Mediation

Katie D.

August 29, 2010 - 10:25 AM

This weekend and next weekend, the CRES cohort is participating in a mediation training which provides the groundwork for future work in community and law-based mediations.

For those who have not been involved with mediation in the past, it is a form of conflict resolution in which two parties (or sometimes more) bring a dispute to a mediator (or team of mediators) and together work out a resolution acceptable to all participants. Mediations occur in a huge range of situations, from disputes in the workplace to roommate arguments, divorce settlements, small claims, and development.

As mediators, we are learning to become a neutral third party, able to navigate a dispute between two parties and to guide them into reaching a resolution satisfying to each.

It's an intriguing process. Basically, when two people are upset at each other, there is often such a breach of communication that they can't even hear the other person's perspective anymore. The emotions of a dispute get in the way of understanding the immediate issues at hand. A mediator listens to each party, affirming their interests and creating an atmosphere of equal dialogue.

It's sort of like a dance. Essentially, you ask each person to share their stories. Then you summarize each story, affirming that their perspectives are heard and valued, but removing the inflammatory language so the other party can access the underlying issues.

We spent the last two days learning the techniques for mediation. These include basic skills like questioning and active listening, as well as specific procedures for moving through a mediation meeting with the parties. We've witnessed demo mediations, done exercises to practice concepts, and held mock mediations.

I'm beginning to get the feel for the process and practice of mediation. It has to do with creating a safe space of dialogue, in which the participants themselves can begin to first voice their concerns and then develop their own solutions.

I'm not sure this is the area of conflict resolution I will be spending most of my time with. But I can immediately see these skills applying to my own life and methods of communication in the world. I can imagine situations of negotiation and relationships in which this model for resolving conflicts could make an amazing difference.

It has been a demanding first weekend in the program, with two marathon days of training. But I already feel I've grown in both practical skills and in self-confidence. Next weekend we will complete the training, and maybe I'll start working with a mediation provider as part of my internship requirement.

Regardless, I feel lucky to have these new skills. Transforming conflict into resolution is a powerful and exciting concept. I can't wait to put my mediation training into practice.

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First week in the CRES Program

Katie D.

August 26, 2010 - 5:47 PM

It's been an amazing first week of school.

Conflict Resolution (CRES) has started with a bang with getting to know the other members of my cohort, holding mandatory meetings, and starting with class. We've all started to get to know each other, and to build a real sense of solidarity and group unity, just in this one week of classes. We've also gotten closer and more comfortable with the faculty and staff in the program. Every day I am more impressed with the administration of this program: although CRES is a new program at the UO and there are the inevitable complications, there is a real sense of passion in the administration. The staff is so concerned with our experience in the program, and the faculty are constantly reaching out to make sure we have what we need to be successful students. Ellen and Kata in the CRES office already knew us by name and picture before we even showed up for the first day of class. They work with us for scheduling, planning, and even the minutia of book purchasing.

I feel like I am entering this new phase of my academic life with more support and care than ever before.

This was our first week of class. Right now, we have only one class: Philosophy of Conflict Resolution with Professor Cheyney Ryan. We meet three days a week for three and a half hours each class. In Cheyney's (he's a first-name-basis kind of professor) class we are learning about the background and philosophy of conflict resolution, and the various ways of applying alternative dispute resolution in various contexts. We are reading legal texts and watching Hollywood films. We are discussing theory and personal stories. It is a perfect introduction to this interdisciplinary field: the beginning taste of the richness of conflict resolution.

Cheyney gave us a frame for understanding conflict resolution that is incredibly helpful to me. He explained that there are two basic ways of understanding it: pragmatic and visionary.

The pragmatic approach is based in the legal history of conflict. Basically, there are certain areas of conflict that are best resolved outside the court room. Issues dealing with human emotion, such as family law, are not well-resolved by a judge, but rather by the participants themselves. Another approach is that the court system is so overwhelmed by small claims that a more expedient and rational way of dealing with small claims is to settle outside of court.

A pragmatic view of this field leads to mediation (family mediation, small claims, business, interpersonal) and a continuing relationship between mediators and the legal system. Basically, the system works but can be improved with some alternative dispute resolution methods.

Visionaries see conflict resolution as a way of re-inventing human interaction to eliminate violence as a way of resolving conflict. This idea comes largely from a religious background, and is associated with the Civil Rights movement, with Gandhi, and with modern movements for peace and social justice.

Visionary individuals would work in restorative justice (working with criminal law), environmental law, and other sweeping reform groups. Visionaries would see the system itself as broken, and that the techniques and ideology of conflict resolution being a new model of human interaction.

I have so much left to learn.

As we discuss questions of history, of individual perspective, and basic theories, I am learning more about myself and about my classmates. Cheyney encourages an introspection uncommon in my experience: that we are integrating the material learned with our own view of society. My fellow CRES students are interested in a huge range of fields, from business mediation to law to environmental policy to education. There is a place for us all within this field. And our class discussions are immeasurably enriched by these exchanges together.

