My first Non-violence Workshop

Today I participated in a non-violence workshop held at the Holman United Methodist Church. Once a month, Reverend James Lawson, a leading non-violence theorist, gives a three hour workshop that examines the philosophies and methodology of past non-violent movements.

The Season of Non-violence begins this Monday Jan 30th, the day Gandhi died and continues to the day April 4 when MILK was assassinated. So this workshop focused on the philosophy of Mohandis Gandhi.
The workshop began at 9 am with around 50 people in attendance. It seemed that many of the participants were quite active in the Los Angeles area with different peace and justice organizations. I met several members of the Interfaith Communities United for Peace and Justice and The Center for the Advancement of Nonviolence . Rev. Lawson began with an introduction of Gandhi's life and supplemented it with a segment of the PBS documentary A Force More Powerful and began to discuss how we could apply his methodology to today.

An interesting discussion ensued regarding right to self defense vs non-violence philosophy. This is something that I as an individual have tried to wrap my head around many times before. I have asked myself, if I were physically attacked whether I would retaliate physically in defense or not. And what I had unstably arrived at was that even though ideally I would like to have an openness to spirit that would not allow me to act in such away, when it came down to it I would probably attempt to defend myself. (Though I don't think I would be capable of seriously harming anyone, I would just create a space for my escape) This then cast a doubt on whether I was really capable of non-violence.

Rev. Lawson clarified that there is a difference between self-defense and nonviolence, (and I hope I don't butcher what he attempted to convey) that one can still self defend on the individual level but nonviolence was actually applicable to level of movement. During the civil rights movement, African American activists would sleep upright with a shot gun in their hands to defend their family in case of intrusion, but out on the streets among many they were able to uphold the force of nonviolence. That the movement itself was about going into the community and challenging the system.

Another important idea that I real gleaned on was regarding the success of a nonviolent movement. Rev. Lawson stated that a nonviolent movement will not succeed if there is fragmentation within, if there is still any debate of the efficacy of arms. For me personally this is such a interesting observation of human nature. Immediately his statement evoked a militant frame mind, and in fact he compared it to how when soldiers are trained they all are unified under one goal. I'm wondering if that I am just pre-conditioned to think this, and if it is just changing my perspective that I'll be able to see it in a positive light.

Anyways these are some of the thoughts that I walked away with. I knew within the first fifteen minutes of the workshop that I wished I had come many moons ago. With whatever time I may have left in LA, I definitely hope to make the most of this workshop and mentors of Rev. Lawson.

Season of Non Violence

The Season of Non-violence kicks off this weekend in Los Angles at Agape Church!

Sunday January 211:00 pm"A Season of Non-Violence" Kickoff
Please join Ron Lapointe & his Drum Circle,
Rev. Michael Beckwith, The Agape Choir, and Children's Choir, Eisha Mason, members of Americans for a Dept. of Peace, the Spoken Word Ministry, Isaiah McGee, and host Arlene Campbell to recognize "A Season of Non-Violence" and the lives of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi.

Learn more about the new legislation that has been presented in both the House and the Senate to create a Dept. of Peace that would include a Cabinet-level Secretary of Peace, and how we at Agape can help to make that a reality. Location: Parking LotAgape International Spiritual Center5700 Buckingham ParkwayCulver City, CA 90230

Vlog: Walk for Peace

October 8th
McCarthur Park, Los Angeles, CA

Buddhist Monk Thich Nhat Hahn gave a talk on "Being Peace" and lead a walk and around McCarthur Park.

A follow up to this even it planned for Jan 22,
2006 in Santa Monica.
For details on the event click the links below
http://peaceiseverystep.net/
http://www.yoga-losangeles.com/peaceiseverystep.html

Click image to watch Video. I co-directed this video Sebastian Hernandez of Califas Journals .

2006 Intention

I intend to let go of my impatience.
I often find myself asking why things aren't happening soon enough on my time table and this causes me to be stressed. Life is not a race. There is not stop watch staring me down.

I intend to let go of my need to be constantly "doing".
instead I will work on "being."

I let go of my attachments to outcomes.
instead I give my life away in service.

I align myself with the divine universe.
Knowing that I am apart of this universe.
I allow the universe's intention to flow through me.

Blog: Finding strength to work for peace

A blog that I had written in Janurary of 2005.

Since I received news that I was rejected from the Rotary Peace Scholarship last September, I have had time to reflect on how and why I want to work for Peace. I received notice the day before I left on a trip to shoot the first documentary in a series called "Portraits of Peacemakers: Families for Peaceful Tomorrows." It was difficult news to bare, and I must say I spent the entire plane-ride crying. I didn't know if I could go ahead and make this film. I felt rejected to my core. If five people sitting around a conference table didn't believe that my work for peace in this world was valid enough in offering me a two year scholarship to top university to study peace and conflict resolution. Then would anyone find my films worth watching?

But I was there in midst of New York and it was the third anniversary of the September 11th attacks. I had a camera in one hand and a list of questions in other. I wanted to ask these people who had lost their loved ones on 9-11 how they had found the space in their hearts to work for peace. Over the next couple of days as I documented and interviewed people and I did find life getting easier to bare... I was however still searching for my place: Where do I belong along the path to peace?
Prior to my rejection I had been searching for a way to work for peace in a more practical way... I know that I am a filmmaker and that ultimately my greatest contribution will be through my filmmaking. But I wanted working for peace to be apart of my daily life. I had a seen an ad in the back of the LA weekly classifieds that said: "Work for Peace, California Peace Action". A few weeks after I had returned from my NY trip, I gave that number a call.
It has now been over two months since I began working at CAPA. CAPA is a peace and justice-lobbying group whose work is mostly for anti-nuclear proliferation. I work for them as a grassroots organizer/canvasser. And so three times I week I spend about four hours a night knocking on doors throughout various neighborhoods in Los Angeles looking for people who hold similar views on issues of nuclear non-proliferation, missile defense, and the occupation in Iraq. I get people who want to see changes on these issues to become a member of CAPA, thus activating their political voice to say a resounding NO with the 90,000 other members of Peace Action nationwide.
This job as a grassroots organizer has been perhaps the most challenging work that I have ever done. I have gotten sick to my stomach with nerves before heading out to canvas. Perhaps it just a fear of talking to so many people, or maybe it's a fear of talking to those few who are so angry that they say something incredibly hateful towards me. But when the night is over, no matter how many people I have met who have felt motivated enough to become members, I feel great. I feel that I have spent a hard day working for peace. That even if I didn't get people to become members, that I have talked to people about these issues and let them know that there is a proactive way of voicing our concerns.

So now I am preparing to reapply for the Rotary Peace Scholarship... and I feel that I am even more stellar of candidate this year than last. I know today I speak with more confidence and articulation on my drive for peace. Not only am I gaining personal skills... I have met some incredible people through California Peace Action, other people just as concerned about these issues and just as active about seeing changes happen. And I am so grateful for that. I had spent the night of my rejection writing in my journal "Everything happens for the best, everything happens for the best" over and over. If it wasn't for my rejection I may never replied to the "work for peace" ad in the paper... and then I wouldn't be where I am today.

Being Busy

I've somehow convinced my self to work 3 jobs on top of the volunteer work that I do. In all of it's various forms it's a contribution to peace, so I have no major complaints other than I'm really looking forward to my holiday vacation. :)

Most recently I've started an Assistant Editing gig with Sirena Films, working on documentary that is taking a hard look at the current situation in Kosovo. It's heart wrenching to see how much ethnic fear there still exists among the Serbs and the Albanians. To me they've created these invisible lines that they threaten each other from. It's like when I was a child looking out the airplane window and seeing that there were no actual borders that separated nations. Why? Why?

Also since August, I have been editing a documentary that is exploring one woman's spiritual journey to heal herself and the world. It's like the saying, "When you meditate for yourself, you meditate for the world" We've got a couple more months of work on it and the process of carving out a story out of hundreds of hours of footage is exciting. Anyways here's a link to the production company August Moon Entertainment.

I also have been teaching a music video workshop for inner city Los Angeles teens. The organization is called Live Arts Group. We meet twice a week, and I have been working with a group of five 12-16 yr olds. We just finished shooting two weekends ago and looking forward to screening day in two weeks time.

Talking with an Eight Grade Social Studies Class

This past Thursday, I had the opportunity to talk to an Eight Grade Social Studies Class at Our Lady School of Malibu. I spoke to them about what it means to be an active citizen shaping our government today, and specifically about the Department of Peace legislation. A little nervous about standing in front a class of 25 Thirteen years old, I feel good about what I shared. The 8th graders asked some great questions, such as "is the DOP saying that war is bad?" I also shared with them how two 13 yrs old from Minnesota were able to inspire and motivate their Senator Mark Dayton to introduced the bill in the Senate. So that even though they can't vote yet, they still have a power to help shape our democracy.

I think I am finally seeing the fruits of my work at California Peace Action, where for five months I went door to door to talk to people about anti-nuclear poliferation, and my work with kids in the film arts program. I think I am getting much more comfortable about standing infront of a group and talking to people about the issues that I care about. yay!