Humane Edge E-News August 2008

In This Issue:

• RESIDENCY 2008: INSPIRING & EMPOWERING TODAY'S HUMANE EDUCATORS
• FEATURED ACTIVITY: THE GIST OF YOU
  
• FEATURED GRADUATE: KRISTINA HULVERSHORN
  
• FEATURED RESOURCE: PLANNING TO CHANGE THE WORLD
  
• BE THE CHANGE: AN INTERVIEW WITH MIA MCDONALD
  
• HUMANE EDUCATION IN ACTION: HANDS-ON COMPASSION

RESIDENCY 2008: INSPIRING AND EMPOWERING TODAY'S HUMANE EDUCATORS

Twenty-three M.Ed. and HECP students from the U.S., Canada and Germany journeyed to IHE's headquarters in Surry, Maine, for our 2008 Residency, July 7-11. Residency is an energizing week that includes practical, hands-on learning, and offers students an opportunity to practice and explore humane education activities, techniques, and issues with fellow students and faculty. The week includes dynamic, interactive training, which helps students hone presentation skills, receive and give critical feedback, and connect with IHE staff and others in the program.

Check out a snapshot of Residency 2008. 

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FEATURED ACTIVITY: THE GIST OF YOU

Can you identify what companies these belong to?

• I'm lovin' it.
• Think different.
• Fair and balanced.
• The greatest show on earth.

The answers are:
McDonald's; Apple; Fox News; Ringling Brothers circus.

Download The Gist of You.

Image courtesy of anand16bk.

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FEATURED GRADUATE: KRISTINA HULVERSHORN

"Both my life and teaching now have that richness I knew I needed to become more satisfied and effective."

Humane education has inspired Kristina to integrate those tools and strategies into her classroom teaching, as well as to create her own humane education non-profit. Kristina's focus is on empowering young people to live compassionately and to understand the power of their actions. Read more about Kristina.

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FEATURED RESOURCE: PLANNING TO CHANGE THE WORLD

Planning to Change the World: A Plan Book for Social Justice Teachers
by Tara Mack and Bree Picower, Eds. NYCoRE and Education for Liberation Network, 2008. (127 pages)

Social justice is becoming a hot topic in schools and communities, and more educators are interested in integrating the exploration of social justice issues into their curriculum, after school programs or other educational forums. Especially if you’re new to teaching about social justice, Planning to Change the World can help. Planning to Change is a “plan book,” with a column under each day for writing up lesson plans, activity ideas, etc. But unlike those green-lined plan books you may remember from your own school days, it includes much more. The book was created by the New York Collective of Radical Educators (NYCoRE) and the Education for Liberation Network, to help educators “turn your daily lesson planning into a strategy for teaching toward democracy, equity, fairness and peace.”

Some of the highlights include:

• Significant anniversaries and birthdays of social justice leaders, relevant events, and national holidays (ex: 170th anniversary of the Trail of Tears; World Day for Water; 10th anniversary of Columbine shooting).
• “Essential questions” to spark discussions with your students (ex: How does what you watch on TV shape your understanding of the world? Who has the power to include or exclude groups of people from American life?).
• A featured quote each week.
• Lesson plans and resources related to important observances [these are coded according to whether they are appropriate for elementary (E), middle school (M) or high school (H) students].
• Reproducible “social justice awards” for students.
• Brief tips/anecdotes from from social justice teachers about integrating social justice issues or cultivating (ex: starting school, dealing with testing, taking action for social justice).

My favorite parts of the planner are the quotes and essential questions, because they can lead to in-depth exploration of complex issues with no simple answers or solutions.

The list of resources tied to observances is also useful. For example, the Trail of Tears observance leads to two suggested lesson plans. In addition to lesson plan idea links, the resources also include links to film clips, suggested bibliographies, websites, interviews and more. It’s not always clear why an observance was included, so it’s important to check the resources to find out more. For example, I wouldn’t have known that the 70th anniversary of singer Billie Holiday recording “Strange Fruit” could lead to an exploration of lynching, hate crimes, pop culture and race.

The planner also includes a list of social justice conferences, and a list of helpful organizations. There’s also space in the back to keep information about your students.

It would have been more helpful to consistently offer a brief description of who the quoted people are (does every teacher know who KRS One is?), and the quotes and significant events aren’t as representative of a variety of cultures as they could be, but overall, Planning to Change is a useful and powerful tool in bringing social justice issues to mainstream teaching.
 
The book was designed for classroom teachers, but it could also be useful to educators teaching in other venues, such as after school programs, clubs, homeschooling classes, etc. You can view sample pages.

WIN A COPY OF PLANNING TO CHANGE THE WORLD!

Send an email to Marsha@HumaneEducation.org, letting us know how you have (or would like to) incorporate social justice into your program (be sure to include your full name and email), and one lucky person (via random drawing) will win a proof copy of Planning to Change the World: A Plan Book for Social Justice Teachers! The deadline to enter is Tuesday, August 26, 2008.