I can't wait to hear more. To read the homework and see myself and my ideas within the pages. To have my views challenged and broadened. To hear Cheyney frame this program, and to see my peers broadening my aspirations.

We're all in this program together. Visionary or pragmatic, regardless of area of interest. We're at the table together, sharing skills and ideas.

It has been an amazing first week. Busy, full, challenging. Just how I like it.

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Madeline

Katie D.

August 22, 2010 - 10:49 PM

In less than six hours I will be in the Eugene airport, bidding a temporary farewell to one of my best friends as she heads off for a four-month study abroad in Northern Ireland.

Madeline and I have been friends for the last year. We were classmates in Inside-Out last year, earning us the unlikely term "old prison buddies." Since then, we have not only become great friends, but partners on a variety of projects. We worked together when Sister Helen Prejean came to campus last year. We wrote newspaper articles and project proposals. She helped me through the emotional roller coaster of my thesis. We were partners in editing the Turned Inside-Out magazine. We worked together on the Serbu Inside-Out book club. We've been to concerts, academic events, camping trips, fund raisers, and a selection of Eugene's best restaurants together.

She's all I could ask in a close friend, a working partner, and a confidant.

This will be her senior year at the University of Oregon. She's spending fall term in Northern Ireland, working on research and internships relating to the troubles there over the last few decades. This involves helping individuals fleeing conflict (or actual threats) in the Protestant/Catholic divided neighborhoods. She'll also be working with youth, to help allow future generations of the community to find common ground rather than learning the divisions of the present.

As always, I am excited and inspired to hear about the study abroad options my friends choose. It seems like an incredibly opportunity to me. She'll learn about conflict resolution and divided communities by being present in one of the most interesting ongoing ethnic conflicts in this century. I imagine the places she'll go and the experiences she'll have. This is travel at its best: the ability to both explore a new country and to experience things beyond the range of tourism and outside of the average experience of locals. I can't wait to hear the stories, see the pictures, read the newspaper clippings she's promised to send. We'll have skype dates, lengthy emails, and possibly the occasional text message.

Still, I'll miss my friend. I've seen her almost every day in 2010. Plus texts and phone calls. She's part of every bit of my life, either as a central participant or as a constant and compassionate listener. I can't even imagine my prison work continuing without her, since she's been such a central part in the leadership as well as in working through the emotional parts of the experience.

So I'll be going to the airport at 4:45 am on my first day of grad school classes to see her off. I've written her a letter to take on the plane. I'm remembering my own departure for study abroad, and imagining my future adventures. She's in this moment right now, starting some new fabulous part of her life.

I sent her with my favorite quote of all time: "Tell me, what is it that you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" --Mary Oliver

Obviously, Madeline is living her life as wild and precious.

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CRES Orientation

Katie D.

August 21, 2010 - 11:23 AM

Yesterday was my first day as a graduate student.

Classes start on Monday with a month-long introductory course on the philosophy of conflict with Professor Cheyney Ryan. Then, the last week of September, we begin with our full time courses. But yesterday was the first official day of the program: Cohort Six Orientation.

There are twenty-seven Conflict Resolution Masters students. We're the sixth full group to go through the degree program, therefore CRES Cohort Six. Yesterday we met at the UO law school, where the program is housed, met the other members of the cohort and our various professors, support staff, and directors of the program. We went through the schedule for fall term and the outline of the remaining year and a half. We discussed our internship requirement and the terminal projects.

We've started.

The other students in the program are incredible. It's an interesting combination of people who have already worked in mediation or conflict situations and those who have no previous experience. Some already know exactly how they will apply the skills learned, and some have no idea. There are only seven men in our group of twenty-seven, which is different from previous years, and our group is younger, on average, than the previous cohorts. Four of us are recent UO grads, and four more are from the Eugene area.

Going around the group to hear everyone's interests was the best thing we did yesterday. Conflict resolution is an interdisciplinary field, with influences from psychology, criminal justice, business, environmental studies, etc. People are interested in sport conflict resolution, in working with youth in legal trouble, in developing new mediation models for NGOs. Our group includes many travelers, and many who are interested in traveling again with these new skills. Some are interested in law school. Others have a wild look in their eye of infinite potential and absolutely no concrete plans.

The other amazing thing about the orientation was that every member of the faculty, staff, and administration was so incredibly helpful. These people want to make the experience comfortable, inspiring, and personalized for us. We have access to the Law Library, to tech support, and to a career services adviser who works solely for the CRES program. Someone came to talk with us from the financial aid office, and previous students came to share about scholarships and GTF positions. Two people presented about internships: one who is the support person for the program and will work with us in the selection and accreditation process, and Professor Shaul Cohen presented about internships available in Northern Ireland and Israel/Palestine.

