Commentary
Ideas matter. Words can build bridges where walls once stood. This page gathers the published commentaries of Kyle Ogden, President and CEO of Thanks-Giving Square, originally appearing in The Dallas Morning News. Collected here in one place, these reflections explore gratitude, civic responsibility, and the shared human values that shape our city and our time.
The Dallas Morning News
Downtown Dallas has the bones of a great city center: unmatched access, cultural assets, iconic towers, major employers and a history of reinvention. What it often lacks, especially after work hours, is the lived experience that makes a place feel not merely functional, but magnetic.
January 17, 2026
The Dallas Morning News
This year for the holidays, think of gratitude as a strategy
It is not soft emotion for greeting cards; it shapes how we lead and how we relate.
December 18, 2025
The Dallas Morning News
Kindness, a winning strategy for business
Dallas Kindness Week is not just a celebration. It’s an invitation to lead.
November 8, 2025
The Dallas Morning News
Sacred spaces bring cities together. Dallas is showing the way.
Dallas is renowned for its unrelenting growth and expansive vision for the future, qualities that have transformed a prairie town on the river into a megacity with virtually limitless potential.
June 20, 2025
The Dallas Morning News
Today, we celebrate kindness in Dallas
In early 1994, a group of Dallas leaders formed a committee to establish a Dallas Acts Kind Week for the week of Feb. 14, 1995. The idea came to friends and longtime Dallas residents Dee Silverstein and Jackie Waldman after watching the movie Schindler’s List. It became the first movement of its kind.
February 14, 2025
The Dallas Morning News
New year, same America, just the way it ought to be
The nation changed in 2024, and in 2025, it will change again. Some will shrug, some will celebrate, some will lament, but what makes America so unique is that we change all the time yet remain constantly, faithfully committed to this little experiment of ours.
January 5, 2025
The Dallas Morning News
Thanks-Giving Square to host film screenings focused on mending our social capital.
Sept. 3, 2024
The Dallas Morning News
Thanks-Giving Square was founded after a tragedy. Could this be a moment for change?
Let’s start to heal the loneliness and divisiveness that is tearing our social fabric.
July 19, 2024
The Dallas Morning News
A renewed vision for Thanks-Giving Square
Our simple platform: love people, make a difference, practice gratitude
June 22, 2024