Originally posted on the BC Distance Family Mediation blog

When I recently invited my colleague, Linda Ross – Practice and Development Coordinator for Mediate BC Society – to provide a post for our BC Distance Family Mediation blog, I had absolutely no idea what she might say. So, when her post arrived in my inbox a…

Ever wonder why there are different views of what happened in every experience?

I get to see this almost daily.  I sit down with people who have very opposing stories and differing views on both of them witnessing the same event.  You have your version of the story.  They have their version of the story.  I piece together my own version of the story.  Then there is the actual story of what happened.

Below,…

“The thing I love about social networks is I can be anyone I choose to be!”

This statement is the basis for a lot of conversations for me lately.  There seems to be two schools of thought around this in the conversations that I’m having.

1) Mistrust

There are a lot of creepers out there and social media allows them to hide their creepiness.  How…

• Brandeis University in Massachusetts is offering a Master’s Program in Coexistence and Conflict with several scholarship opportunities. The program is geared towards professionals.
• The Summer Peacebuilding Institute in Harrisonburg, Virginia is still open for the 2012 year. The institute offers courses in development, humanitarian assistance,…

An article in the UM student newspaper reports that a three-year old grievance procedure for graduate students is rarely used. The procedure was implemented in 2009 for graduate students who felt abused by their supervisors. Despite the extensive work that went into creating the remedy, the vast majority of aggrieved graduate students chose instead to use informal mechanisms offered by the campus Ombuds office.

Ombuds Officer for Graduate Students Barbara Finkelstein said only about…

Forgiving is complex. Among other things, forgiveness means being able to move on and not continue to hold on to the hurt and pain from a situation. Some people expect that once they apologize for something they said or did that they are forgiven. It’s not that easy. There are many layers to forgiveness, including how deep the hurt, the nature of the deed or words that hurt us, who asks for forgiveness and how forgiveness is requested. When we seem to be unable to forgive, we may not be…

Listen by clicking on the player below.

When we see someone who is different from us, we as human beings react with curiosity, concern and caution based on what we may know or have been taught. Forty years ago, not many talked about sexual orientation or gender identity but today Lesbian, Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) employees are in the workplace and looking…

Listen below by selecting the Blog Talk Radio player. Enjoy!

Stories of attacks on the way home from the bus stop, bullying in the classroom, and assaults in school hallways are all-too-frequent reminders that our community and many others throughout the US are still not safe places for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) young people. Perhaps…

• The European Union pulled a TV ad from circulation and apologized after many considered it racist. The ad featured several non-Western martial artists who confront a white brunette (symbolizing Europe) with weaponry and ends with her surrounding them.
• President Lukashenka of Belarus…

• At least 35 soldiers and some 14 suspected militants were reportedly killed in twin suicide bombings and…

• President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner of Argentina sought negotiations with the UK to establish several weekly flights from Buenos Aires to the Falkland Islands on Thursday, a move the Islands’ legislative chairman says is “about as likely as the Falklands Air Service landing flights on the moon”.
• The independent federal elections agency in…

• Two NATO soldiers were reportedly shot dead in southern Afghanistan by two Afghans, including a man believed to be a soldier on Thursday. On Friday, the country’s top religious council…

Dear readers,

I will be filling in some more links and sources tomorrow afternoon-- but I wanted to get this out there while the discussion is still raging.

I will mark any changes under the article.

Also, a reminder that the This Week in Conflict reports will come all together on the weekend and resume their regular schedule next week.

Peace!

-- Rebecca

When conflict or…

When we are in conflict, it is common for many of us to blame the other person for what happened in the dynamic. It may well be that the other person has done or said something to offend us, and we have done nothing we can think of to warrant his or her words or action. Or, we may have done something to which he or she is reacting and we choose a defensive or blaming response to counteract his or her accusations. Or, some combination of these and other circumstances may have occurred that…

I fundamental concern about mediation is that it can promote resolution at the expense of justice.  Follow the link below to read what Bush and Folger say about that.

Read the full article here.

JAMS, the largest private provider of mediation and arbitration services worldwide, today announced the addition of Hon. Carl J. West (Ret.) to its panel. Judge West will be based in the JAMS Los Angeles Resolution Center. He will serve as an arbitrator, mediator and special master in a variety of disputes including Antitrust, Business/Commercial, Class Action/Mass Tort, Construction Defect, Employment, Environmental, Insurance, Real Estate and Securities.

Judge West served…

• A lawyers group claim that police arrested a carpenter on Wednesday who questioned whether Zimbabwe’s President still had the strength to blow up balloons at his 88^th birthday celebrations, under a law making it an offense to insult the President.
• The top UN envoy to Libya expressed…

Illinois Circuit Court Judge Hon. C. Stanley Austin (Ret.) Joins JAMS

March 6, 2012

Chicago – JAMS, the largest private provider of mediation and arbitration services worldwide, today announced the addition of Hon. C. Stanley Austin (Ret.) to its panel. Judge Austin will be based in the JAMS Chicago Resolution Center. He will serve as an arbitrator and mediator for Family Law and Personal Injury/Torts disputes.

Judge Austin…