Julia Roig & Merle McGee: Reimagining Civic Life

In this inspiring Brave Voices episode of The PlayFull Podcast, host Kristine Michie reunites with civic leaders Julia Roig and Merle McGee for a deep, moving exploration of what it means to be brave in today’s fractured world. This isn’t just a conversation about activism—it’s a masterclass in navigating complexity, showing up authentically, and leading with radical imagination. With stories ranging from veteran-led rallies to art-fueled dialogues, listeners will find themselves reflecting, resonating, and reimagining what’s possible.

Key Takeaways:

• Bravery today involves maintaining moral clarity while acknowledging the emotional and ideological diversity of others' lived realities.
• Calling people in creatively, rather than calling them out, is essential to radical collaboration and sustaining civic engagement.
• The Horizons Project’s work around asset-framing moves  beyond promoting counter-narratives to shifting the terrain entirely—e.g., moving from “no one is illegal” to “everybody belongs.”
• Everyday Democracy’s arts and democracy initiative uses art as a conduit for dialogue and civic imagination, notably through ambitious partnerships, like the one at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
• Julia Roig explains “relational infrastructure” and why shared storytelling is as vital as traditional strategy and action planning for organizers.
• Events like the “Unite for Vets” rally model how intersectional coalitions—from labor to arts—can converge in joyful, bipartisan solidarity, picking up on a common PlayFull podcast theme around “finding the 3rd thing” that can unite.
• Merle shares the importance of “pivoting on purpose” in activism, which reflects a martial arts principle from Capoeira, where resistance is dialogical and embodied.
• The idea that hope cannot yet be physically located in the brain becomes a metaphor for expanding collective radical imagination.
• Leaders are encouraged to "get in where you fit in" and contribute to movement work in aligned, accountable, and sustaining ways—whether through strategy, storytelling, protest, or feeding people.

"Bravery is stepping into, like, the inherent tensions of how change is going