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Now Available!
Move Our Message: How to Get America's Ear

by Susan C. Strong

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When you talk about peace, justice, and ecological sustainability, can everyone hear you?

The Metaphor Project [MP] offers many free resources on this site for communicating our political messages. Find out how to use language that evokes progressive American values, when you tell your own story!

Scroll all the way down for quick links to our American Framing resources and services, or use the RESOURCES link above.

If you scroll down, on the way you'll also see our Metaphor Project News Now section with information about our new book, MOVE OUR MESSAGE: HOW TO GET AMERICA'S EAR, our calendar (#4 under '6 Ways to Get the Book,') plus links for our most recent web essays, blog entries, and video/audio online. 

Susan C. Strong also offers talks, workshops and coaching about framing issues of the day and  how to 'speak American.' See:  Services and Publications.

Subscribe to get our free monthly posts on ways to frame topics of the day. Join our free national and international Metaphor Project Network in forwarding our framing suggestions to your own lists!

Follow us on Twitter @SusanCStrong, on OpEdNews (Susan C. Strong) and the Daily Kos (SusanCStrong). See the links for our OpEdNews and Daily Kos pages in the Articles section below. 

Help the Left say it better in 2013! Give a copy of our new book to your favorite activist! And/or give us a tax-deductible donation to support our outreach work. No amount is too small! See the buttons at left.

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And here's today's VIP frame: Say we need better gun 'safety' rules/laws/limits, not gun 'control or regulation!'

Here's why: Americans hate 'control,' and 'regulation' is a G.O.P. bugaboo word! We need everyone on board for this one, especially grass roots NRA members ready to buck their 'out of touch' national leadership, 'captive of the gun corporations!' Pass it on, everywhere you can. We need this framing language to go viral in a very big way. If you see the media still using 'gun control,' call them on it! It's all about safety now; safety is what the American public wants now.

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Metaphor Project News Now:

Our new book, Move Our Message: How to Get America's Ear, is available now. See Six Ways to Get the Book (below), which includes our list of coming talks, workshops, or media events in item #4. See Metaphor Project News  and Groups Served for a fuller report of all of our 2012 activities. And here are our recent live media links, which feature more information about American Framing and the book: 

TELECONFERENCE: Intro to American Framing re the Economy
http://writingtomakeadifference.com/community/writing-wednesdays-archive

VIDEO: Talk at the Mt. Diablo Peace and Justice Center, Walnut Creek, CA, filmed by Sergio Lub: http://vimeo.com/47145456

VIDEO: Talk with activists, Eugene, Oregon http://youtu.be/-BTTSyDE-68

VIDEO: TV Interview on Eugene, OR Community TV 29, with Joe Tyndall, of Occupy Eugene: http://youtu.be/dInmfUxwgkI

PODCAST: TV Interview on Eugene, OR Community TV 29, with Joe Tyndall, of Occupy Eugene: http://occupymedia.libsyn.com/webpage/the-metaphor-project-with-susan-strong

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About Our New Book:

Our new resource,  Move Our Message: How to Get America's Ear, is now available. Donald Goldmacher, producer of Heist: Who Stole the American Dream, says 'Move Our Message is the framing/messaging handbook for organizers. . .Try it, you'll love it.' Click the link above to see more: what's on the back cover, the table of contents, new reader comments, reviews, and our press release. 

The first section of the book will help you, your colleages, and friends understand better what 'American Framing' is and why it works. Part II contains a wealth of 'speaking American' examples. Part III is the 'how to section.'  It includes the most up-to-date versions of all our Metaphor Project tools, methods, and resources, plus much more. 

Reports from experienced activist readers have been very enthusiastic about it. Please tell your friends and colleagues about it via your social networks and every other means you may have to get the word out. Upgrading progressive framing is absolutely vital this year. 

