Cathryn Harjung and Michael Hurley

Mike Hurley (MH) and Cathryn Harjung (CH) introduce themselves

Participants talk about why they wanted to participate in One Small Step (OSS)

MH reads CH bio and asks what kind of volunteering opportunities she partakes in. CH talks about volunteering at the Unity Library, her grandchild's school, and the senior exercise class she runs.

CH reads MH's bio and asks about attending Woodstock. MH talks about his experience as a youth at that time and how Woodstock impacted him.

MH asks CH about her three children. CH talks about being born and raised in Alaska, living in Delaware, how she ended up in Maine.

Participants talk about their relationship to family in general, to younger generations.

MH asks CH what she and her husband did for work. CH talks about her husband's work as a global IT manager.

Participants discuss living in the city or the country, suburbia, their decisions to find land in Jackson, Belfast, Troy, Maine.

CH asks MH about who has had a big influence on him, MH talks about Muhammad Ali, the idea of sacrificing something for your beliefs.

CH talks about her maternal grandmother.

CH asks MH about his personal political values. MH talks about freedom, faith in democracy and voting, reading history, Teddy Roosevelt saying to do the best you can with what you have.

CH talks about how she is a member of the Democratic party but how before the 2016 election, she had not been, how she changed her party registration the day after Trump received the Republican nomination. CH discusses the impact of Trump's election in 2016 on her politics, attending marches, protests, etc.

Participants talk about percentages of people who voted for Trump in different parts of the state of Maine.

MH talks about the country being in a state of indecision, likens it to when the chicken, shoe, and sardine industries collapsed in Belfast, Maine, and how the town decided what direction to go in.

MH asks CH if she ever feels troubled by people who have the same beliefs as her. CH says yes, talks about how strong emotions can make it difficult for people to understand others and be understood themselves.

MH talks about when the people of Belfast, Maine were discussing whether or not a Walmart should be built, and how disconnected liberals who didn't want Walmart seemed to be from the harsh economic realities faced by people living in poverty in the area, virtue signaling.

MH asks CH if there is something about his beliefs that she doesn't agree with but still respects.

Participants dig into their political values, MH talks about being a moderate, and his beliefs regarding small businesses, fair taxation, and lower taxes.

CH talks about her perspectives on the death penalty, bring up Catholic school. She mentions volunteering in the Catholic school system, then working in it during a time that priests were being held accountable for sexual abuse, scandals related to the church's finances in regards to lawsuits, bankruptcy, how this led her to turn her back on the church yet still find comfort in Catholic prayers.

MH talks about being raised Catholic and how he came to feel it was a cult.

CH asks MH if he ever feels misunderstood by people who have different beliefs than him.

MH talks about the Republican party and his opinions about whether or not it still reflects conservative values, Donald Trump's influence on it, local media, the difficulty of having discussions locally on deeper levels.

CH talks about feeling misunderstood by people with different beliefs, working at Planned Parenthood and walking past abortion protestors who were members of the church she attended, how people think that elders are always conservative.

CH asks MH if there's anything he learned that surprised him.

MH asks CH about her hopes for the future, CH talks about global warming being taken seriously, being addressed.

MH talks about hoping Donald Trump doesn't get elected again, peace everywhere but at least, locally. Participants talk about environmental issues locally and globally, responsibility.

MH talks about debates in Belfast about aquaculture, supply and demand.

MH says CH is a good reminder that we are always more than meets the eye, how she gives him hope for the town of Troy.

CH talks about her husband being in the military.

CH asks about the "juvenile delinquency" mentioned in MH's bio. MH talks about his parents splitting up, mother working several jobs, and how he got into shoplifting and stealing as a young teenager, how it took several short bouts in jail and then serving two years that stopped him from continuing. Participants talk about the trauma and struggle that can so often lead to kids acting out.

CH talks about her father, his alcoholism, and absence.

MH talks about how his brother became addicted to heroin and how his dad helped his brother recover from addiction.

CH and MH talk about being adult children of alcoholics, and how alcoholism is seen differently now. CH talks about driving across the country with her family. Participants talk about trying to make healthier choice than their parents.