Last Friday, March 26 I went to the Ashby Stage in Berkeley and was blown away by the production of “Man.Alive. Stories From The Edge Of Incarceration To The Flight Of Imagination”. The Restorative Justice non-profit organization, Community Works presented the performance by four men, three of them formerly incarcerated. The stage was bare. Occasionally the men would bring out a chair or a table. The austere atmosphere helped to conjure the prison experience. This was not just men standing on stage soliloquizing or emoting about their experience. The men worked together to create dreamlike fragments from before, during and after their time in prison and what it feels like to be targeted for “fitting the description”. What touched me the most was that they allowed themselves to be vulnerable, holding, pushing, and pulling each other. They have done a lot of personal work since prison where the “code” would never allow men to act in such an emotional and open way. The performance grew out of a workshop the men took that helped them understand their own accountability and direct their feelings into artistic creation.
Beforehand, I thought the play would consist mainly of individuals telling their stories or doing some form of spoken word. I was surprised when it began and the men were moving in interpretive ways with chairs as props. They were literally dancing with the chairs but not as if to music, more like expressing the inner monologue of confinement; the disorder, chaos and inhumanity.
Hopefully those of you that want to will get a chance to see this play. It really made an impression on me.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
“Mending Wall” by Robert Frost - A Mediator’s Perspective
By David Yusem, SEEDS Community Mediation and Restorative Justice Programs Manager
Mending Wall by Robert Frost
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun;
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
The work of hunters is another thing:
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
But at spring mending-time we find them there.
I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
'Stay where you are until our backs are turned!'
We wear our fingers rough with handling them.
Oh, just another kind of outdoor game,
One on a side. It comes to little more:
There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, 'Good fences make good neighbors.'
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
'Why do they make good neighbors? Isn't it
Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offense.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That wants it down.' I could say 'Elves' to him,
But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather
He said it for himself. I see him there
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me,
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his father's saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, 'Good fences make good neighbors.'
Frost’s poem is often referred to by the neighbor’s constant refrain of “Good fences make good neighbors”. In fact, in mediation, I have heard it mentioned more than once. Fence disputes are a common type of mediation request. Most people read “Mending Wall” as a tribute to fences; each person minding his/her own business and property, clearly delineating what is and is not theirs. Fences separate people and property into nice, easy to identify packages that fit our western sense of tidiness and order. Remember the suburban dream of the white picket fence? What was it the Huck Finn painted? Our collective American subconscious is imbued with the idea of the fence as being part of the American dream.
In the first two stanzas of the poem, Frost writes about how time and weather can slowly destroy a stone wall. He also talks about Hunter’s moving rocks to easier catch rabbits. Every Spring Frost and his neighbor meet to mend the wall. Each man on his own side of the wall, they walk along together carefully replacing the stones. Frost wonders to himself why they need a wall at all. There is nothing to keep in or out.
“He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.”
His neighbor’s only response is “Good fences make good neighbors”.
But Frost wants to know why.
“Isn't it where there are cows? But here there are no cows”.
Further along in the seventh stanza Frost wonders who he keeping out or in with this wall and will they take offense.
On first reading, some may see the neighbor’s repetition of his father’s old saying as an affirmation that it is good for each person to clearly know what is theirs and what is their neighbor’s, and that the separation created by the wall is good. I choose to read the poem differently. I see “Mending Wall” as a meditation on building community through strengthening relationships. I can’t help but think that Frost’s intent was to show the two men working together side by side to create something. Doing this work together bonds them in a way that only shared hard work can do. They do not need to speak or carry on a conversation. The two men spend a Spring day together creating something beautiful wearing their fingers rough. This is a dry rock wall not a chain link fence. These walls have sculptural quality to them. It is almost as if they are collaborating on an ongoing art project. Their shared sense of accomplishment will carry over into other aspects of their relationship. Like the wall, if the basis of their relationship is strong then when a few stones come loose they can work together to fix it. One can imagine that having repaired this wall together every year, they will be better able to weather conflicts that may arise in the future. Good fences make good neighbors indeed.
Mending Wall by Robert Frost
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun;
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
The work of hunters is another thing:
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
But at spring mending-time we find them there.
I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
'Stay where you are until our backs are turned!'
We wear our fingers rough with handling them.
Oh, just another kind of outdoor game,
One on a side. It comes to little more:
There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, 'Good fences make good neighbors.'
