Why NPR is the Future of Mainstream Media

This from Mashable.com - good analysis of why cable tv and newspapers are losing audience while NPR continues to climb steadily. I know I subscribe to no less than 5
NPR podcasts. They are making their content available, for free and focusing on the local. Very important!!

Click here for full Mashable story:

My New Neighbors - The New Community Project

I will be moving deeper into the Shenandoah Valley when I return to the U.S. in July. I am excited about the community and connections that await there.

Here is a Harrisonburg radio show about The New Community project - an international faith-based organization that focuses on care for creation and social justice. Pal Adam Campbell is working with the project - and talks about sustainability, connection, local food, and so many other important issues. This makes sense.

http://www.jmu.edu/wmra/pgm/insight/vi042709.mp3

Graduation :)

No need for words...

Home - "I look at you... and I'm home."

-Dory to Marlin, Finding Nemo

A springtime walk around Blandy Experimental Farm in Boyce, VA.

The Mourning Dove and Brenda Waugh's Nurturing Theory of Conflict

Emerging from her conflict of theory class - Brenda Waugh's final paper outlines the theory of nurturing conflict which blows me away.  I've been saying I am not a peacebuilder - that there is too much peace.  We are conflict-born and conflict driven humans.  Brenda is getting at ways of articulating, validating, nurturing that as a concept.  She looks to the example of the mourning doves outside of her front door.  The male incubates the eggs from morning until afternoon, when the female takes a shift. They will nurture the eggs until the little doves are born and then fly away:

"Conflict is not bad any more than a head of lettuce picked from the garden or a new born puppy soiling the new carpet is "bad".  Conflict becomes bad when neglected, ignored, or manipulated for harm by the powerful.  If nurtured conflict allows for the philosophical collaboration which can birth self-transformation.  The nurturing which becomes heavy handed and prescriptive fails.  It may direct the course.  Just as the eggs are going to hatch in good time, or that the baby doves will leave the nest when they are ready, our conflicts need their own time, and need to be nourished, not controlled.  Never managed. "

More Brenda Wow, more!!!  

 

Connection - A Web of Relationships

"The moral imagination requires the capacity to imagine ourselves in a web of relationships that includes our enemies"

"The structure of the web combines interdependent connections with localized independence.  Strength is built by creating coordination at the hub without centralization."

"This whole endeavor of making a web requires a deep commitment to innovation and flexibility"

-John Paul Lederach, The Moral Imagination

Connection - Howard Zehr Posts on Regarding/Relationship

Wow. Talk about a web of relationships! After I posted my last blog - I visited Howard Zehr's Restorative Justice blog and he's talking about regarding and relationships around photography!! Wild!!

Here is an excerpt:

Roswell Angier, in his book Train Your Gaze, observes that what makes a portrait come alive and feel authentic is the photographer’s “thoughtful regard” – the “felt activity of someone looking.” But the regard goes both ways. It is a consensual process: “the contract between subject and photographer hangs palpably in the air that separates them.” A conscious, mutual regard is reflected in the photograph.

The mutual regard underlying such a portrait involves a relationship of trust and vulnerability, if only briefly. Power relationships are also involved. As Angier notes, the photo records this exchange.

This exchange of trust and vulnerability in turn implies an obligation on the part of the photographer. That is why it is so important for photographers to also experience the lens side of the camera: to be reminded of the gift with which we are entrusted when making a portrait and the responsibilities that accompany this trust.

Take a look at Howard Zehr's full post on diological photography:

http://emu.edu/blog/restorative-justice/2009/04/07/dialogical-photography/

Vision - Regard, Relationship - a Video Postcard for Howard

I am going to give a talk at commencement so I've been toying with subject. My French is popping up here - regarder - to look. As I was walking around Geneva today - I kept thinking that I was finally developing a relationship with this city. Rather than simply regarding it - passively, cooly looking at it, I felt myself investing in it and becoming almost impossibly in love with it. Call it Spring Fever - but something shifted with the lushness, the people all out, talking, engaging, connected. How shall we engage what we do as conflict transformers??? (remember, I am NOT a peacebuilder) Shall we regard? Or develop a relationship??? Either way, I think we should be intentional about how we engage.

The video doesn't add much - but the light was really beautiful... so here it is :)

UNHCR Feedback on my Capstone.

Today I gave a preview of my capstone to colleagues at UNHCR. The real deal will come on Thursday, April 23 at Eastern Mennonite University.

The capstone is very personal - about the process I've used to figure out vocation - or voice. When host-driven reality television came to the scene about 10 years ago, I became first frustrated, then outraged. But what to do? How do you shift to a different reality? My move to the country helped, then my Masters at Eastern Mennonite University. Through my practicum project I've been able to identify and articulate first a shift in my focus; from an energy expending orientation on goal... to an energy expanding focus on foundation.

Through an art project that was my practicum proposal, I identified Intuition, Home, Connection, Vision and Power as the building materials for the next phase of my life. This has helped me figure out my values, my voice, and the questions I need to ask as I move forward. Maria Soledad Rueda Garcia and Deanna Gergich provide generous feedback on all of these ideas.

Vision - Lisa Hannigan Video - a Fresh New Look

No Words. Just Watch...

Connection - New Restorative Justice Blog

If there was anyone who was made to blog, I would say it is my advisor, Howard Zehr. Howard is the grandfather of the restorative justice movement, a photographer who redefines image taking as image receiving, a mentor to countless students and profoundly connected to the world around him. We are fortunate that he recently launched this site, which will reflect on restorative justice, photography and whatever else Howard deems bloggable. He promises it will be "quirky". I don't doubt that... and I will be following closely.

http://emu.edu/blog/restorative-justice/

Video Postcard for My Advisor, Howard Zehr

In this, the end of month two of my UNHCR practicum, I interview Naoko Obi, the head of my Community Development, Gender Equality and Children section. Naoko talks of what we've achieved in our International Women's Day event... with the gender equality video and the creation of the slogan; "It begins with me. It begins with you. It begins with us." Next on the agenda is the creation of a blog to track an evaluation of Age, Gender, Diversity Mainstreaming policy... and trainings within UNHCR to teach others to blog and involve them in AGDM.

Watch 10 minutes now on YouTube:

Old Landscapes, New Eyes - Woman Lead Guitarist

Here is a fun morsel for a Friday afternoon. I am always interested in moments when I am seeing something original, fresh, forward when it comes to Age, Gender and Diversity.

