Posted on Christian-Muslim Solidarity Network on FB!

"Restorative Justice can take many forms, but it always goes beyond punishment, seeking to name and repair the harms they have been done and restore the fabric of our human relationships and our human community." — with Rose Gordon.

Holding the Center, Feeding the Fire

In Taos we are not sitting around a bonfire during our Restorative Justice Circles, or our other Circles, but I often refer to thinking of our words as feeding a fire. A fire that burns in the center of our Circle. So our words become the sticks, the twigs, the logs that feed the fire.

There is something compelling about the Fambul Tok that i posted about earlier; it happens in the dark, by the light of a fire. Darkness and firelight, they are significant elements, with cultural relevance. No one is "on stage" in this setting and the night, like a dark shawl, envelopes the whole process. In that darkness, the words feed the fire, which leaps and illuminates the circle, the speakers, their words and their hearts.

The people participating in the Fumbol Tok process were thoughtfully prepared to take charge of the process, and use their own wisdom and traditions. They had someone assigned to support the man who was telling about the murder of his father. Someone who came immediately to his side, to support him in speaking the painful truth, exposing the murderer in their midst, but not resorting to violence himself.

The video ends with saying there may not be a difference between the Fumbul Tok at the fireside and what happens in a Circle in a classroom. I agree.

We can each feed the "fire"... the warmth and vitality of life that sits at the center of our relationships. We are doing it with Restorative Justice in Taos and we can do it in our homes, our classrooms, our business boardrooms, where ever we gather and truth is needed. Where harm needs to be acknowledged and repaired. Where ever healing needs to begin.

But we don't need to wait for the kind of tragedy and suffering that happens in war. We can begin the process of truth telling and heart full sharing NOW. Where ever we are, whom ever we are with. We need this. The world needs this. It always has.

Justice in the Round- Fambul Tok and Community Healing: Libby Hoffman at...

This quote, shared by a friend in the Phillipeanes, caught my eye today. It says it all...and Restorative Connections are about illuminating that connectedness. Its so easy to feel alone in the world, but we aren't.  And while this seems to refer to other human beings its also true of our relationship to all creatures, large and small and to the earth and beyond as well. Our existence is inextricably interwoven with life. So lets give our life and our interactions the care and joyful participation they deserve. 

“Only through our connectedness to others can we really know and enhance the self. And only through working the self can we begin to enhance our connectedness to others.” – Harriet Goldhor Lernerell.  

Restorative Justice Makes a Difference.

In Taos County our Restorative Justice Youth Initiative, a program of the Taos County Juvenile Justice Board, also has between  5-8% recidivism...so we are doing great! and there are "ripple effects" - improved family relations, better understanding of consequences and social norms, realization of harm done, understanding of how to repair harm, and having had the experience of listening and being listened to!  

The Spring Issue of AMANA, published by the Asian Muslim Action Network. 

My article, Opening the Space for Dialogue and 

Transformation

is among other interesting, informative and inspiring articles by folks involved in the Peace and Conflict Transformation work that AMAN is engaged in. 

    http://aman-asia.org/index.php?option=com_attachments&task=download&id=15

The Many Faces of Young Peacemakers

We came from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Egypt, Uganda, Tanzania, Myanmar, Japan, Lebanon, Nepal, Sri-Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia and the U.S. We came in shades of white and brown, with a rainbow of national dress, music and foods. We spoke many languages, but communicated with one heart; sharing dreams of freedom; dreams of peace and justice and an end to violence. 

Many participants are already translating their dreams into action; working as Human Rights Lawyers or Social Workers, working in NGO’s that support and assist refugees, orphans or juveniles who attempted suicide bombings. Some are working towards Gender Rights, many works with youth. Others work in development sectors.  Together the participants and resource staff represented over 160 years of experience in Peace and Human Rights Activism and related activities.

IIPS arranged an impressive series of presentations for this group of educated and experienced young professionals. Presentations by Thai, S. Korean, Japanese and U.S. scholars covered topics of Ethnicity, Gender and Power, Structural Violence and Practices on Non-Violence.  There were talks and experiential exercises addressing Deep Listening, Indigenous Wisdom, Conflict in Contemporary Thailand, Global Governance, Peace and Human Security, Approaches to Analyzing Conflict and Approaches to Conflict Transformation as well as new information on the experience of Fukishima and movements towards Asian Democratization. Visits to Buddhist Temples, Mosques and Christian Churches were part of the curriculum along with time at rural, self-sustaining inter-faith communities in Bangkok and Chiang Mai.  

