Building Bridges listserv archives
Click HERE to read what our participants are discussingCreate a Building Bridges profile and sign-up for our mailing list
Click HERE to tell others about yourself and get information about upcoming Building Bridges events and projects!Order BB business cards
Click HERE to order personalized business cards to help spread the word!Categories
- Crisis in Somalia (1)
- Educational events (4)
- Other (3)
- Service projects (1)
- Social gatherings (2)
- Web site updates (2)
Archives
A Struggling Bronx Synagogue Finds Free Housing—in a Mosque – Tablet Magazine
Posted in Other
Leave a comment
Turkish Cultural Center Annual Friendship Dinner 11/9/11 – notes by Rob Stall
Gulen Institute / Gulen Movement
Gulen “You cannot embrace all humanity unless you honor all faiths and religions”
http://www.fethullahgulen.org/
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/
http://rumiforum.blogspot.com/p/necessity-of-interfaith-dialogue-by.html#axzz1dXA75BHB
East/West Institute
http://www.ewi.info/
Peace Island Institute / Ercan Tozan sp?
Peace Islands Institute
http://idcnj.org/index.php?
Gibran “When you pray…” http://www.katsandogz.com/onprayer.html
Othman “Do we want peace? Peace means you stay over there, I’ll stay over here. No, we want love. You come to me and I’ll go to you.”
Posted in Educational events, Social gatherings
Leave a comment
HEAL International fundraiser 11/2/11 6:30p-10:30p Buffalo State College
Posted in Service projects
Leave a comment
The Faces of Famine
|
Posted in Crisis in Somalia
Leave a comment
HEAL International seminar – Protecting Refugee Youth and Learning the Law – 6/4/11
Notes by Rob Stall MD
Thoughts:
1. Support group (rather than just classes) for parents with “caregiver stress”?
I. Law enforcement – “peace in the street”
II. Family court – “peace in the home” – Judge Lisa Bloch Rodwin
Types of cases:
1. Juvenile deliquent – minor commits crime (e.g. drugs, alcohol, violence against parent)
2. PINS – child out of control (joined a gang, taking drugs)
3. Abuse and neglect (Child Protective Services handles first, court if significant harm or refusal of CPS)
4. Custody issues (e.g. children of unmarried couples)
5. Domestic violence “we help the people being hurt and the people doing the hurting…”)
“We are not here to take your children away – we are here to help you have a safe, healthy home”
“Spanking with hand is not abuse… use of an object such as a belt or stick is…”
“There is evil everywhere… we hear the horrible things done to children every day… I don’t have a crystal ball to put in front of you to know who is telling the truth or not… [in Family Court] we try to get the facts, we try to find the truth…”
“We need to learn from you, and you need to learn from us… that is how we make the system better for all…”
Comment “What we have here is a culture clash”
III. Child Protective Services
“The important people in the room are you, not us… I don’t think of you as refugees, I think of you as new Americans…”
“We get 10000 reports every year about parents hurting their children. Of these, we know 7000 are just not true. Of the 3000, [many] are taken care of ny the family themselves. Of the remainder, we try to help the family get what they need to solve the problem [e.g. money, food, clothing]…”
“Of the 25000 involved in the reports, only 300 children are put in foster care, often with a relative [or someone in the same cultural community]. It used to be a lot more, but we found that the best place for the child [generally] is in the home…”
“Law says that we have to come out and tell you about the report… We don’t know anything about you except what is on the report…”
“Haven’t come into conflict with a culture [e.g. coining was an issue because it left marks, had to learn what it was about], seen a culture that approves of hurting a child…”
Yahye – “had four classes, applications were provided to ask for help…”
Posted in Educational events
Leave a comment
Print page function added
See http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-print/ for plugin, installation instructions. page.php file modified as recommended.
Posted in Web site updates
Leave a comment
Fwd: Speaker from 2007 P2 conference – David Whyte – Courageous Conversations
Posted in Other
Leave a comment
Turkish coffee night, student film screening at Turkish Cultural Center Buffalo 5/28/11
Hosted by the Turkish Cultural Center Buffalo
Rob, Drorah, Nadia, Tevfik attended – great food, company, films, and (of course) delicious Turkish coffee.
Presentation by SUNY-Fredonia professors Ted Schwalbe PhD, Nefin Dinç (Nefin’s latest documentary theothertown.com).
SUNY-Fredonia project with 72 students in 6 smaller cities in Turkey (Antakya, Artvin, Edirne, Konya, Mardin, Sivas).
Sponsored by US State Department.
Summary of project and all films at www.filmturkey.net..