This next two years are going to be a series of adventures.

Then, to finish the day, we had a dinner together at Professor Micheal Moffitt's house. My fellow students brought their partners and their children. We are a combination of newlyweds, heads of families, and young singles. Our meal together was wonderful and strange: the exciting process of getting to know a completely new group of people who we will be spending endless classroom hours with over the next year and more.

I'm so excited about this start. My cohort is great, and the professors are such wonderful and inspiring people. First day of class is Monday morning.

I'll be keeping you posted.

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Books

Katie D.

August 15, 2010 - 7:06 PM

One week from tomorrow is my first day of grad school. I can't even believe how fast the summer has gone, and that suddenly now it feels like the rug has been pulled from under my feet. Orientation is Friday: a new cohort of students, new professors, a new field of study. I'm busy with all kinds of preparations: getting ahead on work projects, cleaning my room, spending time with friends. Reading. Because while I don't really know what to expect from this first year in the Conflict Resolution program at the University of Oregon, I don't plan on having lots of disposable free time.

I've been reading up a storm this summer. It's been quite refreshing to spend time on novels for a change, plus some entertaining and self-selected nonfiction. I've also taken up a discipline of reading the local news on a daily basis. I'm feeling more linked in to Eugene life and more connected to my love for books than I have in years. And thank goodness: there are hundreds of books on my waiting list. But here's some of what's being read this summer:

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series by Stieg Larsson This is one of the best mystery novels I've ever read. I totally love the characters and the style. I also saw the movie when it was showing at the Bijou theater in Eugene. While it was a masterfully produced movie, I wouldn't recommend it to most people because of the sexual violence portrayed. However, the series is a fascinating study of a revenge by a woman against men who prey on women. I spent about four hours today finishing The Girl Who Played With Fire, and can't wait to read the final volume of the series.

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audry Niffenegger This was a re-read on tape. I love this novel, and it is one of the few with the power to completely break my heart, time after time. She has a second novel out in paperback, which I look forward to reading soon.

Everything is Illuminated, by Jonathan Safron Foer This was probably the most exciting book I read this summer. It is of a style all its own, with a tone and vocabulary unparalleled in my reading experience. Since the narrator is not a native English speaker, the syntax and word choice is hilarious: it reads exactly like a second-language-speaker talks, complete with the confusion, the untranslatable humor, and the blocks that end unresolved. The hilarity accompanies a beautiful story about searching for your history, and trying to find wholeness and forgiveness in the process.

The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver is the latest of this favorite author's work. I love Barbara Kingsolver completely, and have read everything she's written. This latest is a totally different style from her former novels: it is historical fiction, melding the American Northeast with Mexico, art with politics with writing, and some favorite characters from art history in the forms of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. This touches on a number of topics I love, so even if Kingsolver wasn't a permanent member of my Top Five Favorite Authors, this book would be high on the list of greats.

Graphic Novels This summer has led me to an entirely new genre. I've read five or six graphic novels, and I love them. I'm well on my way to a new nerdy passion. The best have been: the series Y:The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra, Stitches by David Small, The Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born by Robin Furth (based on Stephen King's series), and The Ultimate Spider-Man by Brian Micheal Bendis. Any and all of these are highly recommended to beginning graphic novel readers.

Vampire novels OK, it's confession time. I, too, have been swept into the vampire mania that is all-too mainstream these days. My primary defense is that I've been a vampire novel reader for years and years, way back to middle school Dracula days, and continuing through young-adult novels by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes and Salem's Lot by Stephen King. A couple of years ago I read Sunshine, by Robin McKinley, which is my favorite vampire book to date and was a delightful re-read a few weeks ago. I'm currently slogging through The Historian by Elisabeth Kostova. It's a good read, but rather slow-going. I also have to confess to having read all of the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris. They might be what my mom calls "potato chip" books, but they are seriously entertaining and a great series to blaze through in the summer.

(Note: some readers might be Twilight fans. To you I will do the diplomatic courtesy of not explaining, in detail, my opinions regarding this unfortunate stain on the vampire genre. Keep your sparkles to yourself)

Unfortunately, with the summer ending so rapidly, I'll be taking a stack of unread books back to the library. It's one of the saddest moments of back-to-school chores: looking at all those optimistic summer plans and putting them in the "return" bin to await the next school break. I'm particularly sad to send the Wally Lamb novels back to the stacks, but they're too long to realistically start at this academic moment.

So, friends and readers, I challenge you to add a book or two to my wish list. As you can tell, I have a bit of an eclectic taste, running from thrillers to comedies to nonfiction, but generally letting romance lie. Any suggestions? Challenges? Please, I dare you. Fill my winter break with some high-quality or attention-grabbing literature.

And read a good one in my honor as grad school begins.

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