Everyone was both teacher and student at IIPS, discovering commonalities, exploring differences and celebrating diversity.  Late night discussions covered everything under the sun. 

At IIPS, PEACE is not just a word or a theory. It’s translated into action - sharing a room with 1 or 2 “strangers” who become friends; eating and working on presentations together, laughing and dancing and listening to each other, even if it occasionally gets uncomfortable. 

Perhaps most profoundly, each of us was offered an opportunity to leave our “comfort zone” and step into new, slightly riskier spaces, where old ideas, historic grievances and suffering, mistrust and misinformation could be heard and received.  In those spaces minds and hearts could break open, forever expanded and transformed.  

These words of Father Nipot Thianviham, from the Center for Religion and Community Culture, will remain with me as touchstones for creating a world of peace and justice, “Allow a conversion of your heart. Search for the essence, the source of life within each person’s story” and “Walk Humbly, Work Justly, Love tenderly.”

Thank you to the entire organizing team for your vision, hospitality, thoughtfulness and commitment in providing a life-changing experience and depth of learning for all of us at the 2014 IIPS Peace Studies Course.

Ms Rose Gordon

Resource Person, Taos County Juvenile Justice, USA

A free day of Restorative Justice Training in Taos! 

What is Restorative Justice? How does it work? When can it be used? Who benefits? Join this free, informational & experiential day exploring in RJ philosophy, step by step approaches and practices. 

Friday, May 2, 2014 10 am – 4 pm
Lunch on your own from 12:30-1:30
Location: Kit Carson Electric Coop, Boardroom

Contact: redroses@taosnet.com or call 505-310-2765
Limited to 16 people. RSVP by April 28, 2014
                       Light refreshments provided.

The Political Rise of Restorative Justice

 Some National News about Restorative Justice: 
      The Peace Alliance's Restorative Justice Fellow, Molly Rowan Leach, has co-authored a new article at Huffington Post with Dr. Sandra Pavelka, one of our nation's leading researchers and reporters on the legislative and statistical elements of the current and recent rise of restorative justice in the United States. It's a highly informative article, entitled "The Political Rise of Restorative Justice." 

The Political Rise of Restorative Justice

To friends, near and far, who made it possible to bring Restorative Justice to IIPS and those wonderful souls I met there.....

At the President's Palace Gardens with Wanida Jiamram, a
Peace Activist in Thailand.

Since I returned from the International Institute of Peace Studies I've been busy gathering the threads of work and related tasks.  In addition to my Restorative Justice work and work in hospice, I've been asked to help edit a letter ror someone still learning English, write a recommendation for one of the Peace Studies participants, a summary report of the IIPS course from my perspective and an article for AMAN's April issue. I will post a link to that magazine when its available. 
       Dear GoFundMe friends, I have not forgotten you and will never forget the feelings that your support created within me. It was an amazing, surprising and and affirming experience to be the recipient of your generosity so that I could share Restorative Justice. My table is filled with the thank you gifts for your support, which i will get into the mail soon. 
      My time at the International Institute of Peace Studies was a very special journey and I am still digesting the insights gleaned from being with this international, inter-faith group of young people whose hearts and minds on focused on helping others and creating a more peaceful world. 
      I can never know the many unexpected ways in which I might serve or be of use until I say YES to something and step into the unknown. This experience made that clear to me again. I taught 3 full day sessions on aspects of Restorative Approaches, using interactive exercises on Deep listening, Belonging and creating Community as well as an RJ role play, some quotes that are "touchstones" for this work, work with Establishing presence, Cycles of Intervention etc. 
    But perhaps beyond all that, being transparent and vulnerable was the unexpected gift that I brought to the gathering as I shared my Jewish heritage with a room of young adults who, except for 1-2, had never met a Jewish person before. I had not planned on that, but felt compelled to do so on the very first day! Several conversations did arise from that, but as is always true, its never just the words, but our simple interactions, that convey the most information. I've been told since that the organizers feel that was the most "perfect" gift I gave. My hope is that the participants I lived with for 3 weeks will be able to tell the people they live and work with that they have met a Jewish person who did not hate Muslims, or Christians. Just as I can say that I've met Muslim people who don't carry hatred in their hearts, but are working for peace, not war and revenge. We fear one another because of stereotypes created by misinformation and misunderstanding. And because we have not met each other as individuals. Perhaps reaching out to meet one another and speaking about the truth of those encounters is one of the most powerful Restorative Approaches we can take to promote a just peace in these troubled times.