This 1955 clip of American rock and roll singer, guitarist and song writer Bo Diddley features his trusted lead guitar player Peggy "Lady Bo" Jones in her gown playing electric guitar. Jones was the first female lead guitarist in history to be hired by a major recording act. Just kind of sad that more than 5 decades later this is STILL a fresh image... but enjoy the fabulousness.

Quote from Peggy Jones, "LIVE is real. Who I am is truth, and I am the artistry of what I created!"

Watch 5 minutes now on YouTube:

Interview with UNHCR UNV worker in Chad - Changing Perspectives

Giuseppe Rullanti, United Nations Volunteer in Chad in 2008, knows the challenges of bringing the values of Age, Gender and Diversity Mainstreaming to the field. In this interview Rullanti says for some UNHCR workers AGDM begins mainly with taking on the responsibility of being true partners in solidarity with people of concern to UNHCR.

Rullanti is a social worker and author of the 2006 book LA RECHERCHE-ACTION AU SERVICE DE L'AUTO-DÉVELOPPEMENT - which addresses the issues of empowerment in the refugee community.

Watch 2 minutes 30 seconds now on YouTube:

Vision - NYTimes on Paris Fashion Week

This piece by Cathy Horyn is so beautiful, analytical, ethereal... it is transcendent much like the aesthetic that Maira Kalman, the illustrator/blogger creates. The piece itself is a work of art. This is the way I aspire to communicate, or just THINK.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/03/11/fashion/20090312-paris-wrap-feature/index.html

Connection - American Association of University Women Blogs on Single Moms, Education and Video Profile

I am lucky enough to have happening colleagues on both sides of the pond! Shenandoah University's Amy Sarch is Education Director and Director of Women's Studies. Amy recently received a grant from AAUW to provide resources to single moms to attend university. Her awareness of this issue led to a video profile which I shot produced and edited on a day in the life of SU student, activist and single mom to Julie - Michelle Vilandry.

AAUW recently wrote a blog about Amy and Michelle's efforts and the video profile... here is the link to the piece..

http://blog-aauw.org/2009/03/09/a-day-in-the-life/


ABCs and SATs: College Life as a Single Mom from Paulette Moore on Vimeo.

Power/Vision - Documentary about Women Cinematographers...

Who knew that only 2% of cinematographers on the largest budget American films were women? (Actually I could have guessed that)

And what will the world of film be like when the vision of women informs it in a fuller way?

Women Behind the Camera is a made-by-women-for-women documentary, based upon Alexis Krasilovsky’s book of the same name, connects globally, exploring the lives of camerawomen in Canada, China, France, Germany, India, India, Iran, Mexico, Russia, Senegal, and other countries in a way never seen before.

http://www.womenbehindthecamera.com/

Vision/Connection/Intuition - UNHCR video for International Women's Day 2009; Men and Women United for Gender Equality.

This video was all about Howard Zehr's concept of receiving images. The entire making of this was about waiting for the picture/concept to come to me and I am happy with the result. Luckily I am working with a group that allows me to work in this way. A very good lesson.

Vision - We Must Disenthrall Ourselves

As always, my talk last night with EMU colleague, dear friend, fellow rabble rouser and West Virginia attorney Brenda Waugh was challenging, amusing, eye-opening, shocking... we spoke of this undeniable feeling, more than a feeling, actually - this undeniable tidal wave of realization around what we are doing in our vocation, how we are approaching our lives and our challenges. It feels we are keying in to a global conciousness. Something is bubbling up here. And I wonder what they will call this later when they look back at 2009 and saw that there was a movement emerging - a movement that rejected the boxes... that rejected the words and the lists and the sorting and the cages and the constricted way of thinking.

The NY Times Maira Kalman is part of that movement. She uses her gorgeous and playful illustrations to explore intuitively historic, cultural, economic, political from deep inside. From her perspective - the only way, really that these things CAN be examined, if we are to be honest with ourselves. Her latest work of genius taught me more about Abraham Lincoln than I probably learned in four years of high school:  

http://kalman.blogs.nytimes.com/

Brenda is making art to examine conflict theory. At the end of her course, she'll have the class put the art together "like dominoes". It will be up to each person to decide what pieces match - which again, is such a metaphor for conflict. Conflict will always look different, dynamic, like works of art... what we must do is allow ourselves to be centered enough, intuitive enough, creative enough to grasp the enormity of what is in front of us and piece the solutions together. That is what the learnin' needs to be.

http://theoryofconflict.blogspot.com/2009/02/peaks-swamps-and-reflections.html

I realize that what I am doing here in Geneva... and what I've been up to for the past several years... is simply becoming more human - in the most primitive definition of that term. We have had our intuition and creativity beat out of us by those who wish to quantify, by those who need to see everyone as predictable, boxable, controllable. I spend my time in yoga, listening to my body, not pushing the river, but navigating. I read an article yesterday that said the only being on earth that does not know how to eat properly is an adult human. Even 5 year old children, when given full access to all different kinds of food will in very little time begin to eat only when hungry - and will eat the food that their body truly needs. How did we lose this basic instinct?? - We don't know what to eat, when or how much and it is killing us.

What else have we forgotten? To breathe, certainly.

We humans are in an emergency. The planet is committing genocide, we are a world of refugees. We have lost our web, we have lost the concept that we are all connected. Wall Streetoise and their numbers are exposed... these guys were all just riding on greed and a whim. The politicians keep talking even though they know their words are empty. But our mighty... mighty... mighty instincts are rising up. Everywhere - I see unlocking, people coming out into the fresh air, awakening. We are beginning to see that we need metaphor, myth, magic... we need these things because they are able to hold the multiple layers of meaning of this big, big world in ways that words and charts and boxes never can.

Maira Kalman says she is in love with Abraham Lincoln, she visited his museum and pondered how someone who had one year of school could have been such a genius, have had such insight. Intuition, vision, connection, power. A person who fought desperately for his home. And this person continues to capture our imaginaton.

Here is the quote she embroidered - which made me cry just now...

"The occasion is piled high with difficulty. As our case is new, so must we think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country."

A. Lincoln
1862

A Powerful Noise - Documentary About Three Women

CNN interview with Scott Thigpen - Producer.

Luisa Cremonese Chats Virtually with Howard Zehr About UNHCR Practicum

Luisa Cremonese, Sr. Coordinator for Community Development Community Development, Gender Equality and Children Section at UNHCR discusses expectations for my practicum for Spring 2009. I'm thrilled to be working with Luisa and my entire section. We have similar outlooks, goals and speak the same language around equality and diversity :).