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BE THE CHANGE: AN INTERVIEW WITH MIA MCDONALD

Mia MacDonald is the Executive Director of Brighter Green, a New York-based public policy "action tank" that aims to raise awareness and encourage dialogue on and attention to issues that span the environment, animals, and sustainable development, both globally and locally. Brighter Green's work has a particular focus on equity and rights.

Mia has worked as a consultant for United Nations agencies, foundations, and international non-profit organizations, including the UN Population Fund, UNICEF, the Ford Foundation, the Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth, and the Ms. Foundation for Women. She is also a senior fellow of the Washington, D.C.-based Worldwatch Institute. She holds a master's degree in public policy with a concentration in international development from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and has a strong interest in the impacts of the globalization of factory farming on animals, the environment, people's livelihoods, and public health.  

IHE: What role does education play in creating a better world?

MM: A big one: creating awareness, allowing people and groups to become "conscientized," and laying the groundwork for action. 


IHE: What personal and professional experiences have led you to your current vision and work as a method of changemaking?

MM: I believe strongly in the role of civil society and citizen-activists in bringing about social change. I also believe that most of today’s problems –- and particularly, ecological challenges and crises –- cannot be resolved by the actions of one sector of society or only a handful of people. This complexity demands (with apologies for the policy speak) cross-sectoral understanding, partnerships, and buy-in. This is my model for Brighter Green -– to analyze problems and encourage policy responses from a number of entry points: the environment, animals, and global development, while maintaining a commitment to sustainability, equity, and rights. For more than a decade, I’ve done international work on conservation, gender, rights, population and reproductive health, and indigenous issues. Through this, I’ve seen how at the ground level the issues (or entry points) aren’t separate. They are inter-related. That’s led me to wanting to work for change in a holistic manner. I’ve also been influenced by the example of a number of outstanding advocates, community organizers, writers, and gadflies, many of them women that I’ve met or had the honor of working with in regions of the global south (Asia, Africa, and Latin America).


IHE: What do you see happening in the world that gives you hope for a more just, compassionate, sustainable future?

MM: Greater awareness of the centrality of environmental issues to everything we do and have; more respect for animal welfare and rights, including in the area of food production; the passion and strategic discernment of many younger activists; and the many women and men doing extraordinary work in often hostile circumstances, with many resource constraints, in the developing world.


IHE: What are the biggest challenges in creating a humane and peaceful world?

MM: Having people wake up to these issues and to then move beyond self-interest and what sometimes seems like (at least in the U.S.) an epidemic of narcissism. I also worry about the increasing “niche-ification” of media, of interests, of social networks –- how can we get through? -- but I also see new media and some technologies offering many opportunities for social change and social movements to gain strength and influence. One of the challenges for humane educators is to find effective, strategic ways to tap into these.


IHE: What advice do you have for aspiring humane educators?

MM: I like to paraphrase something said by Nobel Peace laureate Wangari Maathai, with whom I’ve been extremely privileged to work: It’s those of us who know who are called to action. Keep at it, but also take time and space to renew yourself. If you can, find supportive networks or people or practices. Believe that change is possible, while acknowledging that evidence of it may take a long time to see -- and that some work will have to be done over and over again. Also, use complexity in the service of expanding individuals’ recognition of their role in solutions. Even though we see it all around us, dumbing down probably doesn’t lead to deep change.

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HUMANE EDUCATION IN ACTION: HANDS-ON COMPASSION

"Whatever I do, I’ll always be a humane educator.  It will follow me everywhere, because it is part of who I am."

IHE M.Ed. graduate Kathy Kandziolka brings a humane ethic to all aspects of her massage therapy practice and strives to bring sanity, simplicity, acceptance and compassionate care to her work with her clients. Read Kathy's interview about her work:

IHE: What led you to the path of humane education?

KK: I think I’ve always been a humane educator, but when I found an organization that named what I was doing, I was fired up to jump on their train.  Many things come to mind to credit for my humane ed tendencies, like my parents, my schooling, and options I had for hobbies as a kid.  However, I always blame a deeper explanation for being this way: that universal energy that makes people see the world differently, that allows us to be born here or there, that gives us our unique outlook.  Part of me takes credit for the work I’ve done to become a humane educator and part of me thinks “that’s just the way I am,” taking no credit for the grace that touches me.  


IHE: How did you decide to manifest humane education through massage?

KK: I have wanted to be a massage therapist for a long time. After I finished working with IHE coordinating and facilitating the Sowing Seeds workshops, it seemed like a natural next step to fulfill my dream to do massage.  Whatever I do, I’ll always be a humane educator.  It will follow me everywhere, because it is part of who I am.  Although I didn’t realize this going into massage, a great thing about it is that I get to see my clients again and again for an hour or more at a time, one on one.  It’s a perfect opportunity to practice awareness, listening, and nonjudgment.  Giving compassionate care to many people who do not share my views has been a great teacher in becoming a better humane educator. 


IHE: What are some of the ways that you incorporate humane education into your work?

KK: I usually lead by example.  I started a recycling program at our office, I buy organic and paraben-free oils and lotions, I use cloth towels, I bought lighter weight sheets so I can fit more in the wash at once and so they dry faster, I hang my sheets on a laundry line on sunny days, I built shelves in our office kitchen to create a place for me to store my bike so I can ride to work, I bring in rice milk and organic non-animal snacks to share.  These are practical, daily examples of how my values spill over into work.  With my clients, I often do research following a conversation and bring them information the next time I see them.  And they do the same for me!

Occasionally I will make an outright request or suggestion, but usually I invite my coworkers and clients to come up with their own solutions.  For example, one client has mice in her house so she frequently borrows my Hav-a-Heart trap to remove them, at my suggestion.  I have become a lot less attached to outcomes and try to be the warm, inviting campfire instead of the raging, damaging forest fire!


IHE: What are your goals with manifesting humane education through massage?

KK: Sanity.  Simplicity.  Acceptance.  Being an example of how to live sanely, simply, and with gratitude.  If others see that I can do it, it gives them hope and inspiration.


IHE: How do your clients respond to your approach?

KK: I don’t get much direct feedback about it, but I know that many like me as a person so I have to assume that they like my choices! 


IHE: What are some of your biggest challenges?

KK: When I first started massage at the chiropractor’s office, I was surprised at how many fishermen and women I worked on.  To know that their daily lives revolved around doing harm, as I saw it, in such a direct way, was chilling to me.  It has been a wonderful spiritual process to come to know and love these people.  These people work extremely hard with their bodies, sometimes in severe weather, for something they believe is a right livelihood.  Another challenge has been making right some policies and practices in the office that troubled me.  I felt, and still feel, quite alone in my efforts to recycle, use eco-friendly products for cleaning, and keep healthy food around for snacks. 

    
IHE: Share a success story. What has helped encourage you?

KK: Many clients jump to mind when I think of success, but here a just a few.  One client came to the office for neck and back pain.  She coordinates the food program for our local high school.  We liked each other instantly. Over the months I have been seeing her, she has been working on getting in better shape.  We talk about swimming and walking and eating well and getting her daughter involved.  We’ve talked about getting local food into the school, having veg options, and bringing in chefs from nearby restaurants.  She is a great client because she is grateful, fun, motivated and interested in helping herself.  She is losing weight, getting stronger, and enjoying her life more.  

Receiving massage often allows a person’s heart to open.  Another client recently told me of a memorial black granite stone that was built to honor the memory of people who have died at sea while fishing.  He was telling me the story of the dedication service and that he knew almost everyone on the stone.  He conveyed what a moving service it was, and broke into tears as he shared the story of being directly involved in one of the rescues.  I know his body felt better after the massage, but I think both of our hearts did as well. 

And last, I have seen one of my clients every week since I started at the chiropractor’s office in 2006.  When he first came in, he wasn’t convinced that massage worked, he didn’t know why he was there, he really didn’t even want to bother.  After I let him know that it was his choice to stay or go, and he stayed, I began working on his hurt right shoulder.  Nobody had done anything effective to fix it, according to him, and he was frustrated.  Over the weeks he began to realize that he was in control of his own healing.  He slowly stopped complaining that he didn’t know why he bothered.  He finally admitted one day, almost a year into his treatments, that maybe, MAYBE massage was helping.  Now I tease him about his caution and he laughs.  Although his shoulder still gives him trouble occasionally, I think he comes in more for the mental break it provides him!


IHE: What are your thoughts about the power of humane education to positively transform the world?

KK: The world is filled with immense beauty and immense destruction.  It’s more than I can take, at times.  My path is to practice awareness of my thoughts to gain acceptance of what is.  I find “good” and “bad” to be judgments that do not serve me well.  I prefer the idea of remaining steady by putting my efforts toward things that light me up.  Volunteering, working in the garden, exercising, massaging people.  With me lit up, walking through the world, I reflect beauty and destruction.  I cannot help but shine the light of God/Being/Great Spirit/Oneness.  Walking in this awareness, this knowing, spreads the light to others.  Humane education is one avenue toward this awareness.  It is one of the most powerful forms of activism and awakening I have found.  With everyone it touches, the world becomes a more beautiful place.   


IHE: Any future plans, dreams or projects?

KK: I am completely content right now!  However, I love travel and teaching so I can see those in my future.  I would love to teach high school math.  I would also love to start a program where people can get trained to spay and neuter dogs and cats, without going through the full veterinary school.  Then I’d offer clinics on my travels!  Also, I’d like to run a marathon one of these days.

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