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
'Why do they make good neighbors? Isn't it
Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offense.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That wants it down.' I could say 'Elves' to him,
But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather
He said it for himself. I see him there
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me,
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his father's saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, 'Good fences make good neighbors.'
Frost’s poem is often referred to by the neighbor’s constant refrain of “Good fences make good neighbors”. In fact, in mediation, I have heard it mentioned more than once. Fence disputes are a common type of mediation request. Most people read “Mending Wall” as a tribute to fences; each person minding his/her own business and property, clearly delineating what is and is not theirs. Fences separate people and property into nice, easy to identify packages that fit our western sense of tidiness and order. Remember the suburban dream of the white picket fence? What was it the Huck Finn painted? Our collective American subconscious is imbued with the idea of the fence as being part of the American dream.
In the first two stanzas of the poem, Frost writes about how time and weather can slowly destroy a stone wall. He also talks about Hunter’s moving rocks to easier catch rabbits. Every Spring Frost and his neighbor meet to mend the wall. Each man on his own side of the wall, they walk along together carefully replacing the stones. Frost wonders to himself why they need a wall at all. There is nothing to keep in or out.
“He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.”
His neighbor’s only response is “Good fences make good neighbors”.
But Frost wants to know why.
“Isn't it where there are cows? But here there are no cows”.
Further along in the seventh stanza Frost wonders who he keeping out or in with this wall and will they take offense.
On first reading, some may see the neighbor’s repetition of his father’s old saying as an affirmation that it is good for each person to clearly know what is theirs and what is their neighbor’s, and that the separation created by the wall is good. I choose to read the poem differently. I see “Mending Wall” as a meditation on building community through strengthening relationships. I can’t help but think that Frost’s intent was to show the two men working together side by side to create something. Doing this work together bonds them in a way that only shared hard work can do. They do not need to speak or carry on a conversation. The two men spend a Spring day together creating something beautiful wearing their fingers rough. This is a dry rock wall not a chain link fence. These walls have sculptural quality to them. It is almost as if they are collaborating on an ongoing art project. Their shared sense of accomplishment will carry over into other aspects of their relationship. Like the wall, if the basis of their relationship is strong then when a few stones come loose they can work together to fix it. One can imagine that having repaired this wall together every year, they will be better able to weather conflicts that may arise in the future. Good fences make good neighbors indeed.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Happy Holidays from SEEDS
Dear Friend,
This year's economic downturn has presented many opportunities for SEEDS Community Resolution Center to contribute to the greater well-being of Alameda County residents. With an uncertain economic and global environment come increased conflict and tension. You or someone close to you may have experienced conflict or been involved in a complicated dispute recently. SEEDS is here to help, providing affordable community and court mediation, support, and conflict skills training. In 2009, SEEDS served more than 2300 clients, guiding each client to a more peaceful way of resolving disagreements.
SEEDS Community Resolution Center is firmly rooted in helping to meet the needs of people in conflict and distress in Alameda County. SEEDS services encourage effective dialogue and foster solutions to a wide range of issues that arise in our communities, from reducing violence in our schools, to resolving complex workplace conflicts, to helping neighbors resolve a disagreement.
I would like to share some of our strategic plan and vision for 2010 and ask for your financial support so SEEDS can continue to seek out and seize opportunities to facilitate peaceful resolutions in Alameda County.
One of the primary themes of our 2010 strategic plan is to significantly expand the level of programs and services that integrate restorative principles and practices. Restorative Justice is a natural extension of our conflict resolution services in cultivating common ground among victims, offenders, families and community members. We've made great strides towards this objective by securing a grant from the Safeway Foundation to underwrite the training of a group of 15-20 volunteers in the Restorative Justice methodology in early 2010.
With trained Restorative Justice practitioners in place, SEEDS will take on additional cases for the restitution circle program we are piloting at the Alameda County Juvenile Justice Center. SEEDS has already been approached by several other court partners and community based organizations to start pilot programs with them as well!
Our 2010 strategic plan also includes a goal to increase the number of our community mediations and conflict resolution skills training services. SEEDS has strong partnerships with courts, schools, and other community-based agencies to deliver much needed services to their constituencies. SEEDS is currently working with Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) to resolve conflicts among faculty and staff as well as to train them to diffuse and prevent future conflict. We provided faculty and staff with a two-day Conflict Resolution Skills Workshop in early 2009 and currently have volunteer mediators working in the schools with teachers and students on constructive dialogue practices and peaceful conflict resolution. SEEDS has been asked to continue this collaboration with OUSD in 2010 and will continue to provide training, mediation, and integrative restorative practices in the schools.
