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All the new thinking from chudgar.com, all in one cozy place.

Why systems change takes patience

Why systems change takes patience

“Systems change is like planting a forest,” says veteran Minnesota policy leader Antonia Apolinario-Wilcoxon. “Someday, children will be able to play in the shelter of the trees. Today, your job is to dig holes and plant seeds.”

Mattering without measuring

Mattering without measuring

“Measure what matters,” business folks like to say. But what if what matters most can’t be measured at all? I gave this training to help nonprofits escape from the tyranny of “metrics” to communicate the deeper meanings of their work.

Drawing of a woman, with jagged black lines on her back, talking to a man in a gentle yellow glow. The lines represent trauma

A global poem for healing

Trauma is a deep source of human suffering. One faith-based nonprofit developed a method that was proven to help people heal. But how could they talk about trauma all over the world, across faiths and cultures?

Why I’m not a centrist

Why I’m not a centrist

Back in 2017, I finally realized I had to pick a side. This is the story of how it happened.

Photo of a mother, a little child with a red teddy bear, and a healthcare worker in an exam room

On “consumership” in healthcare

The healthcare system tells people they should be good “healthcare consumers,” and they believe it. This delusion is heartbreaking. In reality, there is no such thing as a “heath care consumer.” There are only people with bodies, who love other people with bodies.

Minnesota, we’re on our own

Minnesota, we’re on our own

It was a hot summer for health care policy in 2017. In Washington, Republicans were hell-bent on “repealing and replacing” the Affordable Care Act — and it looked as though they just might. In this unpublished warning, I helped Minnesota healthcare leaders warn our state’s people about the danger.

How to avoid a healthcare disaster

How to avoid a healthcare disaster

The American Health Care Act of 2017 would have been a disaster for human health. A nonprofit health care group in Minnesota needed to articulate unequivocal opposition to the AHCA, while advancing a positive vision for good reform. This editorial, never published, attempted to do just that.