Vision - Det. Grace Hanadarko/the Process of Change/and a Fresh Take on Gender

I never thought I could think much less SAY that a tv series with a damn angel in it would be one of the most profound pieces of work I've witnessed in a long time - but here we go. Saving Grace stars Holly Hunter - who plays a top-notch Oklahoma City homicide detective leading a wild, audacious life. Her crazy, last chance angel named Earl is walking with her and her colleagues through some of the ghosts of their past and the joys and pain of their present. I can't write this in a way that seems cool. I wish I could. You just have to watch the thing. I watched the entire first season in two days last fall. Today I watched the entire second season. It IS that good.  

The first season Grace wrangles with the fact that she and others were molested by a beloved priest when they were young. The second season shows how all kinds of healing takes time, mistakes, time, lessons, work, backsliding, time, mistakes, steps forward, work, more work, more backsliding, humanity, more humanity, more mistakes, more time and more time. After my watching marathon today I came to a few realizations:

-Change is not an epiphany. It is a process. And the time and mistakes and messiness and backsliding and humanity and more time, time, time that it takes is totally hopeful. Because we need that time during our process of change to give ourselves space to forgive ourselves for being human, and forgive others for the same big offense as well. A TNT TV show is helping me define this. Believe me, I wish it was some noir film I came across in some eclectic cinema.

-The other realization is that this program is exactly what I've been referring to when I say that we need a new voice around gender equality. Hanadarko is undeniably acknowledged an amazing professional and beautifully complex character. The show's creator Nancy Miller  (Nancy Miller???? Why can't her damn name be cool?! How about Solange Montegeaus or something?) and Holly Hunter never miss a chance to depict Hanadarko and the other women on the show as powerful, wise, sexual, hilarious, loyal, strong, vulnerable, layered, textured, goofy, irreverent and HUMAN. It is so powerful, I cry at almost every episode. And here's the other beautiful thing - it is never at the expense of the men on the show. The male characters consistently become more interesting, multifaceted, vulnerable and define masculinity in brand new, deeper ways. How does this show do that? 

How can we all do that?

Vision/Connection - The Lighted Path

When I was feeling so pathetic cold in the rain the other night, I came across this cobblestone plaza lined with illuminated glass "stones" in the Old Town of Geneve. Very sweet.

Vision - Experimenting with Sights and Sounds for Women's Day Film

Reflection Video for Howard or "Hey Lady, Ever Hear of Editing?"

This is a reflection on how things are going here. (Actually they all are, but this is for my advisor, Howard Zehr) I do apologize; it rambles a bit - but isn't that what discernment is all about?? :)))

Power - It is Cold and Raining and There Are No More Buses...

... and I am ruining my coat by walking in the rain. These were the sad thoughts I was having as I schlumped home across the border to France last week after drinks with new friends.

I'd been feeling fairly lost and wondering what it IS exactly that I am doing here, across the pond, away from my friends and connections and everything that allows me to acknowledge that I am ME? Intuition drove my move here. Even though my goals has never been humanitarian aid on a huge scale. I have this calm part in my center that feels I am taking a right path. But it is undefined right now. It feels like fragmented bits of the entire world are swirling around me constantly... mostly whipping around my head.

The concept of power comes up again and again. My whole life I've been diving in, running like crazy, trying to wrangle, to catch, to immerse. These past few years, and especially now, I am attempting not doing that. I am trying hard (or as my mentor, Phyllis Ward used to say 'try softer') to receive the experience rather than make the experience happen or take the experience. This is hard. The receiving part takes faith. It takes trust. I just have to sit here and wait. Yeeesh. That's not anything I've been trained to do or that gives me quick ego boosts.



In my yoga class today my instructor Daniel said that our breath is power. Our breath. I've been feeling fairly small and not-so-very powerful. After spending most of the yoga class breathing I realized the breathing changed my perception just a little. I walked back to UNHCR still quiet and small, breathing... and receptive... maybe beginning in a tiny, tiny way to accept this quieter, smaller person as also being... me. And also quite powerful.

I had a really interesting dialogue with the Universe two summers ago. I was demanding that fear and weakness go away - I thought that was of course my reward for working so hard all of these years.

The Universe just shrugged her shoulders and said that I can wish all I want, but the Universe and all of its realities are just going to keep on doing what they do. My uncertainties and weakness are an integral part of me. Especially as a filmmaker. It is these qualities that keep me from settling in to a place where I would not be observant, where I could not be a witness, a weaver, a rummager, a researchist. These things are tools for me, they are paths that lead me to new insight.

If I have a reluctance, perhaps I am supposed to just be quiet. If I have a weakness, that is a moment to take notice; is there a better path? I have noticed that when I park my ego, when I listen, when I am quiet, receiving images and life - invariably there is reward.



Just before I left for Switzerland I came across some morning pages I wrote last summer. I was stunned to find one line which I pasted across the bottom of panels of my art project that was the foundation for my practicum proposal. The line said, "One day you wake up and you've stopped demanding of the Universe. Now, we begin the relationship." I don't even remember writing that. But now it seems that line could be the foundation of what I might be able to learn here. And a shift in my understanding of intuition, home, connection, vision... and power.

photographs of art by Andy Goldsworthy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Goldsworthy

Home/Vision/Connection - Community Media

This is the type of model in which I am very interested for the U.S. - especially the Shenandoah Valley. Hmmm.. just going to post this with the names, etc and will get back to it later...

This is from an event organized by Center for International Media Assistance:

The Center for International Media Assistance at the National Endowment for Democracy
and Internews Network

Invite you to a luncheon presentation on

Community Media Sustainability:
The Business of Changing Lives

Thursday, February 26, 2009
12-2:00 p.m.
(Lunch served from 12:00-12:30p.m.)

1025 F Street, N.W., Suite 800
Washington, DC 20004

RSVP (acceptances only) with name and affiliation by Tuesday, February 24
to CIMA@ned.org
Years ago, the notion of a business model for community media would have brought responses ranging from dismay to ridicule. Community media’s origins in political struggle, its community ownership structure, and its mission—to give voice to the voiceless, to provide an alternative to mainstream media, to place control of media in the hands of ordinary people—seem to contradict the notions of both “business” and “model.” Today, however, community media is a valued and recognized part of the media landscape. International aid agencies are showing ever-greater interest in community media’s ability to inform and empower. Additionally, more and more governments are acknowledging the contribution of community media to education, public health, and economic development, and are creating policy and legal frameworks to enable its expansion.

