In Classrooms: Creating Global Understanding, Sparking Compassionate Action

Tuesday, April 15, 5:00-6:30 p.m., Lopez Room

Description 

Science, philosophy, and the world’s wisdom traditions have shown us that we are one humanity and one Earth family with a common destiny. It is the perception and experience of this interconnectedness that brings a profound change in human consciousness toward the realization of a compassionate, just, and sustainable world. In this 90-minute workshop for educators, parents, community leaders, and youth, we’ll explore some creative examples of how schools and other learning communities can instill a sense of global unity and compassionate action. Co-hosts Voices in Wartime, Yes! Magazine, and The Heritage Institute will showcase several projects that open the mind and heart to the sense that we are all part of and responsible to a larger community of life, in which our individual lives gain greater meaning. You’ll be enriched by music, writing, storytelling, and group discussion.

Presenter Bios

Andrew Himes

Andrew Himes is the executive director of the Voices in Wartime Education Project, which uses the arts and education to support the healing process for soldiers and civilians who have experienced the trauma of war, and to help young people understand the nature of conflict and solutions to conflict. Andrew has been working for social change since the 1960s. During the 1980s, Himes spent several years as a technology journalist and editor, and in 1992 went to work for Microsoft, where he helped pioneer the company's embrace of the Internet by managing the first web team at Microsoft. In 2004, he was executive producer of "Voices in Wartime," a documentary that uses poetry to explore the experience and trauma of war. He is the co-editor of the Voices in Wartime Anthology, and director of a short film on PTSD, "Beyond Wartime."

Merna Ann Hecht

Merna Ann Hecht—poet, storyteller, and arts and social justice educator—has worked in many specialized settings which include the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center School, facilities for homeless and adjudicated youth, and centers for children coping with loss and grief. She presents courses to educators on teaching humanities and social justice through integrated arts in university, conference, and workshop settings. Merna is the recipient a 2008 Jack Straw Writers award, the National Storytelling 1999 Community Service Award, and the 2008 Brimstone Award for Applied Storytelling. Her essays and poetry appear in a number of professional journals, books, and small-press magazines.

Andrea Cohen

Andrea Cohen is a communications consultant, project developer, and certified Compassionate Listening facilitator who has been involved with The Compassionate Listening Project since its inception. She is the director of the TCLP film "Children of Abraham" and is co-director of the Jewish-German Reconciliation Project.

Gina Salá

Gina Salá is a teacher, performer, and healer who helps us awaken to the power and pleasure of our voices and the magnificence within! With a repertoire spanning 23 languages, she has learned and shared songs and sound healing techniques on stages and in living rooms, conferences, and huts throughout much of the world, including singing at the United Nations and as lead singer for Cirque du Soleil's O.

Mike Seymour

Mike Seymour is president of The Heritage Institute, a progressive program of continuing education for K-12 teachers in the Northwest. The institute offers place-based earth and social history programs—and leading edge educational curriculum—through field studies, workshops, distance courses, and foreign travel programs that reach educators in the Northwest, across the U.S., and around the world. THI programs are informed by a mission to "Educate for Humanity," a commitment to promote a vision of education that furthers a sustainable, just, and compassionate world that works for all. Mike is author of Educating for Humanity: Rethinking the Purposes of Education, with contributions from nationally-recognized educators, and has produced a video of progressive schools which he presents a national conferences. Mike is founder and president of the Board of Youth for a New World, whose mission is "to inspire young people globally to contribute to a world that works for all." He initiated its first program, the AfricaAmericaExchange, linking students in Burundi, Central Africa, and the U.S.