OpEdNews Managing Editor Meryl Ann Butler turns the tables and interviews Editor-in-Chief Rob Kall on the beginnings of OEN, exciting high points, and Rob's new book.

::::::::

Rob Kall, author of "Bottom-Up Revolution: Mastering the Emerging World of Connectivity," is an award-winning journalist, inventor, software architect, conference founder and organizer, author and visionary, who calls himself an "awakener." Articles by and about him have appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Huffington Post, and he has been interviewed on CNN and ABC. He founded OpEdNews.com on Feb, 28, 2003, designed from the onset to foster open dissemination of innovative information, and creative, energetic and cordial discourse.

Rob has given lectures and workshops to Fortune 500 executives, as well as at national medical and psychological organizations.

He organized the world's first conference on Positive Psychology in 1996, and in 2002, organized Storycon, the first conference bringing together all the worlds of story. He has served as an AAPB (Association for Applied Psychophisiology and Biofeedback) Board Member. Rob has conducted over 450 interviews on his Bottom Up Radio Show. His guests have included Bernie Sanders, Naomi Klein, Noam Chomsky, Frans de Waal, Howard Gardner, Daniel Ellsberg, Riane Eisler, Mary Pipher and Robin Chase.

His book, "Bottom-Up Revolution: Mastering the Emerging World of Connectivity,"was released in May, 2019. His dedication to a new, bottom-up way of presenting news and encouraging citizen dialog has inspired a host of committed volunteers who participate in many ways on the OpEdNews site. Senior Editor Marta Steele and I celebrated the book release and Rob's upcoming birthday with him a few days ago.

Unlike other sites, OEN has rejected the concept of a pay wall -- we don't believe in a hierarchy based on dollars, and OEN welcomes those who want to participate even if they are not in a position to donate financially. It takes a village of problem-solvers to create a new world, and we prefer to trust that folks with more finances to offer will balance out the folks with smaller coffers. OEN has remained afloat, but it takes a generous dose of faith and fortitude, because some months, keeping the site running costs more than what is taken in. But a dedicated, mostly volunteer staff is inspired by Kall's progressive vision, and by the opportunity to share an open forum in the quest for a greater manifestation of American Democracy.

Meryl Ann Butler: Thanks for creating such a great site, Rob, and for making it so accessible. Let's start with the story behind why you call yourself an "awakener."

Rob Kall: Thanks for interviewing me! In an article back in 2008 I wrote about being given a birthday gift of a $25 credit to use to make a small loan through kiva.org. As I signed up as a site member, the form asked for my occupation. In the past, I've answered that question with a variety of responses: while I operated my small business, futurehealth.org, I would answer "executive" or "entrepreneur" or "inventor." When I worked in the mental health field I'd answer "counselor." Or, I'd reply, "biofeedback practitioner," when I worked in that field. Or "writer," when I functioned as a freelancer, more recently I've responded, "editor" or "journalist."

But that day, I thought about what the common denominator was in those occupations, and I typed in "Awakener." I realized that throughout most of my life, my work has been aimed at waking people up. I think there are literally millions of people-- many millions, maybe billions-- who are on the awakener's path - people who volunteer for an NGO, non-profit, or grass roots politics, people who write about issues that others need to know about, or educators, therapists, marketers, ministers or coaches. It feels good to have founded a community that is filled with so many others who share the same occupation.

MAB: I like that -- and I think that's the mark of a true Renaissance-man or -woman they are never really sure how to respond to that question! And please tell us what inspired you to start OpEdNews.

RK: Two things. First, when I submitted articles to another progressive site, they published the first one within three hours. Then they ignored my next ten articles, and I had no idea why, or whether they'd been seen, or anything, because I had no response, not even a rejection. I'd already had a business website since 1995 and I decided to create my own progressive siteone that would let submitters know if their articles were accepted or rejected.

Second, I watched Colin Powell tell the UN that there were WMDs in Iraq and I knew it was not true. I was disgusted with the stenographic MSM and felt that there was a need for a site that spoke truth to power. I settled on the name OpEdNews.com, to include Opinion, Editorials, and News.

MAB: That's one of the things I appreciate about OpEdNews, we do have much more transparency regarding submissions. And as an editor, I know that a lot of hard work goes into receiving, editing and publishing them. On the few occasions that I have personally felt I needed to reject an article, I have entered into a dialog with the submitter about what would be useful to edit in order to publish.

Can you share some of the stats for the site? For instance, how many people OEN has reached, in how many countries? And anything else?

RK: OEN has reached over 24 million people, averaging about 200,000 unique visitors a month, with our highest month reaching 830,000 visitors. We reach people in over 200 nations, colonies and principalities. We've published over 100,000 articles and have about 100,000 members.

MAB: How do you observe OpEdNews making a difference? And how does OEN enhance the progressive movement?