Goal to tell a story about social issues (e.g. democracy, women’s rights).
Students selected through interviews based on who came up with the most interesting ideas, best stories to tell.Inflatalbe Games
Screenings in Diyarbakir, Istanbul, New York, Boston, Washington DC
Films from 5-20 minutes long
18 films created on essentially no budget, only 21 days of student training
Film – Love in One Breath (8 min)
About whirling dervishes & making of reed flute, analogy to human suffering and retribution/growth/maturity.
“… [best] word to describe a life fully lived is patience… the reed flute [represents] love…” (Rumi references.)
Film – When the Plum Trees Bloom (6 min)
About 1980 coup-de-tat in Turkey
Love story, she asks ‘when will spring be for us?’. He sends a letter her, then is hung by his captors.
Symbolism of the plum tree blossoming
Film – 15 Steps Ahead (18 min)
Woman running for office (mayor/supervisor) in Sivas
Interviews with townspeople about her prospects; opinions about whether she should run for office or stay home; good or bad for the town; who would vote for her, who would never vote for her; who is stronger and more responsible, men or women
6 local politicians died in helicopter crash during campaign
Male candidate wins
“I am a woman, I know what I can achieve…”
Gift giving after meal by host as payment for “renting your tooth” (I won a beautiful tie!)
Posted in Educational events, Social gatherings
Leave a comment
Notes from breakfast meeting with Rabbi Brad Hirschfield 5/26/11
Rabbi Hirschfield met for breakfast at the Temple Beth Zion Broder building with members of the Network of Religious Communities and Building Bridges in Western New York. The following summarizes his comments during the discussion about interfaith work and its challenges.
Hard work
“Need to get past eating hummus together and what feels good… need to get past affirming what we already believe…”
“The hard work is where in our lives we do things outside our comfort zone… figuring out how to work together when we disagree… how to tell someone they’re wrong without them leaving the room… if you don’t feel like giving up at times, you’re not doing the hard work… can’t ignore the hard problems without things ultimately blowing up… mediation is better than litigated divorce, but it’s rarely done because it’s hard… the most significant interfaith work is what goes on inside yourself…”
“Why do you do what you do? Personal journey, passion, inherited, makes me feel good… Imagine the person who is ‘the problem’ – they define why they do what they do in the exact same way.”
“Everyone needs a community to give strength by reaffirming your personal beliefs… but where do we go to disagree without savaging each other?”
“In the past, most interfaith encounters were a religious show and tell… started in Chicago on 9/11 [see 1893 World’s Parliament of Religions]…”
“Sometimes ‘working it out’ means going your separate way, sometimes it’s staying together forever…”
“Agreeing to disagree” is akin to “Besides what just happened, Mrs. Lincoln, what did you think of the play?”
“We call people ideologues when they don’t agree with us, insightful when they do…”
“It hurts the most when the community you identify with does things you don’t like…”
“We do this because it’s who we are, not because of what we expect in return… if it’s about reciprocity, you could never do anything with anyone who isn’t already where you are…”
“We all have an agenda… admit you have one… it has come to have a negative connotation… when it’s ours, it’s a ‘vision’ or ‘plan’… ”
“We assume wrongness is badness… MY vision may be YOUR vision of what’s wrong… it shouldn’t mean that I’m a bad person…”
“A serious Jewish principle is giving people the benefit of the doubt.”
Teaching, learning, doing
“You can’t be someone’s teacher unless you’re willing to be their student as well…”
“All positions are not equal… I’m not a relativist…”
“I live with the animating principle the God never made anyone so smart as to be right 100% of the time, nor so stupid to be 100% wrong…”
“A wise person is someone who can learn from every other human being… not everyone is a good teacher but everyone has something to teach…”
“Groundbreaking can be ‘they stood on the stage together and the world didn’t fall apart’…”
“Planting seeds can be scary because you don’t know what will come up… weed away, but what you think is a weed might be a gift…”
“Judaism can be everything to someone. So can Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, etc…”
Sacred envy
“Wishing you could be like others, but deeply rooted that you’re not going there… true envy, not just admiration…”
“We love traditions we’re part of BECAUSE of certain things, and DESPITE certain things… I love my religious tradition (or significant other) not because others are stupid, ugly, or mean, but because I just love it…”
“Ask yourself ‘What is it I love the most about my faith community? What am I most proud of? What am I ashamed of? What are you truly envious of in other faith communities? What am I really angry about in other faith communities?’…”
“The claim of religious perfection only leads to strife and bloodshed…”
Posted in Educational events
Leave a comment