This is not the only way in which the community media context is changing. The shift to digital communication technologies has brought about an explosion of new media activity and opportunities over the past decade, as well as greater competition for scarce resources, including advertising. Jean Fairbairn, project director, chief writer and editor of the Community Media Sustainability Guide, will explore some of the challenges and issues facing community media, drawing on research and experiences from around the world to provide different perspectives on sustainability and how to achieve it. Bill Siemering of Developing Radio Partners and Jeanne Bourgault of Internews Network will comment on the report and offer ideas about how community media can best approach the goal of financial sustainability.

About the author:

Jean Fairbairn, Internews’ project director and chief writer and editor, has over 20 years experience in the international development sector. Her areas of specialty include communications for development, local independent and community radio, building democracy and civil society, HIV/AIDS, and monitoring and evaluation. Fairbairn directed the Open Society Foundation for South Africa’s Media Support Program from 1996 to 2003, playing a leading role in developing South Africa’s vibrant community radio sector. She is currently general manager of the Freeplay Foundation, based in the United Kingdom, and has written and edited several texts on community radio.

About the panelists:

Jeanne Bourgault serves as Internews Network’s Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President for Programs, overseeing the operation of Internews’ 23 offices and programs worldwide. Bourgault joined Internews in 2001 as Vice President for Programs. Her expertise is in democracy promotion and media development. Prior to joining Internews, Bourgault served for six years with the U.S. Agency for International Development, including three years working on Latin America programs followed by three years as director of the Office of Democratic Initiatives at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. Bourgault also worked in the former Yugoslavia, serving as a strategic advisor for media development programs in post-war Kosovo, as well as manager of community development projects in Serbia and Montenegro. Bourgault has consulted on international development program design and evaluation to the Open Society Institute, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Research Triangle Institute, and the United Nations Centre for Human Rights, among others.

Bill Siemering, an advisory board member for the guide, is president of Developing Radio Partners, a non-profit organization that supports local radio in developing countries. Developing Radio Partners grew out of Siemering’s experience since 1993, working with the Open Society Institute, where he worked in South Africa, Mozambique, and Mongolia, among other countries. Siemering wrote the original mission and goals for National Public Radio, became the first director of programming at NPR and, with the staff, developed All Things Considered. Later, as manager at WHYY-FM, Philadelphia, he helped bring Terry Gross and Fresh Air to a national audience.

Power - 10 Things Men Can Do to Prevent Gender-Based Violence

10 THINGS MEN CAN DO TO PREVENT GENDER VIOLENCE

-Approach gender violence as a MEN'S issue involving men of all ages and socioeconomic, racial and ethnic backgrounds.

-View men not only as perpetrators or possible offenders, but as empowered bystanders who can confront abusive peers.

-If a brother, friend, classmate, or teammate is abusing his female partner -- or is disrespectful or abusive to girls and women in general -- don't look the other way. If you feel comfortable doing so, try to talk to him about it. Urge him to seek help. Or if you don't know what to do, consult a friend, a parent, a professor, or a counselor. DON'T REMAIN SILENT.

-Have the courage to look inward. Question your own attitudes. Don't be defensive when something you do or say ends up hurting someone else. Try hard to understand how your own attitudes and actions might inadvertently perpetuate sexism and violence, and work toward changing them.

-If you suspect that a woman close to you is being abused or has been sexually assaulted, gently ask if you can help.

-If you are emotionally, psychologically, physically, or sexually abusive to women, or have been in the past, seek professional help NOW.

-Be an ally to women who are working to end all forms of gender violence. Support the work of campus-based women's centers. Attend "Take Back the Night" rallies and other public events. Raise money for community-based rape crisis centers and battered women's shelters. If you belong to a team or fraternity, or another student group, organize a fundraiser.

-Recognize and speak out against homophobia and gay-bashing. Discrimination and violence against lesbians and gays are wrong in and of themselves. This abuse also has direct links to sexism (eg. the sexual orientation of men who speak out against sexism is often questioned, a conscious or unconscious strategy intended to silence them. This is a key reason few men do so).

-Attend programs, take courses, watch films, and read articles and books about multicultural masculinities, gender inequality, and the root causes of gender violence. Educate yourself and others about how larger social forces affect the conflicts between individual men and women.

-Don't fund sexism. Refuse to purchase any magazine, rent any video, subscribe to any Web site, or buy any music that portrays girls or women in a sexually degrading or abusive manner. Protest sexism in the media.

-Mentor and teach young boys about how to be men in ways that don't involve degrading or abusing girls and women. Volunteer to work with gender violence prevention programs, including anti-sexist men's programs.

-Lead by example.

Copyright 1999, Jackson Katz. www.jacksonkatz.com
Reprint freely with credit.

Vision/Connection - More Feedback From Colleagues on IWD Video

This from UNHCR Colleague Caroline Aesheim:

Dear Paulette,

With regards to the film, this might be of interest to you (attatched);
- Pamplet from the Women's Commission on how men can empower women (practical advice and statistics)

http://womenscommission.org/pdf/masc_brief.pdf

With regards to some fast facts on SGBV, here are some numbers;
• At least 1 out of 3 women worldwide are estimated to have been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused.
• A 1994 study of World Bank data showed that rape and domestic violence is rated to be higher risk factors for women between 15 and 44 than cancer, motor vehicles and malaria.
• It is estimated that around 20.000-50.000 women were raped during the war in Bosnia, 250.000-500.000 in Rwanda in 1994 and 50.000-64.000 in Sierra Leone.
• Further estimated say that an average number of 40 women were raped each day in South Kivu (DRC)
• More than 91.5 million African women and girls above 9 years of age are survivors of female genital mutilation (FGM)
• Another 3 million African girls are at risk of undergoing FGM every year.
• 28 countries in Africa have been found to practice FGM and the practice is almost universal in 7 of them (>85%)
• In Tanzania, more than 1,400 individual SGBV cases were reported to UNHCR in 2007, the majority being domestic violence and rape.
• In Nairobi, more than 450 individual SGBV cases were reported to UNHCR in 2007 by urban refugee women and girls.
• 94% of displaced households surveyed in Sierra Leone reported incidents of SGBV, including rape, torture and sexual slavery.

Let me know if there's anything else we can input to the film.

Best regards,
Caroline

Power/Connection - Rosetta Stone Mohawk Language Software

If anyone is just DYING to get me a graduation gift... this would be the coolest one ever.

Rosetta Stone has created Mohawk language immersion software. As many of you know my family is Mohawk Indian. It is the first endangered language software. I am enjoying Rosetta Stone French - I think I must have this version. How amazing.

http://www.rosettastone.com/global/press/news-20060421-rs

The Mohawk language program will also be available for purchase through Kanien’kehaka Onkwawén:na Raotitiohkwa. For more information, e-mail kor@korkahnawake.org or call (450) 638-0880.

