In the lull after the media frenzy around Irene, it is a good time to reflect on the Israeli-Palestinian situation. In a few weeks, the Palestinians will submit a resolution to the UN General Assembly that asks that Palestine be declared a new nation-state. Regardless of where you might stand on this issue, there are a lot of practical problems with the resolution. Besides the fact that the US will veto it in the Security Council, it is politically meaningless as long as Hamas and Fatah…

As I'm writing this, we're awaiting isolated tornadoes within Hurricane Irene...and we just had an earthquake.  Let's hope the first two ingredients of this meteorological turducken are mild as the third one was.

Whatever…

The annual event hosted by GSU's Office of the Ombudsperson is set for Thursday October 27, 2011. Emerging, seasoned and advanced conflict resolution practitioners and students will discuss significant trends, and meet and mentor emerging leaders. Presenters are expected to include:

• Shinji Morokuma, Director of the Georgia Office of Dispute Resolution
• Georgia Geiger, Past…

I've blogged before about the diversity of professions and personalities amongst New York Peace Institute mediators.  I don't think I mentioned that our mediator pool is predominantly female.  My mediation center comrades at home and abroad report that same is true with them.

Explanations for this phenomenon have…

So I emerged from the subway on Tuesday to see the streets jam-packed with people standing still, infused by a vibe I couldn't quite put my finger on...an admixture of low-level panic, consternation, solidarity, and an odd hint of celebration.  It was evocative of a Japanese monster movie streetscene, with choreographed crowds gawking in awe and horror at an enormous…

Folks, please go see The Interrupters, an amazing documentary about violence interrupters in Chicago...formerly gang-involved peacebuilders who literally take mediation to the streets.  Here's the film's homepage:…

The nonprofit JAMS Foundation announced today that it approved nine new grants to organizations using innovative ways to promote and advance conflict prevention and dispute resolution. The foundation will distribute the money in the form of Foundation Grants, which provide financial support up to $50,000 for ADR initiatives with national impact, and Opportunity Grants, which award up to $10,000 for smaller scale and more localized projects.

“We’re very proud to continue…

Five years ago, I saved up enough scratch to get Lasik surgery and said adieu to my coke-bottle lenses forevermore.  On the whole, I'm delighted with the results, mainly because I can see better.

But there are two drawbacks: 1) I kind of missing wearing my nerdy-chic glasses and 2) I used to enjoy taking my…

I just read a paper by Rotary Peace Scholar Duncan Autry that paralleled the ideas I present in my latest book Elusive Peace: How Modern Diplomatic Strategies Could Better Resolve World Conflicts. What we concluded from entirely different approaches is that the traditional means of achieving peace is doomed to fail. This is especially true if applied to Libya. Libya has a choice, and the wrong choice will lead to disintegration of its…

Join host Jeff Thompson and JAMS CEO Chris…

When choosing a logo for the New York Peace Institute, we insisted on avoiding the commonly-used images of our field...so, ixnay on the doves, peace signs, roundtables, and handshakes. (We did toy with the idea of a peace pigeon...a scrappy urban bird gobbling an olive branch).  We wanted to carve out our own identity --and…

Civic Engagement Meets the…

Episode #26

JAMS CEO Chris Poole & The New JAMS Blog

Join host Jeff Thompson and JAMS CEO Chris Poole as they discuss the new JAMS Blog.  Findout from Chris why the blog was created, the vision and goals of the blog, and what to expect from future posts.…

Ever wonder why lobsters and scorpions look so much alike?

It's all about parallel evolution -- when different species evolve similarly. So, though lobsters and scorpions shared a common exoskeletal ancestor, they separated eons ago -- one chose to chill on the ocean floor, the other opted to kick it…

You may remember the Seinfeld episode in which George, for ulterior motives, attempts to convert to the Latvian Orthodox religion.  The priest, attired in somber black vestments and a trapezoidal headpiece, asks George why. I like the hats? was the best he could come up with.

New York is chock-a-block with different faiths and cultures, but we often don't know much more about…

I had just moved into a ramshackle shoebox in New York's East Village, a neighborhood slouching toward gentrification while nostalgically clinging to its gritty bohemian 1980's past. People were starting to pay top dollar to move into the very tenements their immigrant great-grandparents couldn't wait to get out of.

In New York, the word "super" can be an oxymoron.  Short for…

Fall 2011…

One thing I love about New York City is that we throw lots of Yiddish words into everyday conversation.  I moved here around 18 years ago, and I regret spending a childhood devoid of words like schvitz, schande, kvetch, kvell, nudnik, schmooze, macher and mishegas.  How on earth did I manage communicate?  (I did know some analagous Pennsylvania Dutch words -- yooks, gretz, rootsch, schlumpet…

One of the hardest things to deal with in mediation, or in every day conversation for that matter, is silence. Venting, cursing, rambling, rattling on, this we can handle -- we can reflect, reframe, summarize, repeat, validate -- you name it.  But pregnant pauses, awkward silences, teenage sullenness, hangdog moping --…

I'm a visual learner with a limited attention span, and I like to draw.  So, when I teach and train, I use cartoons, visual metaphors, and pop culture references as (hopefully) entertaining mnemonic devices.  Above is a picture of me spieling about Community Cooperative Advocacy (more on that in an…