Before moving to Jerusalem in 1978, I earned a Bachelor's Degree in International Relations at the University of California Berkeley. I had already become passionately involved the struggle for civil rights during the 1968 Poor People’s March on Washington, helping build Resurrection City and tutoring children of color whose schools were just being desegregated in southern Virginia. While I was involved in certain “peace activities” later on as an adult, I found that often, peace activists are not very peaceful! Learning about Compassionate Listening in 2000 resonated profoundly for me as a powerful tool to make peace in the world from the inside out. I was certified as a Compassionate Listening facilitator in 2004, leading and co-leading a number of  Compassionate Listening delegations to Israel-Palestine where I lived for 29 years. I currently live in Western Massachusetts, work at the intergenerational community called “Treehouse” which focuses on supporting children who are experiencing foster and adoptive care. I facilitate Compassionate Listening trainings in the area and recently co-authored “Making Peace with Faith” for the World Vision organization. I have been volunteering as an Alternatives to Violence facilitator in a men's high security prison in northern Connecticut since 2013, and have found that Compassionate Listening skills blend seamlessly into that program. Witnessing the “new Jim Crow” there has brought me around full-circle to rejoin the struggle for racial/social justice here in the U.S.  
 

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