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Middle Ground Club
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Text by MICHELLE KIM and ANTONIA MOU Photo by EMMA WU FINDING MIDDLE GROUND BREAKING BOUNDARIES THROUGH DISCUSSION “ IT WAS JUST REALLY SAD seeing how much people were dividing themselves and blocking people on social media,” senior Giulia Santos said. “I don’t think that’s how we convince people that they’re wrong — it’s not by fighting.” Inspired by the “Middle Ground” video series hosted by You“I ended up finding way more middle ground between our conversations than I thought I would,” she said. “Opening myself up to other people was a great opportunity to learn that we might agree with people that we think we disagree with on some points.” Senior and club member Stella Essenmacher has found that,
Tube channel Jubilee, Santos, along with seniors Leslie Aboytes unlike other Paly clubs who rely on in-person activities to function and Olivia Ericsson, started the Palo Alto High School Middle to their full extent, Middle Ground Club has actually become a
Ground Club in fall 2019. more open and accepting community over Zoom.
The series aims to bring individuals with vastly different opin- “You feel like these are just people you want to learn from and ions into a space for open discussion and tackles both long-stand- you’re not as worried as [when] you’re actually with them all the ing and newly controversial topics; Black Lives Matter and law en- time … having everybody there facing each other,” Essenmacher forcement supporters try to see eye-to-eye, sex workers and pastors said. “It’s definitely encouraged me a lot to pipe up and talk about work to find shared beliefs, and veterans and peace activists seek to what I want to talk about.” find common ground. Though Essenmacher initially joined because her friends were
Replicating this model on a smaller scale, Middle Ground active members, she says the research and debate sessions have
Club meets every Thursday in two-week cycles. The first week, club made her more politically aware and motivated to participate. leaders select a topic and members split up to research arguments; “It has exposed me to a lot of debates that I didn’t necessarily the next week, club members organize their research onto slides think about before or really think to care about,” Essenmacher said. and present them to the rest of the club. “I remember last year, we were talking about women’s pay. Obvi-
Unlike many debate groups, the core values of Middle Ground ously, you learn ‘women’s rights are different,’ but actually having
Club are to listen, share, discuss and find similarities between con- a debate where people were giving evidence and giving stories or flicting opinions rather than to prove each other wrong. anecdotes about different women’s pays ... I just didn’t know that
While the Jubilee series served as inspiration for the club, San- it was that severe.” tos says that being able to politely disagree with someone has been In a year of particularly divisive disagreement nationwide, difficult growing up. This struggle of confrontation and discussion especially in conjunction with the contentious election, there has stems from her father’s highly conservative views, which often con- been increased awareness around having healthy discussions beflict with her own moderate and left-leaning views. tween people holding differing beliefs. Entering 2021, the Middle
“I think a lot of the girls [in the club] have had the same ex- Ground Club hopes to increase diversity of viewpoint, perience of having people at your house that you don’t agree race, gender identity and more in their with,” Santos said. “And it’s hard, at first, membership. to have some conversations.” “I think it would be fun to
However, after engaging in civil see people who do not live discourse, Santos says she has a in the same skin talking better understanding of about their experiencher father’s approach, es and how being and discourages oth- who they are shaped ers from cutting off their ideas and people they ini- values,” Santos tially clash with. said. v
