Peace

Peace

CAMP PEACE PRINTS:  JUSTICE FOR ALL!!

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CAMP PEACE PRINTS: JUSTICE FOR ALL!! “Si queremos tener paz, debemos empezar por los niños” — Mahatma Gandhi “Darles a los niños ropa y comida es una cosa, pero es mucho más importante enseñarles que otras personas además de ellos son importantes y que lo mejor que pueden hacer con sus vidas es usarlas al servicio de otras personas.”  — Dolores Huerta We are excited to offer our 15th annual Camp Peaceprints to the community – a tremendous opportunity for our children and youth to learn and explore social justice in a diverse group – to work and play to Be The Change we want (and need) to see in the world and to have fun!! Camp Peaceprints, a collaboration between the SSJ Sr. Karen Klimczak Center for Nonviolence (SKC) and the WNY Peace Center (WNYPC), offers campers aged 8-13 an alternative day camp focused on Justice, Peaceful Conflict Resolution, and the Arts. It will run July 18-29, Monday through Friday, 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM (except for two or three of the field trip days!). It’ll take place at SS. Columba-Brigid Church, at 75 Hickory Street, Buffalo 14204 (opposite the JFK Recreation Center). We have exciting field trips – to Niagara Falls where we’ll go on Maid of the Mist, and explore the Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Museum; and to Ganondagan, Seneca Center with Longhouse and Haudenosaunee teachings. We’re also planning a trip to the beach and three trips to the pool! We have opportunities for adult volunteers. Parents and community members are especially welcome to help with transportation needs – both in getting children to Camp, as well as to field trips and/or swimming trips. (Unfortunately, the City won’t be opening the JFK pool, apparently due to a lifeguard shortage.) We provide gas money for servicing camp transportation needs. Many parents have found this a wonderful way to share more fully in their children’s camp experiences. The children and youth who attend will get to explore justice issues with community leaders, including Citizenship; the Law and Law Enforcement; the Justice System (as it is called) – “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” and especially How to Work for Change. Cariol Horne – local shero and a nationally known former police officer who was fired for stopping a fellow officer from choking a community member; proponent of the City-adopted #CariolsLaw – will facilitate a session on Law and Law Enforcement. WNYPC’s Executive Director, Deidra EmEl, will facilitate numerous portions of the programs, which include Mindfulness, Movement, and Music. SKC’s Director, Vivian Waltz, will lead experiential learning exercises from the Alternatives to Violence Project. Art Educator Jan Burns, Director of the Focus on Consequences for Adolescents (a program of the Prevention Council of Erie County). will facilitate art sessions related to the themes, including an art session at the beach.  —- For more information, including online registration, please go to the Camp Peaceprints page on sisterkarencenter.org. For questions, contact Vivian by email at vivian@sisterkarencenter.org or by phone at 716.982.6501. Read More From This Writer All Post Food Health Interviews Lower West Side Business & Economic Development Peace People CAMP PEACE PRINTS:  JUSTICE FOR ALL!! July 16, 2022/No Comments POST TITLE (CAPITAL) Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus Read More EN ESTE TIEMPO DIFICIL,  NECESITAMOS UN MOMENTO JUSTO POR LA PAZ… June 16, 2022/No Comments KEEPING OUR BALANCE IN THE WHIRLWIND! EN ESTE TIEMPO DIFICIL,  NECESITAMOS UN MOMENTO JUSTO POR LA PAZ… After the #BuffaloMassacre Read More WOMEN’S MONTH: WOMEN’S MARCH, & MORE! May 16, 2022/No Comments WOMEN’S MONTH:  WOMEN’S MARCH, & MORE! The WNY Peace Center (WNYPC) is working – together with others – on our Read More Load More End of Content.

