As the founding director of The Global Media Center for Social Impact (GMI) at UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health, Sandra de Castro Buffington passionately analyzes where mass media and positive social change meet. I was curious about Sandra’s take on how mass media might play a role in creating nonviolent culture, so I interviewed… read more
Toward the end of last month, Stephanie Van Hook and Michael Nagler participated in The Shift Network‘s Politics of Love & Justice Summit, which was a free online event integrating spirituality and activism. Over the course of a few days, 25 of the world’s most visionary spiritual leaders convened online and shared their wisdom, offering… read more
Earlier this week, Forbes published it’s 2015 list of the world’s most powerful women—”most powerful” as defined, of course, by Forbes. The magazine’s criteria: This is FORBES’ definitive annual audit of the foremost heads of state, iconic entrepreneurs and CEOS, celebrity role models, billionaire activists, and pioneer philanthropists, all ranked by money, media momentum, spheres… read more
Ellie Cross is interested in using art as a problem-solving tool to create a more just world. A native of Seattle, WA, Ellie has painted murals designed to raise environmental consciousness in Malaysia, Thailand, Guatemala and the U.S. Her research in art activism and education has taken her to Ghana and Tibetan exile communities in Nepal, India… read more
“Believing as we do that life is an interconnected whole, and that there is an inescapable harmony between means and ends, and convinced by the proven effectiveness of nonviolent struggles in a just cause, we take the following pledge…” And so begins Metta Center’s “A Pledge of Nonviolence.” Pledging to nonviolence of course requires so… read more
A funny thing happens when I receive love, appreciation, support: I freak out. An intense fear permeates the whole body. From the outside, I probably appear calm (unless you’re standing right next to me, in which case you’ll notice my face growing red and sweaty). But on the inside, I experience a frenetic energy that… read more
When is a law worth breaking? When it denies us our human nature. When it snatches our human dignity. Last week, the head of a nonprofit called Love Thy Neighbor was charged by Ft. Lauderdale police for breaking an ordinance. The supposed crime? Serving food to people without homes. Arnold Abbott, a 90 year-old humanitarian… read more
“Meditation is not evasion; it is a serene encounter with reality.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh I’ve been practicing meditation for more than two years, and I come to this realization each and every time I sit: Meditation meets us where we’re at in life, opening and strengthening our hearts and minds where they most need… read more
In this blog-series accompanying our project of updating the Peace and Conflict Studies lectures (we call it PACS 164-c), Kimberlyn David reviews some of the key material of the course from a personal lens in an effort to generate personal reflection and the application of course content. Comment boxes are open below! * * *… read more
In this blog-series accompanying our project of updating the Peace and Conflict Studies lectures (we call it PACS 164-c), Kimberlyn David reviews some of the key material of the course from a personal lens in an effort to generate personal reflection and the application of course content. “We are only as brave as the stories… read more