Vision - Mr. Porteno Responds to Anti- Violence Film First Draft.

HIHI
Primero, probably UNHCR has a library of footage from the field from which you can choose images of men and women doing things together.

Segundo, i find very effective an initial counter point, i don't know how to explain. The video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zKfF40jeCA has some of it. You first flash through what you want to prevent, change, in this case, violence against women, with images, music, strips of fast video, and then you jump in a calmer more harmonious part, doing things together.

Tercero, the message, starts with me, you, us. Maybe the message is stronger if you put the Starts with ME. In english, writing "starts with US", reads like "starts with U.S.", it's a very unfortunate similarity. I understand it's a community action, that everybody needs to do it together, all. But i don't know what is best, me, you or us. Hos would that impact in the refugees' population? Maybe starts with me is very indidualistic western approach.

Cuarto, great sequence of activities!!!! I would change the one with a couple playing with their kids, to one of a man and a women parenting, doing all the chores of a household, a man talking to his daughter, a women to her son, etc.

Quinta, have you thought of doing some animations or simple drawings? it's easy to produce in terms of materials and space.

Et derniére, i can help looking for pictures up for you, as a complement to your production.

buona sera!

javier

Vision/Power - First Thoughts on a Video for International Women's Day

So we are working up a video for International Women's Day in early March - and the video must be simple to shoot, simple to edit and convey a good... well... simple message.

-The theme? Men and women join together to stop violence against women. We've been talking a lot in the office about how change begins with us, in Geneva. It begins with me. It begins with you. It begins with US. This line, I think, could be the line that appears many times throughout the video. "It begins with us".

-Next, I am thinking of images and subtext. We'll have several scenes of men and women doing physical things together - dancing, biking, running - we could begin to convey the message that of course, we all have this energy. Perhaps stemming violence is partially about where we put that energy. And if we are doing powerful, energetic things TOGETHER - that is one place where a small change can begin.



I've had a few conversations with my wise colleagues and here is a working list of some of the physical things that would be interesting to film:

-A couple on bikes (Irene and BF?)
-A group of people dancing (does anyone know a local dance troupe?)
-Men and women doing yoga.
-A couple playing with their kids.
-A group of people messily painting a big canvas (Siobahn worked with a cooperative)
-A couple running down the stairs of a cathedral together holding hands.
-A group of friends noisily and messily making dinner together.
-Men and women jogging.



- The third element to the piece will be tips about how to stem violence against women in small ways. They come in the form of questions. Here is an example:

Luisa had a suggestion - if you are talking to a couple, do you focus mainly on the man?

Or a question to women - are you mentoring other women? Why or why not?

The questions make the piece non preachy - but effective to get those synapses firing.

-The last element will be how to translate this to refugees... to the field. Perhaps we will have the last person or group of people who say "It begins with US." do an echo repeating... then we show, with the echo still reverbing, shots of the field. Or many even just one of men and women obviously together, or even better, of children working together, standing smiling together.


I will be very happy to receive feedback on any of these elements. I will bother you all in the next few weeks - trying to secure locations and people to shoot this and asking you for short interviews.

Vision - Malian Chanteuse with Modern Grace

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100200274

A Review from NPR's Banning Eyre

Malian singer Rokia Traore has never been a traditionalist. The daughter of a diplomat, she grew up assimilating European and African cultures, and in her 10-year career, she's developed a sound that uses elements of Malian tradition in her own way. Traore's fourth album, Tchamantche, is just out, and it's her best and most daring work.

"Dounia," the opening track, tells the whole story. Traore always stood out as a West African female singer who also plays guitar. Here, she trades in her usual acoustic axe for a vintage Gretsch jazz guitar and matches its dark tones with a moody, whispering melody.

In "Dounia" — meaning "the world" — Traore touches on the themes of Mali's traditional praise singers, who belt out mighty proclamations about life's inevitable course. "No one can see, [even from the highest point of existence] what tomorrow will be," she sings. "Days that are honey sweet? Days that taste of gall? ... Hours of glory, hours of disappointment." But her mode is less assured than the griots, more delicate and mysterious. With this introspective mood established, Traore's ensemble joins in, led by a traditional lute.

Traore's meld of African and rock aesthetics is understated and as comfortable as it is cool. In this one song, her vocal style shifts from an opening whisper to bird-like cooing and ultimately a growling crescendo in which she laments the remoteness of the heroes who built the great societies of the past — as she puts it, "the story of an Africa we miss." It's the work of a mature artist who embraces the contradictions of her African ancestry and looks ahead with hope, but also a poet's wariness.

So begins Tchamantche, which means "balance." The world's less-developed societies have produced many singers who seek to balance musical style and cultural perspective, and to address the larger world. Few manage it with the grace and style of Rokia Traore.

A Moment of Sorrow

At UNHCR Headquarters in Geneva today, staff members gather to observe a minute of silence in the memory of one colleague and in hope for another. Pakistani UNHCR driver Syed Hashim lost his life in an attack in Quetta on Monday morning, February 2, 2009. John Solecki, UNHCR head of office in Quetta was abducted in the same incident.

Power/Connection - A Literature Review in Response to the Dark Knight Post

-Amy Sarch recommends:

The Hearts of Men by Barbara Ehrenreich
Author Michael Kimmel, Leader in Men’s Studies (not your caveman version)


-Howard Zehr recommends:

Listening In by Susan Douglas
Where the Girls Are by Susan Douglas

Stiffed and Terror Dreams by Susan Faludi


-Berenice Tostado:

http://www.cellinteractive.com/ucla/physcian_ed/stages – this is a website that explains the 6 steps critical to change.

Power - Women May Surpass Men in US Jobforce...

...mainly bc they earn less and have meager benefits packages, if any at all. The job cuts have slammed more men in manufacturing and construction. How will this effect gender roles?

I like this image that the NYTimes chose to show of a man and a woman making each other laugh in the midst of tough job stuff - instead of all grim looking images.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/business/06women.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Home - Lego evokes thoughts of Manhattan

This in the New York Times today. Sooooo sweet...
niemann.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/02/

Home/Vision/Power - Dr. Amy Sarch Schopick Responds to Dark Knight Post

Yay!! My friend and Director of Women's Studies at Shenandoah University, Dr. Amy Sarch Schopick responded to my Batman Dark Knight posting. The question was, how do we reach men when it seems that there is a great cultural incentive for men to be pathologically brooding, detached and well, stuck? Where do we begin to have the conversation? She is one person I know who is reaching the young men of Shenandoah University - so that's where we begin this dialogue.