If you publish a review, please send us a copy, to help us get even more notice for the book. This is a VIP year for it, and all proceeds from book sales go to support our pro bono have to make the most of it. We are a 501c3-sponsored educational work, online and offline. 

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Six Ways to Get or Hear More about the Book, Plus One on the Way:

1. Our print-on-demand e-store link to order the book using a credit card is to the left on this page. The book is $10.00. For more credit card options, see #5 below. To be notified when the ebook version is ready, click the Contact link above, and put 'ebook news' in the subject line. 

2. If you would rather buy the book directly from our home office, please send a check for $15.00, to cover shipping & handling expenses, made out to The Metaphor Project, to Post Office Box 892, Orinda, CA 94563.

3. Through local bookstores: copies of the book are now available at: New:  Spectator Books on Piedmont Ave., Oakland, at Black Oak Books on San Pablo Avenue in Berkeley, CA, Orinda Books, in Orinda, CA, and New: Book Passage, Corte Madera, CA, also New:Point Reyes Books, Point Reyes Station, CA. More local bookstores will be added in the future. Contact us  about getting your local bookstore to carry the book.   

4. At events, conferences, talks or workshops: 

OUR CALENDAR SO FAR:

6.30 - 7.03 Friends General Conference, Greeley, CO: proposing 'Friendly Persuasion Today' interest group, 7.02.13

6.20 Netroots Nation, San Jose, CA. Find us in the Exhibit Hall.

5.19 Talk, 'Friendly Persuasion Today,' Santa Fe Friends Meeting, Santa Fe, NM,  6:30 p.m.

5.11 American Framing Workshop, sponsored by Friends Committee on Legislation of California, Berkeley, CA, details on request.

4.20 'Speaking American' session to be proposed at Bay Area Rootscamp, San Francisco, CA

4.09 Talk at Friends House, Santa Rosa, CA, 'Friendly Persuasion Today,' 7 p.m.

3.23-3.24 Emerge California, Fourth Training Session on Communication, Walnut Creek, CA: participant/observer, by invitation

3.18 Speaker, Season of Nonviolence, San Francisco State University (cancelled due to illness)

2.23.13, 2-5 p.m. American Framing Workshop for Fibershed.com; for information, contact us at: metaphorproject@earthlink.net.

2.02.13 Talk and Discussion, sponsored by The League of Women Voters, at (change of venue) their Berkeley, CA office, 2530 San Pablo Ave, Ste. F, 12-2.

1.26.13 Reading at Book Passage, Corte Madera, 7 p.m.

(For news of 2012 events, please see Metaphor Project News.)  Susan Strong expects to be available in the L.A. area in May-early June, as well as in or near Santa Fe, and in Portland and Seattle in September. There is also a possibility of her being in Colorado and Georgia in July. Let us know if you would like to sponsor a talk or workshop in any of those places.

5. Other online credit card options include: a. getting the book as a gift by making a minimum $30.00 tax-deductible donation to The Metaphor Project, using our Donate button in the left column; the book will be sent to you as a 'thank you gift.' b. New! Our book is now also listed on the websites of Powells and Book Passage. c. Amazon and Barnes & Noble carry it as well, but we get very little compensation if you get it from them.

 6. For bulk orders, please write or call us at our home office: Post Office Box 892, Orinda, CA 94563; Phone and FAX: 925-254-3304.

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 Articles:

New: Say: “Make Social Security Fair.” 4.28.13

Still Featured:

Tell the Media Again: Say “Safety,” not “Control!” 2.01.13

Say: Cut Military 'Corporations' Instead 12.14.12

Counter-frame the Economy! Three Ways to Avoid Their Words 11.02.12

4.23.07 Leapfrog Climate Conflict Now

Counter-frame It! How to Stop Using Their Words 8.10.12

Let’s Get Beyond Left “Groupspeak” Now! 6.29.12

 Re Iran: Say 'Think Outside the Box!' 1.27.12

Telling the “Set America Free!” Story 7.29.11