Welcome to Restorative Connections.  Whether through my work in death and dying, meditation, learning ceremony from gifted teachers, or facilitating Restorative Justice,  my work and practice and personal growth for the last 2 decades has shared a common focus: a commitment to learning how connections can be strengthened and repaired and how a heart that is not broken, but broken-open, can make all the difference in our lives.  

Not long ago I was looking at my Rakasu, a small Zen "bib" made of several pieces of fabric that create a whole; stitched together with hidden stitches.  In making a Zen priest's robe, every stitch is a prayer. 

Our lives are like that too.  The fabric of our life is fashioned from experiences and relationships; relationships to people, to animals, to our work and to the natural world.  Relationships built from experiences with our own true nature and our own good heart. 

And its all held together with small hidden stitches that are not visible to others; threads of experience and relationship that are perhaps prayers, or the answer to a prayer.  

Sometimes the threads can seem to unravel or the fabric becomes frayed, not merely by the inevitable wear and tear and passing of time, but by conflict, disappointment and loss, by forgetfulness or fear. 

Perhaps there's been conflict with loved ones or disappointment with our larger community. We might have "lost" people or places we loved, or find that we no longer have a sense of global connection.  Maybe we've lost touch with what used to have meaning, lost our sense of being part of nature,  lost our sense of "belonging" to the world around us, or become disheartened. Maybe we can't seem to find the optimism that once enlivened our days...or the open-hearted love and joy that gave color and texture to our life. 

The unraveling and fraying can seem irreparable.
  
I'll be sharing my experience with Council Process, Bearing Witness, Peacemaking Circles and Restorative Justice with you as ways to make restorative connections.  We'll explore the ways that deep listening, mythology, ceremony, poetry and art can bring us back to a sense of wholeness.  

We can bring the fabric of our life with all its pieces, with their imperfections and beauty, close to our heart again, where it belongs. We can restore the fabric of our life.

I hope you'll join me in this exploration and share your hard won wisdom and the restorative connections you've used to re-create wholeness. 

Want to know more about who I am and what I'm up to?  
 Go to rose-underthebigbluesky.blogspot.com 

or visit http://www.circleofcompassionatecare.com

Asian Muslim Action Network Blog: The 2014 Peace Studies Course at International Ins...

Here is the link to a short reflection I wrote for the AMAN blog where i served as a Resource Person for their Peace and Conflict Transformation Studies Course in Thailand this Jan-Feb.  Asian Muslim Action Network Blog: The 2014 Peace Studies Course at International Ins...: We came from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Egypt, Uganda, Tanzania, Myanmar, Japan, Lebanon,...

Listening...

    When I am working as a facilitator of Restorative Justice with juveniles, it seems most natural to use what I have learned in Council practice and listen with my whole being. Generally, I tell the people in the RJ Circles that I know its hard for each of us to hear a totally different version about the "facts" about what happened, but in the RJ Circle we can listen to one another and make room for the differences. No one has to give up anything.

     As a facilitator, I find its best to be genuinely interested or curious, in an "innocent" way,  about someone else's viewpoint.  If I am " trying to open" or even “shift” another's mind - my own mind isn't open. Too much “trying” creates goal driven "listening ” . Goal driven listening blocks out anything that doesn’t fit the goal, or my assumptions. It blocks information, blocks transformation, and kills the possibilities of surprises, new understanding and those treasured and ultimately transformational “ ah ha!” moments.

   Conversely, attentive listening and genuine interest allows us to remember that the "other" is a multi-dimensional being, not simply the label of offender, or victim, aggressor, or bully. When we see the multi-faceted parts of one another, we can realize our shared humanity.

