3 new books about the death penalty

On October 24, Austin, Texas will host the 10th annual march to abolish the death penalty (2-5 pm on the southside steps of the Texas State Capitol, 11th & Congress, Austin.) It's a good time to explore this issue,  covered in the 7th class of the University Essays for the Class of Nonviolence  with 5 excellent readings.

Over the past few months that peaceCENTER has published three new anthologies about the death penalty:

Capital Ideas: 150 Classic Writers on the Death Penalty, from The Code of Hammurabi to Clarence Darrow, Susan Ives, editor, with a foreword by Joan Cheever Learn More & Buy

End of the Line: Five Short Novels About the Death Penalty, Susan Ives, editor. Includes: The Last Day of a Condemned Man, by Victor Hugo; Lois The Witch, by Elizabeth Gaskell; The Dead Alive, by Wilkie Collins; Billy Budd, by Herman Melville and The Seven Who Were Hanged, by Leonid Andreyev Learn More & Buy 

Death Sentences: 34 Classic Short Stories About the Death Penalty. Susan Ives, editor, with a foreword by Jay Brandon and an afterword by Roger C. Barnes, Ph.D. Learn more & buy. 

These three books are more about public philosophy than public policy. They explore who governments decide to kill, how they justify these decisions and the effect of state-sanctioned killing on society.

What are Human Rights?

A really nice short video that defines Human Rights, which we typically discuss during lesson six of the Class of Nonviolence.

Reconsider Columbus Day

There's really not an ideal place to discuss Columbus Day in the Class of Nonviolence, although it fits best in lesson 7, where we generally talk about war. Instead, take advantage of the day itself to discuss alternative views of Columbus. Several good books that can be added to a library or curriculum are:

Lies My Teacher Told Me About Christopher Columbus: What Your History Books Got Wrong, by James W. Loewen. This colorful 32" x 21" poster includes artwork and writings from primary sources on the early history of the Americas, perspectives of people who were here first, and analysis of historical myths.

Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong, also by James W. Loewen, covers both the arrival of Columbus and the first Thanksgiving.

Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years, Edited by Bill Bigelow and Bob Peterson. More than 90 essays, poems, interviews, historical vignettes, and lesson plans reevaluate the myth of Columbus and issues of indigenous rights. Rethinking Columbus is packed with useful teaching ideas for kindergarten through college.

Who gets what and why

"Distributive justice is not only a central issue of moral and political philosophy, but also an object of common-sense moral reasoning. Everyone is sensitive to the question of his/her share of the common good. Even those who get the best piece of the social pie are in need to justify the actual model of distribution. It has become a truism that most people (especially in the transition countries) experience their own social position as "unjust", relying on certain intuitive principles of distributive justice." from the Distributive Justice Web site

This is an incredible site, online since 2001, that engages you in the theory of distributive justice, via a game (depicted below), forum, newsletter, mailing list, interviews and a solid discussion of the various theories of the field. The site hasn't been updated in a while but it is an excellent introduction to an important topic. Be sure to read about the theory and play the game.

We would use this in lesson 3 of the Class of Nonviolence, when we discuss Dorothy Day and poverty, especially with the essay "Poverty and Precarity." 

Dancing to the beat of a different rumba

My peaceCENTER colleague Rosalyn Collier roped me into dinner and a movie, the movie being "Strictly Ballroom," a 1993 Australian film about ballroom dancing. "Not at all my cup of tea," I complained. "You love it. Trust me," she countered. She was right.

Scott, a young competitive ballroom dancer, is inspired to improvise in a rumba competition. His elders are incensed: "There are no new steps," grimly admonishes the head of the dance federation. His teachers lament that if everyone could make up steps they wouldn't need teachers and where would that leave them?   The theme? A life lived in fear is a life half-lived. The film is funny, beautiful, sad, uplifting  and thought-provoking.

Strictly Ballroom would be an eccentric yet appropriate  film to show along with lesson 7 of the Class of Nonviolence, where we discuss civil disobedience. Although the disobedience isn't exactly of the civil variety, the message is the same: conscience has precedence over the rules.

Walden: a Game

The Interactive Media Lab at USC is developing Walden, a game that simulates the experiment in living made by Thoreau at Walden Pond in 1845-47, allowing players to walk in his virtual footsteps, attend to the tasks of living a self-reliant existence, discover in the beauty of a virtual landscape the ideas and writings of this unique philosopher, and cultivate through the gameplay their own thoughts and responses to the concepts discovered there.  [read rest of article]

In the Class of Nonviolence we read Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience" in lesson 7, and such a game would, of course, fit in well there. It would also complement lesson 8, where we discuss nonviolence and animals, but also usually talk about caring for the earth. His message of living simple and close to nature fits in well here. Can't wait until it's released!

Active U.S. Hate Groups

Active U.S. Hate Groups

The Southern Poverty Law Center counted 926 active hate groups in the United States in 2008. Only organizations and their chapters known to be active during 2008 are included. All hate groups have beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics.

This is a very cool  and useful interactive map that tracks not only hate groups but also reported incidents.

One New Book, Three New Covers

The 16-week University Essays for the Class of Nonviolence is available as a free download at the peaceCENTER's Website. (It's a PDF file) If you prefer it in trade paperback format, that is also now available, directly from our printer for $7 + shipping. You can also download a free PDF of The 8-week Class of Nonviolence or order the trade paperback directly from the printer for $5 + shipping. And the Facilitator's Manual for the Class of Nonviolence is available for purchase from our printer and on Amazon.com; learn more about it and read a free sample chapter on our Web site.

We've also updated the covers so they match -- same books, just new packaging!

Nature Makes Us More Caring, Study Says

Want to be a better person? Commune with nature. Paying attention to the natural world not only makes you feel better, it makes you behave better, finds a new study to be published October 1 in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. [read article]

We'd probably use this material in the first session of the Class of Nonviolence, where we discuss the nature of violence and nonviolence. It would also slot nicely into the 8th and final session; although the main topic in noviolence and animals, we usually expand the discussion to include the relationship between nonviolence and the environment. Here's a video summarizing the study results: