecting to each other—you just stay in your own little bubble," Ledebuhr lamented. "You have that loss of community, which is partly why I think there are [websites] like Facebook and MySpace and Friendster. ... People are looking for that connection."
Indeed, Degner envisions OrangeBand as an alternative to the "more inane" social networking sites. He’s modeled some aspects of the OrangeBand website—like the still-evolving "Mosaic," which feature profiles, pictures, and space for comments—after the popular online communities.
But OrangeBand works just as well as a face-to-face social tool, Ledebuhr said, explaining that before OrangeBand she’d "never dream" of approaching a stranger just to say "hi." Now, just by wearing her OrangeBand, she encourages those conversations to happen.
"From discussion comes knowledge," she added. The philosophy/pre-law major then invoked her coursework, noting that Socrates was "the most knowledgeable man in Athens because he questioned everything and discussed everything—and that’s how you learn."
Jim Burns, a government and world history teacher at Chantilly High School in northern Virginia, agreed. Burns handed out about 600 OrangeBands to students last year and held open discussions after school on student-generated topics ranging from genocide in Darfur to same-sex marriage. Though many of his students aren’t yet voting age, Burns believes that making sure they’ve got a good understanding of the issues that matter to them may lend them to being active participants in the political process.
What really motivates Burns, though, is OrangeBand’s ability to "foster more direct democracy," he said, creating "more grassroots communities that are less reliant on being force-fed information from the top down." Instead, he hopes these open discussions can "drive the agenda from the bottom up."
Certainly, Degner envisions all this for OrangeBand: a social network, a teaching tool, a driving force for direct democracy. "OrangeBand has an advantage in that it’s really accessible," he said. "It’s not ivory tower, university level promoting civil discourse, and it’s not new-agey, touchy-feely stuff either, it just kind of strikes that balance right in the middle."
Degner stressed that OrangeBand is neither right nor left politically. Participants are encouraged to use the bands to get their message out—whatever that message might be. For Brian in Anchorage, it’s ending homelessness. For Dezeray in Harrisonburg, it’s protecting an unborn fetus. For Sophie in Chapel Hill, N.C., it’s the danger of pesticides.
But still, Degner said, "There are a lot of people who, for whatever reason, are going to hear what OrangeBand is and immediately think it’s a left group. And rather than ignoring that, it’s something that we try to directly challenge." The group calls itself progressive, but acknowledges that "progressive" is often confused as a synonym for "liberal." So Degner prefers an adjective like "change-oriented." The idea is to make progress social issues via civil discourse, taking the time to listen to and consider viewpoints from all perspectives.
Another stereotype OrangeBand is fighting is the oft-repeated complaint about college students being apathetic. Last year’s major theme was the Anti-Apathy Campaign, said senior Tyler Burton, president of JMU’s student chapter of OrangeBand.
"I’ve noticed a sort of dichotomy with college students," Burton explained. "At JMU, there are definitely a lot of students who are really passionate, devoted to doing things in their community, and just really aware of everything that’s happening around them." Those are the students, he said, that get really involved with OrangeBand. "But for every one of those people at JMU, it feels like there are four or five college students who will just say ‘why?’ ... or ‘what good is that going to do?’"
Frustrated by such questions, Burton hopes to show that "just by being an aware person you really can bring about some sort of change, even if it’s not you who’s actually doing the planning, or if it’s not you who organizes rallies."
It can be as simple as starting a conversation. You just have to decide what to talk about.
Sarah van Schagen writes from Seattle, Wash., where she leads a double life. By day, she’s as an editorial assistant at Grist, an online environmental magazine, and by night, a pajama-clad freelance writer. She is a 2004 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington where she double-majored in English and marine biology.
Illustration: Matt Bors
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Comments
how can i get an OrangeBand?
— Robbie - Aug 24, 01:50 PM - #Fantastic article!
— haynes - Aug 24, 04:23 PM - #Great idea. Open-mindedness works both ways so make sure to get conservative opinions represented in the orange community… I’m progressive also and I wish I didn’t encounter intolerance from either conservatives OR liberals. :) How about diversifying into orange scarves for the wintertime? I bet it would be popular in DC…
— Anna - Aug 24, 07:21 PM - #Hi – just visit www.OrangeBand.org to see how to order an OrangeBand. Or head to a fabric store, buy some orange, cut it up, and tie a piece to your bag. Great article Sarah!
— Kai - Sep 16, 04:27 PM - #