To realize our strategic plan and its positive impact in our community, SEEDS needs your support today.
Your support will allow us to include Restorative Justice methodologies in our menu of conflict resolution services.
Your support will allow us to deliver more conflict resolution skills trainings to under-served communities in Alameda County.
Your support will allow us to train additional mediators to tackle difficult issues in our community, such as youth violence, racial tension, custody disputes and landlord/tenant issues.
Your support will allow us to improve the quality of our services by providing complimentary training and seminars for our volunteer mediators, coaches, and trainers.
Your support allows us to offer all of our services on a sliding scale, so that no one is turned away for inability to pay.
With your support, SEEDS can continue to cultivate common ground and sow peace in homes, neighborhoods and schools throughout Alameda County.
Please make a donation today in the envelope provided or by credit card on our website at
www.seedscrc.org/support.php.
Thank you and Happy New Year!
Sincerely,
SEEDS Staff
Peace cannot be achieved through violence – it can only be attained through understanding
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
This year's economic downturn has presented many opportunities for SEEDS Community Resolution Center to contribute to the greater well-being of Alameda County residents. With an uncertain economic and global environment come increased conflict and tension. You or someone close to you may have experienced conflict or been involved in a complicated dispute recently. SEEDS is here to help, providing affordable community and court mediation, support, and conflict skills training. In 2009, SEEDS served more than 2300 clients, guiding each client to a more peaceful way of resolving disagreements.
SEEDS Community Resolution Center is firmly rooted in helping to meet the needs of people in conflict and distress in Alameda County. SEEDS services encourage effective dialogue and foster solutions to a wide range of issues that arise in our communities, from reducing violence in our schools, to resolving complex workplace conflicts, to helping neighbors resolve a disagreement.
I would like to share some of our strategic plan and vision for 2010 and ask for your financial support so SEEDS can continue to seek out and seize opportunities to facilitate peaceful resolutions in Alameda County.
One of the primary themes of our 2010 strategic plan is to significantly expand the level of programs and services that integrate restorative principles and practices. Restorative Justice is a natural extension of our conflict resolution services in cultivating common ground among victims, offenders, families and community members. We've made great strides towards this objective by securing a grant from the Safeway Foundation to underwrite the training of a group of 15-20 volunteers in the Restorative Justice methodology in early 2010.
With trained Restorative Justice practitioners in place, SEEDS will take on additional cases for the restitution circle program we are piloting at the Alameda County Juvenile Justice Center. SEEDS has already been approached by several other court partners and community based organizations to start pilot programs with them as well!
Our 2010 strategic plan also includes a goal to increase the number of our community mediations and conflict resolution skills training services. SEEDS has strong partnerships with courts, schools, and other community-based agencies to deliver much needed services to their constituencies. SEEDS is currently working with Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) to resolve conflicts among faculty and staff as well as to train them to diffuse and prevent future conflict. We provided faculty and staff with a two-day Conflict Resolution Skills Workshop in early 2009 and currently have volunteer mediators working in the schools with teachers and students on constructive dialogue practices and peaceful conflict resolution. SEEDS has been asked to continue this collaboration with OUSD in 2010 and will continue to provide training, mediation, and integrative restorative practices in the schools.
To realize our strategic plan and its positive impact in our community, SEEDS needs your support today.
Your support will allow us to include Restorative Justice methodologies in our menu of conflict resolution services.
Your support will allow us to deliver more conflict resolution skills trainings to under-served communities in Alameda County.
Your support will allow us to train additional mediators to tackle difficult issues in our community, such as youth violence, racial tension, custody disputes and landlord/tenant issues.
Your support will allow us to improve the quality of our services by providing complimentary training and seminars for our volunteer mediators, coaches, and trainers.
Your support allows us to offer all of our services on a sliding scale, so that no one is turned away for inability to pay.
With your support, SEEDS can continue to cultivate common ground and sow peace in homes, neighborhoods and schools throughout Alameda County.
Please make a donation today in the envelope provided or by credit card on our website at
www.seedscrc.org/support.php.
Thank you and Happy New Year!
Sincerely,
SEEDS Staff
Peace cannot be achieved through violence – it can only be attained through understanding
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Monday, November 23, 2009
October 15th photos up!
We've posted photos and a narrative from our October 15th Cultivating Common Ground event on our website: http://www.seedscrc.org/past-events.php
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