RK: Joan Brunwasser and I were co-recipients with OpEdNews of the the Pillar Award from the whistleblower community for our work supporting whistleblowers. Also, we've had a good number of our writers go on to great success-- Jesse Lee became the social media director for Nancy Pelosi and then the blogger for the Obama White House, Kevin Gosztola used his experience to become an intern for the Nation, then a writer for FiredogLake and now runs ShadowProof. And others have been invited by publishers to become authors.

We've had some great endorsements over the years from leading progressives, including Dennis Kucinich, Bernie Sanders and Naomi Klein, and Greg Palast:

I think you guys do a great job. One of the issues... which is becoming worse... is corporate control over the media fewer and fewer large conglomerates controlling what we see, hear or read. So, if ordinary people are going to get a different point of view, a point of view which reflects the needs of the middle class and working families, to an increasing degree that we are going to have to go the progressive media. You guys do a great job, and I appreciate what you do.

- Bernie Sanders

I think you guys are fantastic and yeah, I read you all the time. And I appreciate the non-partisan nature of it. It's going to be more and more important to have real, critical alternative voices that aren't lined up behind a candidate.

- Naomi Klein

I'm always, I'm always grateful, Rob, for the work that you do because it's so important to give people information about what's happening so that they can make decisions about their own world based on the best information.

- Dennis Kucinich

Opednews is where you get the real thing. It's not just progressive opinion. It's the hard, cold truth, the real facts. If you don't listen to Bob Kall, if you don't read Opednews, then you don't know what the hell is happening in American you don't know what's happening to you. This is our weapon of mass instruction. Read it top to bottom or you just don't know what's going on.

- Greg Palast

MAB: Thanks, Rob. OK, let's talk about your new book, Bottom-Up Revolution: Mastering the Emerging World of Connectivity. First, congratulations on publication, I know you have been working on this book for a long time! Please share with us how it fits in with your vision for OpEdNews?

RK: My inspiration to write The Bottom-up Revolution started with my experience with OpEdNews. I found that the more bottom-up an approach I took to OpEdNews, including working with writers, readers and volunteer editors in the decision and policy-making process, the better the site did. That fascinated me, and inspired me to start my Bottom-up Radio show, where I could explore bottom-up ideas with thought leaders and innovators who had taken bottom-up ideas to become highly successful-- people like Jack Dorsey of Twitter, Craig Newmark of Craigslist, Arianna Huffington, Robin Chase of Zipcars, and over 450 more. It was a learning journey and adventure that led to many discoveries-- including the realization that the reason that the bottom-up revolution is so powerful isbecause we have evolved genetically to be bottom-up beings. Humans lived, for millions of years, as bottom-up, interdependent, hunter gatherers living in small 30-80 person bands, evolving hundreds of bottom-up genes that enabled them to live together in cooperation with each other and their environment. That gives me a lot of hope that the new generations, born marinated in bottom-up digital technologies, will challenge the top-down powers that be and take back our bottom-up nature for humanity pushing a paradigm shift so that civilization will become bottom-up.

MAB: Well, we need a paradigm shift, and I'm glad OpEdNews has a place in it. Thanks for sharing some of the backstory!

RK: Thanks for the interview! And I'd like to take this moment to thank you and all the other dedicated editors and volunteers for helping to power this ship!

Authors Website: http://www.OceanViewArts.com

Authors Bio:

Meryl Ann Butler is an award-winning artist, author, educator, and Managing Editor of OpEdNews, where her articles and other contributions have received more than 4.5 million views. She has written for OpEdNews since 2004 and has been Managing Editor since 2013. In 2015, her work on OpEdNews passed one million views with her article about Bree Newsome's removal of a Confederate flag; she was delighted that this particular story carried her across her first million-view milestone. Her article topics range from art, creativity, spirituality, women's issues, and feminine empowerment to politics, social justice, and the occasional irresistible absurdity. Her popular Art & Creativity series includes nearly 200 articles and has received more than half a million views. Butler has been creating and teaching art for many decades. Her artwork, in a wide variety of media, is in collections around the world. She is the author of two quilting books, including a niche-market bestseller. Her adventures have included two trips to the former USSR as a citizen diplomat, where she spoke in Moscow and Odessa and met with artists, craftspeople, and fashion designers about using the arts as a tool for global wellbeing. In 1987-88, she created the historic First US-Soviet Children's Peace Quilt Exchange Project with a school in Odessa, an exchange that brought the first reciprocal quilt from the former USSR to the United States. Butler's assorted roles have included journalist, international workshop facilitator and speaker, labyrinth designer and builder, founding member of The Labyrinth Society, entrepreneur, Renaissance woman, proud gramma and, on one memorable occasion, unexpected babycatcher, when the midwife was stuck in traffic. Interviews & Features Media appearances include an interview about her Near Death Experience and how it influenced her art on the JeffMara Podcast, with over 17,000 views. Her YouTube channel, @Merylannb, features "Visionary Artist Meryl Ann Butler on Creativity and Joy," "The Art of Creating Wellbeing Amidst Chaos (Art vs. Tyranny)," and "How to Stitch a Quilt in 90 Minutes with Meryl Ann Butler," which has over 79,000 views.