Here is Amy's response:
I actually had one of those aha moments a few years ago teaching a history of gender in advertising course. I was doing background reading on 1950s, 1960s images of men in advertising (same time period that Playboy begins, Marlboro Man introduced) and I read Barbara Ehrenreich's The Hearts of Men (which I highly recommend). Ehrenreich talks about how conformity for men takes the form of breadwinner, grey flannel suit, loyal husband. And Playboy actually was revolutionary for men because it was about noncomformity really -- forget marriage, grey flannel suit, making money for the family -- do it for yourself. Actually making the some parallel arguments to women in the women's movement -- be an individual.

This was difficult for me to wrap my brain around at first because as a women's studies professor it's like I'm conditioned to just think sexist, but culture constrains men as well as women -- as another poster stated, socializing boys NOT to cry is as constraining as marketing pink kitchens to little girls.

I'm also doing train of thought here -- so when thinking about Playboy, Marlboro Man -- these actually are revolutionary images of men because prior to that (in advertising at least) all you had was the man in the grey flannel suit selling socks and dress shirts. And what I realized, that once I introduced students to this notion that hey, the social constraints keep women AND men from recognizing social constraints as culturally constructed that men were more willing to start listening.

So now, in a different class (intro to women's studies), we spend a lot of time on phrases like "boys will be boys" -- and what that means, and it's not always freedom, using that to explain a boy running amok in a supermarket is a disservice to that boy (that same 'boys will be boys' statement has been used by a dad to defend his son in raping -- although he didn't see it like that -- a series of women in high school -- spur posse case). Oh, another author to recomend is Michael Kimmel who is the leader in this 'men's studies' (in not your caveman version). So anyway, the brooding man -- definitely a genre that is linked to the same undercurrents that launched Playboy and created the marlboro man.

Connection/Vision/Home -Brenda Waugh's Theory of Conflict Blog

My friend, Center for Justice and Peacebuilding colleague, attorney, feminist and all-around-rabble-rouser Brenda Waugh (also known as Brenda Wow!) is at it again. Last semester she and I torched our qualitative analysis text book in search of a new path to participatory analysis and astounding things happened along the way.

Now Brenda has her sites on conflict theory and she's doing what she does best; deconstruct (or blow up!), reinvent, reconstruct, redefine and all with one of the most authentic voices I've witnessed. I won't say she does it fearlessly... but she certainly does not let fear get in her way. This is someone who challenges me constantly. Her curiosity and energy are boundless and I am better and better for knowing her.

This is her new blog about how she is approaching theory and it is a pleasure to have the opportunity to run around in her brain, trying to figure out where it all comes from.
theoryofconflict.blogspot.com

Vision - Center for Social Media Tracks New Directions in Film

Last Spring, EMU colleague Nadia Bazzy and I gave a presentation on the new role of filmmakers in presenting their work and engaging the public. The talk is titled "Seeing Ourselves, Healing Our Lives; the Role of Television and Film in Trauma Healing".

This month A.U.'s Center for Social Media (one of my favorite advocacy groups ever) presents an article along the same lines. The group highlights case studies of three filmmakers "eager to bring their stories and issues to broad audiences, to spark conversation across boundaries of difference, mobilize communities around issues, and influence public policies. In the process, they have created networks—of funders, broadcasters, outreach specialists, festivals, and distribution channels—to sustain continuing documentary work."

www.centerforsocialmedia.org/blogs/future_of_public_media/social_issue_documentary_the_evolution_of_public_engagement/

Power - What Is Gender?

'Gender' refers to the socially constructed roles of and relations between men and women, while 'Sex' refers to biological characteristics which define humans as female or male. These biological characteristics are not mutually exclusive however, as there are individuals who possess both.

'Gender relations' are characterised by unequal power. 'Gender norms' assign specific entitlements and responsibiltiies to men and women - for example, women might be expected to take on caring or domestic duties and remain close to home, while men may be expected to be the main breadwinnner, working outside the home, with greater freedom to move around in public places.

Eldis (from the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex) resources on gender issues including training, papers, etc.) We host a range of innovative and highly regarded knowledge services – including Eldis, id21, BRIDGE, Livelihoods Connect and the British Library for Development Studies.

http://www.eldis.org/go/topics/dossiers/trade-and-gender/what-is-gender

Vision - In Response to My Last Blog - NYTimes

The New York Times today does exactly the opposite analysis of the trends in pop culture as my last blog - using THIS year's Oscar contenders. :) Very interesting!

www.nytimes.com/2009/01/30/movies/awardsseason/30carr.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Power/Vision - The Dark Knight, Tina, Amy and Raising Awareness on Women's Issues

Sooo the section I am working in at UNHCR is called CDGECS - Community Development, Gender Equality and Children. This section has a mandate to make the culture more inclusive around age, gender, diversity. And I constantly think about gender and change and what brings about enlightenment around rights and culture and journey. So I've been thinking...

Hang with me on this. It's a little round about.

At lunch today I had an intriguing discussion with three other women colleagues. Each of us has a dynamic, interesting mother who does amazing things... takes big risks, pursues advanced degrees late in life, generally engages exuberantly with the world. Each of us had a father who was threatened by our moms in one way or another. The reactions ranged from fathers who undercut the moms verbally... became coincidentally sick themselves during a major household crisis... to those who outright physically abused our moms. All of our parents are divorced.

I've thought so much lately about how engaged and resilient many of the women I know are. There seems to be a realization that the world is exciting, challenging and unfolding. I think of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler - comedians and actresses who bring intelligence, authenticity and real joy to their work. They are so fresh. Honestly, I see so few men who feel that way. There seems to be a dark cloud over many men and I wonder what lies at the core of this.

Does it have to do with the fact women had a big revolution over the past century - but there was no similar, obvious opening for men?

Recently, I spoke with a young male friend of mine who is in crisis. He's talented... smart... charming. He's been battling substance abuse for years. I asked what demons are torturing him. He was embarrassed to tell me, but I was happy he did. He said, "I thought I was going to be a rock star... but it's obvious that I am not."

You could almost laugh at that answer, but he was serious. Could there be a clue in this answer about what is torturing men around us? Is this about huge societal expectations and inevitable failure? Or is it more nuanced than that?

I watched the Batman film "The Dark Knight" last night - and the film was one big indulgence around a brooding, depressed pathology. There was no resolution offered and none expected. The darkness was the point, the precious thing to be engaged. As one of the women at lunch pointed out - a resolution would make the movie happy. A resolution would make the movie a chick flick.