Community, Peace

EN ESTE TIEMPO DIFICIL,  NECESITAMOS UN MOMENTO JUSTO POR LA PAZ…

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KEEPING OUR BALANCE IN THE WHIRLWIND! After the #BuffaloMassacre – we are flattened, angry, overwhelmed, fearful, grieving, and enraged! After so many have suffered centuries of trauma from White Supremacy, Patriarchy, economic oppression, war, violence, and more, comes another shooter, comes another tragedy, comes another assault on our children, our beloveds, and our safety. How can we continue functioning, parenting, nurturing, and caring for each other? Of course, how can we not? We know our beloved children, families, friends, neighbors, and all our relations – need our support. So we must continue to Stay Strong! We must act for real change regarding gun violence, White Supremacy, hatemongering, and more…  — topics we’ll pursue!! However, to make any progress, we must also practice self-care. Remember, in an airplane, the flight attendant says, “If you are traveling with children or other dependents, please take care of your needs first, so you are better able to assist.” If we struggle to get another’s mask on while losing oxygen ourselves, disaster looms. The Wonderful and the Terrible are so very present in our world and indelibly intertwined. We have seen – and continue to see – the Terrible. However, the responses include the wonderfully loving generous, and even heroic actions of so many. The s/heroes on the scene, the s/heros in the back rooms, organizing community support – in crises as well as in attending to every day often desperate needs. The natural community leaders; the natural nurturers, comforters, and defenders…. They persist. Often in shifts, spelling each other off – sharing inspiration, energy, and strategies for coping and acting for the community. We must pace ourselves, take breaks when feasible, and above all put some joy and beauty in every day. We each know what renews our strength – music, laughter, children, community, nature, the Creation, the Creator – and we owe ourselves – and each other – those activities and sources of renewal!! That’s how we can continue, stronger together, Juntos – Si, Se Puede! Don’t forget to: Deep Slow Breathing. It brings more oxygen into our bodies, a known and proven stress reducer. Even mere conscious breathing relaxes us – just the mention of our breath puts us on a different wavelength. (Didn’t it?) And if we develop a certain comfort with focusing on our breathing, we can pick our saying, akin to a mantra – a short prayer, affirmation, or saying that makes us feel the way we want to feel – and use it to time our breathing. We repeat it to ourselves as we breathe in; again, as we hold our breath; and then twice as we breathe out (sometimes called square breathing). The repetition allows us to feed our spirit, as we are feeding extra oxygen to our bodies. And the more we practice it, the more it helps. It can be practiced virtually anytime, anywhere. Above all, we must turn to the sources of our strength, our faith: Truth and Love, as Rev. Dr. King said. And the Beloved Community. Siempre: Juntos – Si, se puede! Read More From This Writer All Post Art Books & Poems Business Community Education Entertainment español Food & Culture Health Interviews Military & Veterans Peace People Politics A TRAGEDY July 4, 2023/No Comments LEADING TO AN ANTI-BULLYING CAMPAIGN (a Community Responders Pilot and a Peace Ship for a Nuclear-Free Future) Hola, mis Amigos!!  Read More CAMP PEACEPRINTS 2023: HEALTHY LIVES MATTER June 4, 2023/No Comments ¡Hola, Amigos! Pronto sera el tiempo por los ninos para ir a campamentos de verano. We are excited to present Read More EMBRACING BUFFALO / HEALING MOMENTS May 10, 2023/No Comments EMBRACING BUFFALO / HEALING MOMENTS “No podemos dejar que la gente abra brechas entre nosotros… porque solo hay una raza Read More Load More End of Content.

Peace

UKRAINE

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While the war is raging on in Ukraine, Russia is suffering significant defeats on the Northern Front and is being pushed back as a part of Ukraine’s “strategy.” We should be aware of the possible future scenarios that can affect our livelihoods here in the United States. Those who have been investing and following the markets saw that effect last month. I have had the unfortunate experience of studying the behaviors of autocratic regimes firsthand, and the way I foresee the war going, as far as the west is concerned, are these scenarios from most likely to least likely: Putin goes out with a whimper, and things return to somewhat normal: The most likely something I see happening, the way the war is going, is Russia getting pushed back to their original borders, potentially including Crimea, and then a long defensive skirmish on the Ukrainian border while Putin hopes Russian citizens get used to the new normal and the new Iron Curtain. Finland and Sweden will join NATO without much fanfare, and eventually, war will die down years down the line. The Russian media admitted to the government’s faults when it could no longer hurt the government’s image.   Sanctions Work and Russian Government Capitulates: Despite its iron grip on the population, there will be a public disorder if food stops coming. Naturally, such regimes prioritize paying and supporting their armed forces to remain in power a lot like a warlord. A brief time of discontent can put the government on the defensive and make them negotiate ways of saving face and reaching a compromise. Instead of annexing those regions, as Russia originally wanted, the local populace could gain some degree of autonomy. Those regions can return to the way they used to be before the Meydan Protests. Still live and speak Russian but am politically part of Ukraine. It would be likely that Ukraine would join NATO and possibly the EU, while Russia would start a long rebuild of its international relations. Escalation due to Finland and Sweden joining NATO, losses in Ukraine: If Russia fails to hold its currently declared goals, it is very likely “The Special Operation” will be escalated into a full-blown war. This is important since this will allow the Russian government to start drafts and justify more extreme measures to continue the fight. It is also possible, with this newfound workforce (but lacking in materials that have not stopped the red army before), that Russia will make incursions into Finland to prevent them from joining NATO. However, I do not foresee this escalating into nuclear war for various reasons; even any escalation is unlikely, given the current circumstances. Read More From This Writer All Post Art Books & Poems Business Community Education Entertainment español Food & Culture Health Interviews Military & Veterans Peace People Politics Sports RISH TAKING AND CAPITAL December 13, 2022/No Comments You may have heard recently how Elon Musk has been firing, at times illegally depending on region and contract, people Read More HOW TO CONSUME MEDIA WHILE AVOIDING PROPAGANDA October 13, 2022/No Comments HOW TO CONSUME MEDIA WHILE AVOIDING PROPAGANDA Let’s start by stating the obvious, corporate media not only lies but also Read More EMBRACE STREAMING September 13, 2022/No Comments EMBRACE STREAMING “Change your perspective and reality changes” — Aristoteles Last month we talked about one of the biggest questions Read More Load More End of Content.

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