    If I stay with my breath in an atmosphere that is filled with tension and make contact evenly with each individual our shared humanity seems to become more visible to everyone.  Even the physical space we are in, which may have been crowded with tension as well as bodies, seems to get larger - allowing more room for the emergence of something new, some spirit of "being in it together", some shift of understanding that does not require anyone to give up their disagreements at all, but to simply explore the life we share.  Then, anything can happen and it’s not up to me.

Respect, Responsibility, Repair, Reintegration and Relationship

           These 5 words are the key principles of Restorative Justice and other

                                             Restorative Approaches. 

      These principles are incorporated into all aspects of the Restorative Justice process.

         In the community where I live and work with juveniles who have broken a law we've 

learned that:

 Caring Relationships with Adults

 Boundaries and Expectations &

Hopes and Dreams for the Future

 are the strongest Protective Factors that we can put into place to help our youth avoid being involved in violence or substance abuse. 

      We use Restorative Justice to work with youth in the juvenile justice system and 

their families and those affected by what they have done.

         A Restorative Justice Circle focuses on:

Naming the Harm

Repairing the Harm

         and Assuring the Community of its Safety (No future offenses)

            We accomplish these goals by having those affected by the incident coming together 

so that  everyone has an opportunity to participate in talking about what happened.  

           How were they affected? How do they feel now? 

What needs to happen to repair  the harm? 

   When discussing the event, the youth ( both victim and offender) are given the opportunity

 to look for moments in the flow of events when different decisions might have been made. 

    This kind of self-reflection, accountability and response- ability is rarely included in the 

standard juvenile justice process and they provide a unique and powerful opportunity for 

insight and behavioral change to begin. 

By identifying the injuries and naming ways to repair that harm, a Restorative 

approach can become “medicine” and create a foundation for a just peace.   

      Safe, incremental "steps" to reconciliation between the youth happen in the RJ Circle in 

form of various short exercises where they can "practice" possible future encounters. 

   At the end of the process, a Restorative Plan is created and agreed upon by all the 

participants.  The RJ Plan includes ways to repair the harm and identifies specific activities 

for the offender to accomplish, to prevent future problems.  

  One unique strength of the RJ process is that the RJ Circle illuminates the harm that 

was done to the identified victim, but also illuminates the harm done to others; to the family 

of the identified offender, to the offender him/her self, and to other members of the 

community. 

   Using the five principles of Respect, Responsibility, Repair, Reintegration and Relationship, 

Restorative approaches can be be used to illuminate values as well as emerging areas 

of conflict and lay the foundation for strengthening the positive interactions that individual 

and community life depends upon. 

Want to know more about what I've been up to?

Go to rose-underthebigbluesky.blogspot.com  

or visit http://www.circleofcompassionatecare.com

Watering the Seeds of Life, A talk at Unity Church, Dec. 1, 2014

You might enjoy listening to this. Its a talk I gave at Unity Church in Taos. When it goes to Jenny Bird's guitar music, the people present are creating a group poem, one person, one line at a time. You might take that time reflect on the seeds of life that you water and those that others have watered in you. Or just relax, or skip forward! Jenny Bird sings a very lovely song  and then there is an exchange of questions and answers before I read the completed poem. The link has the previous 6 months of talks. So scroll down to Rose Gordon, December 1, 2014 or enjoy some of the other speakers.

Unity Talk, Rose Gordon

You might like to listen to this interview about Restorative Justice on Peace Talks Radio! It includes me, Chris Weathers of Taos and the RJOY program in Oakland!

Restorative Justice Interview

Council or Circle Process

Council or Circle Process

    Council is a circle of communication that draws on the practice of story telling. Its roots lie in Quaker and Native traditions. It’s a process based on the appreciation of diversity rather than consensus; inviting the expression of individual experience as a means to deepen and clarify collective understanding.
          In Council we’re encouraged to listen to ourselves & others with open minded attention, free of the need to respond or create judgments about each other’s comments. We practice listening and speaking from a place that honors each person’s experience; creating an atmosphere of appreciation that increases the potential for creatively exploring issues and allows us to hear the arising of group wisdom.
                      
                               In Council the total is greater than the sum of the parts.