I think about other popular films... "No Country for Old Men", "There Will be Blood" both garnered Oscar nominations... and popular TV shows are "24", "House"... about men, depressed, repressed, dark, unresolved, unresolvable. Heath Ledger, star of "The Dark Knight" was so brooding and depressed that he committed suicide.

How do you reach a population about awareness of diversity issues and bring along a cultural shift when the majority of the population seems to consider their brooding pathology a form of poetry? The brooding pathology seems to be the root of masculinity in a vast part of our culture; the basis for much of our popular arts. To consider other individuals or possibilities out there would be a failure. You could lose your precious darkness.

My friend Amy Sarch teaches women's studies at Shenandoah University and is one person I know who is reaching a male audience around women's issues. One of the football players who took her class now proudly calls himself a feminist. I hope to speak with her soon - and some of her students to gain a little more insight. More then. In the meantime... I would love your feedback!!

Connection/Vision - A Community Film Project in East Africa

Country
Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda
Region
Global, Africa
Programme Summary

Based around the lives of two very different families, the well-to-do Meli family and the some what poorer Karani family. The two families live in close proximity, and are linked by various means, but primarily by Salome Karani, who works as ayah to the Melis.

Initiated in 2002 by the United Nations (UN) in Kenya in collaboration with all 24 UN agencies based in Nairobi, this multimedia communications strategy is centred on a prime-time television and radio soap opera called 'Heart & Soul'. Scripted, directed, acted, and produced by Kenyan talents in the film and television industry, the series explores social and development issues evoked by 5 key themes: HIV/AIDS, environment and natural disaster management, governance and human rights, poverty reduction, and gender issues.

These issues, as well as the ordinary joys and trials of everyday life in Africa, are highlighted through focus on the rich "Meli" family and the poor "Karani" family. Heart & Soul's audience, which is potentially 50 to 75 million people across Africa, are the urban and rural, youth and adult population in Kenya and other Eastern Africa countries.

Communication Strategies
In July/August, 2002, the 6-episode pilot TV series was broadcast in Kenya through the national broadcaster (KBC), and in 11 other Anglophone African countries through the TV Africa Network. The pilot radio series, which used the same storylines as the TV programmes, was broadcast in Kiswahili in Kenya (KBC) and Tanzania (Clouds FM), and in English in Uganda (Super FM). The TV programmes were also distributed through Regional Reach, a network of community TV sets in Kenya, and through the Health Channel, a similar network with sets in hospitals and clinics.

A central component of this production process is capacity building and development of creative and production talent in Kenya. The development of the project's pilot phase followed the staging of a 2-day workshop in early February 2000 attended by Information and Communication officers and representatives of the UN Agencies in Kenya. Other participants included marketing, research, creative and production consultants drawn from Kenya's media industry.

In July 2000, a workshop in Nairobi was held to for 16 Kenyan writers, identified from 55 applicants across Kenya. The purpose of this workshop was to lay the programme's creative foundations and select a story line and scripting team for the pilot series. These materials were then tested on rural and urban audiences in Kenya. Acting and directing capacity building workshops were conducted in August 2001 for 25 Kenyan actors and 6 Kenyan directors.

Production of the pilot series commenced in April 2002 and involved a cast of 31 Kenyan actors and 80 Kenyan-based crew and production management personnel. Students from the Mohammed Amin Foundation, a Kenyan film and television production training school, contributed to the production process. Organisers hope that, by contributing to the development of the local industry, employment opportunities can be created and indigenous cultural creativity and values fostered and maintained.

Organisers planned to introduce complementary support media such as rural theatre road shows, billboards, newspapers, and youth education packs over the project's timeframe. Additional planned activities include a re-edit of the TV pilot series as a mini series (3 1-hour episodes), a dubbed/sub-titled version of the pilot TV series, 26 *-hour English TV programmes, 26 *-hour dubbed/sub-titled TV programmes (French), 52 *-hour English radio programmes, and 52 *-hour Swahili radio programmes.

Development Issues
HIV/AIDS, Environment, Rights, Economic Development, Gender.

Key Points
Editor's note: In 2003, organisers put the project on hold; they were unable to continue beyond the pilot phase of Heart & Soul's first 6 episodes. In their words, "While we received a great deal of praise both for the high production standards of the pilot series as well as the nature of the programming, we
were simply unable to raise the necessary funds."

Partners
The pilot series was financed by a number of UN agencies, as well as donors including the Norwegian government, DFID-UK government, the Ford Foundation, the British Council, Beiersdorf EV (Nivea), Coca-Cola Africa Foundation, and Western Union (Helping Hands). In-kind production support was provided by Kenya Airways, Africa Air Rescue, Somak Travel, EARS Security Group, and Kergeles Restaurants. The TVAfricaNetwork was a partner in the World AIDS Day/Heart and Soul launch.

Contact
Steve Jackson
Head of Audio Visual
Division of Communications and Public Information (DCPI)
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
P.O. Box 30552
Nairobi, Kenya
Tel.: 254 (0)20 623332
Mobile tel.: 254 (0)733 617087
Fax: 254 (0)20 623927
steve.jackson@unep.org
OR
Eric Falt
UNEP Spokesperson/Director of DCPI
Eric.Falt@unep.org
Heart & Soul website


The pilot series was financed by a number of UN agencies, as well as donors including the Norwegian government, DFID-UK governme

Power - UNHCR; a Community Based Approach to People of Concern

Here is a link outlining UNHCR's change of approach to the people that they serve. The change looks at people of concern not as dependent beneficiaries who are to be saved and assisted, but rather as equal partners who have an active role in protecting themselves and organizing for their own basic needs. The document states the need for an attitudinal change within the organization. My section - Gender Equality, Community Development and Children, is key to driving that change. More about how that is being implemented in future posts.

www.unhcr.org/publ/PUBL/47f0a5a92.pdf

Vision - New Yorker Article about UNHCR in Chad

Bredjing, a refugee camp in eastern Chad, close to the border with the Darfur region of Sudan. Twelve camps in the region house a quarter of a million Sudanese who have fled to the area and are now caught between warring armies. Photograph by Christoph Bangert.

www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/01/05/090105fa_fact_harr

This is an excellent article from Chad on how UNHCR camps are set up, how they are run and how they evolve. A few quotes:

"Some refugees had been there for months, and more came every day. Every so often, they saw in the distance a column of black smoke rising from another burning village. In the month before Sturm’s arrival, thirty thousand new refugees had crossed into Chad. The total number gathered along the four-hundred-mile border with Darfur, by rough estimates, came to seventy-seven thousand.

