The community mediation field can feel vaguely Benjamin Button-esque -- simultaneously old and young.  While mediation itself has been around in some form since time immemorial, the community mediation movement is only in its 40's.  Which makes us a kid, as far as movements and professions go.  In that sense, maybe we're getting in on the ground floor of the next big thing.

On the…

Well, sort of.  This is my dear friend Kiki T , astrologist (or astrosexologist, as she prefers), who writes relationship-oriented horoscopes for all kinds of publications and was the featured astrologist on the Tyra Banks Show.  With Mercury in Libra, apparently it's a…

In the late '90s, I went to Bulgaria to set up a conflict resolution center for Partners for Democratic Change.  Here are some highlights of the junket:

-- Led Zeppelin was on tour in Eastern Europe, and Robert Plant and Jimmy Page were staying in the same hotel as me.  I spent an awkward hour sitting with them in the lobby. The hotel was…

New York City subways are a mixed blessing.  I'm thankful that I don't need to own a car here, and can get pretty much everywhere by train or bus.  But sometimes the rush hour subway platform feels like a microcosm of condensed urban agida, what with the heat, the crowds, the pushing, and the shoving.  Only very rarely are there tragic acts of subway violence, despite the key ingredients being in…

On October 6th, we'll honor our 30-year history as a program of Safe Horizon and embrace our future as the independent New York Peace Institute.

Please join us, as we celebrate building peace in New York City and beyond!  We're hosting a lovely cocktail…

When my fraud complex kicks in and I question my competence, as I've done in situations like this, I ask myself what I'm really, really good at.

Malcolm Gladwell believes it takes 10,000 hours to become…

Where I grew up in the 'burbs, waitress are preternaturally cheerful. If you're hungry for a side of "honey," "sugar" and "darling" with your burger deluxe, just pop into any suburban diner.  A New York stereotype is the mildly contemptuous and ennui-infused actor/model/musician waiting tables till the next gig, serving up your tofu scramble with a side of snark.

And where I'm from,…

On the 10th anniversary of September 11, we at the New York Peace Institute would like to informally gather conflict resolution professionals to stand in solidarity for peace, and pay our respects to the victims and their loved ones.

The Interfaith Center is hosting a beautiful floating Japanese lantern ceremony at Pier 40, which you can read…