 Council offers a way to:

•      explore a topic from many perspectives
•      make group decisions based on a deeper understanding of the elements involve
•      share life experience
•      touch into untapped resource 
•     renew and illuminate individual hopes, dreams and  goal 
•     bring vitality to a group’s vision, intention & commitmen
•     place individual experience within the context of community
•    address change, resistance, conflict and challenges

    Basic guidelines:
1. Speak freely, trusting that what you have to offer is useful to the whole. Speak from a place that is real and alive in the moment.

2. Listen attentively. Allow yourself to receive the words of the circle the way earth receives rain, without prejudice. Let your whole body do the listening.

3. Speak spontaneously. If you are planning your words you aren’t listening to others.

4. Be lean of expression. Say enough to express yourself and trust that you will be understood.

5. Don’t share another’s story without their express permission.

A bird sings, with no question of the beauty of its song, or its worth. Its whole being is engaged in the vitality of the moment. This vitality is a whole hearted engagement in the present moment that can be expressed up until our last breath, as a simple and courageous expression of who we truly are. An expression that goes beyond our personality and beyond what we usually call "action". When we allow ourselves to be, just as we are, during all the stages of our life, we give a precious gift to ourselves and to life as a whole. 

Consider this quote by Martha Graham, the amazing dancer and choreographer.

"There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good or bad it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware of the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open.

1943 (via Brian Moran)

The 2014 Peace Studies Course at IIPS: An Incubator for Global Friendship, Understanding and New Possibilities for Peace

       We came from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, the Phillipeanes, Egypt, Uganda, Tanzania, Myanmar, Japan, Lebanon, Nepal, Kashmir, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia and the U.S. We came in shades of white and brown, with a rainbow of national dress, music and foods.

       We spoke many languages, but communicated with one heart; sharing dreams of freedom; dreams of peace and justice and an end to violence. 

      Many participants are already translating their dreams into action; working as Human Rights Lawyers or Social Workers, working in NGO’s that support and assist refugees, orphans or juveniles who attempted suicide bombings. Some are working towards Gender Rights, many  work with youth. Others work with UNICEF or work in development sectors.  Together the participants and resource staff represented over 160 years of experience in Peace and Human Rights Activism and related activities.

      IIPS arranged an impressive series of presentations for this group of educated and experienced young professionals. Presentations by Thai, South Korean, Japanese and U.S. scholars covered topics of Ethnicity, Gender and Power, Structural Violence and Ghandi’s Theories and Practices on Non-Violence.  There were talks and experiential exercises addressing Deep Listening, Indigenous Wisdom, Conflict in Contemporary Thailand, Global Governance, Peace and Human Security, Approaches to Analyzing Conflict and Approaches to Conflict Transformation as well as new information on the experience of Fukishima and movements towards Asian Democratization. Visits to Buddhist Temples, Mosques and Christian Churches were part of the curriculum  along with time at rural, self-sustaining inter-faith communities outside Bangkok and Chiang Mai.  

      Everyone was both teacher and student at IIPS, discovering commonalities, exploring differences and celebrating diversity.  Late night discussions covered everything under the sun. 

        At IIPS, PEACE is not just a word or a theory. It’s translated into action - sharing a room with 1 or 2 “strangers” who become friends; eating and working on presentations together, laughing and dancing and listening to the details of one another’s daily life. And lots of open minded discussions of history, religion and politics, even if it occasionally took us to uncomfortable places.

     Perhaps most profoundly, each of us was offered an opportunity to leave our “comfort zone” and step into new, slightly riskier spaces, where old ideas, historic grievances and suffering, mistrust and misinformation could be heard and received.  In those spaces minds and hearts could break open, forever expanded and transformed.  

    These words of Father Nipot Thianviham, from the Center for Religion and Community Culture near Chiang Mai Thailand, will remain with me as touchstones for creating a world of peace and justice, “Allow a conversion of your heart. Search for the essence, the source of life within each person’s story” and “Walk Humbly, Work Justly, Love tenderly.”

     Many thanks to AMAN, ARF and IIPS for their  vision, hospitality, thoughtfulness and commitment in providing a life-changing experience and depth of learning for everyone  at the 2014 IIPS Peace Studies Course in Thailand..