Sturm had a pragmatic cast of mind. The scene evoked in him a sense of urgency, but it neither shocked him nor caused him great distress. “I had been involved in other situations that were just as bad, even worse,” Sturm told me. Years earlier, in Goma, eastern Zaire, he’d been part of a team trying to cope with a million refugees and an outbreak of cholera that, at its peak, had killed seven thousand people a week."

"The task of assisting some thirty-three million refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced people in more than a hundred and ten countries around the world costs the U.N.H.C.R. about $1.2 billion a year. The bulk of that sum comes from voluntary contributions made by wealthy nations. The top ten donors account for eighty-five per cent of the agency’s budget. The United States is the largest contributor, followed by the European Commission, Japan, Sweden, and the Netherlands."

"Managing this money, accounting to donors for its expenditure, and overseeing the agency’s far-flung operations requires a bureaucracy. Like most bureaucracies, the one created by the U.N.H.C.R. has evolved into a cumbersome apparatus."

Vision - FilmAid Partners with UNHCR

"Films are powerful and evocative tool for fostering understanding and tolerance in the world." - Nelson Mandela, Nobel Laureate

From FilmAid's website:

FilmAid International uses the power of film and video to reach the world’s most vulnerable communities with messages that inspire them, address their critical shared needs, and effect social change.

Principles:
FilmAid has been embraced by many leading humanitarian organizations due to unwavering commitment to its core principles:

FilmAid works with local advisory committees to ensure that the content used in its programs is appropriate and relevant for the intended audience. These Advisory Committees represent a cross-section of the local population and engage the rarely heard voices of women and youth.

FilmAid collaborates with local communities in program design, implementation and evaluation.

FilmAid partners with humanitarian experts, physicians and nongovernmental organizations in the field.

FilmAid performs ongoing evaluations to measure results and identify possible program improvements.

Vision/Connection - Howard Zehr on Contemplative Photography

Professor, advisor, and restorative justice pioneer Howard Zehr talks about contemplative photography, its meditative approach to life and subject and how that approach can change our predatory relationship to the greater world.

"When I have the camera, I see things in the world that I would miss otherwise." - Howard Zehr

Howard wrote the book The Little Book of Contemplative Photography.

Listen to his interview at:

http://cdn1.libsyn.com/paulgiguere/TOP-0046.mp3?nvb=20090117112406&nva=20090118113406&t=0d3a5831251d2d1a3ad21

Howard's book on people serving life sentences called Doing Life is a beautiful example of seeing subjects in relationship and in a new way.

Connection - United Nations Quaker Office - QUNO

Did you know there is a United Nations Quaker Office? How interesting! UNHCR colleague Siobhan Sparkes McNamara worked at QUNO last year and over lunch last Friday we discussed the Quaker approach to creating space to engage in issues which is informal, not chaired, it usually involves shared food and the aim is to develop relationship.

Here is what the QUNO website has to say about how they work:

http://www.quno.org/aboutUs/howWeWork.htm

Quakers engaged in international affairs have a long tradition of providing opportunities for people to meet on an equal footing. Such informal and off-the-record meetings, away from the pressures of public life, provide a setting for dialogue where the voices of delegations from all countries may attain equal weight and importance. These meetings encourage a greater understanding of why there are disagreements and provide an opportunity to challenge assumptions between groups, who would not otherwise have the chance to talk openly. Participants may try to find common ground or to explore difficult, controversial or sensitive issues. Staff both initiate and respond to requests for these meetings, which are held at the Quaker Houses maintained for this purpose in Geneva and New York.

Quakers are also known for speaking out against injustice and war - issues that are incompatible with their vision of a world in which peace and justice prevail.

QUNO staff work with people in the UN, multilateral organisations, government delegations and non-governmental organisations, to achieve changes in international law and practice.

This begins to answer the question of where I may find the human, the personal side on an international level for peacebuilding organizations.

Home - Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen "This Land is Your Land"

Intuition/Home/Connection/Vision/Power - My Practicum Proposal

Intuition, Home, Connection, Vision, Power. What do these have to do with my experience at UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency? And how do they help me define my vocation? For now, they are the concepts that help me explore my practicum experience in Geneve and synthesize life learning and graduate work at Eastern Mennonite University's Center for Justice and Peacebuilding.

My practicum committee, and specifically my advisor Howard Zehr were open to allow me time to process how I anticipated this semester would go and why exactly I was moving to Switzerland to work for a massive humanitarian aid organization. I could not articulate it with words initially - but thought that an art project would help. You can't see all the bits... but what came out of the process was this map - where Intuition pushes the concepts of Home, Connection, Vision and Power. I am challenged by what emerged and feel more authentic in this process than I've ever imagined I could be.

I believe that what Center for Justice and Peacebuilding does best is unlock this messy, authentic process, this art that leads us to a transcendent imagination - what Lederach describes as the moral imagination. Not a narrowing through rigid definition and worn-out, overused language, and certainly not moral in a traditional religious sense, but an opening to possibility through an artistic process, a spiritual center and a web of relationship and responsibility.

I am grateful.

Thanks to Mike for the photography and CornDog for his stylish cameo appearance at the end.

Vision/Connection - The Poet on Tram 16 to Moellselaz and a Question

Q. How would you approach this situation, this man, or the receiving/taking of his image?

I see this man as a poet and an artist. In our architecture and justice film for qualitative analysis class this fall, Brenda Waugh and I explored the responsibility of the witness/researchist in presenting images of individuals in a responsible way; by way of relationship with the individual.

Photographer and restorative justice pioneer Howard Zehr lives his philosophy that you don't take images - you receive them and you develop a relationship with your subject.

Is presenting this image taking something from the man in this film? He obviously wanted to convey a public message. Some I've talked to think perhaps he is not all there mentally. But are any of us all there mentally who stand up in a crowd and try to speak a message?

He was warning the crowd about something...

Home - Paulette Gits Herself a New One

Again, a bit out of sequence - but thought these should all be collected in the same place!

Intuition - Paulette Goes to Switzerland

A little out of sequence - but this was the very first videoblog I made before coming to France/Switzerland.

Home - A Love Letter from France to President Obama

What effect will the new administration in the U.S. have? Personally? Nationally? Internationally? Since the election I've been calmer, more optimistic, feeling part of my country and connected to my fellow country-persons... to my home. Protected. Connected.

Home. Part of what UNHCR tries to give to people of concern. At least temporarily. Protected. Connected.

Here's a love letter from my temporary home to my country and Barak Obama. What a good feeling to send a letter home.