<![CDATA[Alternatives to Violence Course - Blog]]>Sat, 23 May 2026 05:29:43 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[EACH GENERATION NEEDS INSPIRATION FOR PEACE & JUSTICE]]>Sat, 28 Feb 2026 15:34:33 GMThttp://www.alternativestoviolencecourse.org/blog/each-generation-needs-inspiration-for-peace-justiceNo ray of sunshine is ever lost,

but the green which it awakes into existence
needs time to sprout,

and it it is not always granted for the sower,
to see the harvest.

All the work that is worth anything
is done in faith.

by Albert Schweitzer

For a short history of BLACK HISTORY MONTH see blog post
​for February 2025.
]]><![CDATA[POEM IN MEMORY RENEE GOODBY AMANDA GORMAN]]>Wed, 14 Jan 2026 19:00:22 GMThttp://www.alternativestoviolencecourse.org/blog/poem-in-memory-renee-goodby-amanda-gormanThey say she is no more,
That there her absence roars,
Blood-blown like a rose.
Iced wheels flinched & froze.

Now, bare riot of candles, Dark fury of flowers,
Pure howling of hymns.

If for us she arose, Somewhere in the pitched deep
of our grief, Crouches our power,
The howel where we begin,
Struming upon the edge of the crooked crater
Worst of what we’ve been.

Change is only possible & all the greater,
When the labor & bitter anger of our neighbors
Is moved by the love & better angels of our nature.

What they call death & void,
We know as breath & voice;
In the end, gorgeously endures our enormity.

You could believe departed to be the dawn
When the blank night has so long stood.
But our bright-fled angels will never be fully gone,
When they forever so fiercely GOOD.

(On January 7, 2026, ICE Agents killed Renee Nicole Good
in Minneapolis Minnesota by shooting in the head through
her car window. She was a poet, writer, wife & mother
of three children.)





]]><![CDATA[2025 Another Year Of Alternatives             To Violence]]>Sat, 29 Nov 2025 15:45:29 GMThttp://www.alternativestoviolencecourse.org/blog/2025-another-year-of-alternatives-to-violence☮️ The following were our blog titles for 2025; we hope you may
review some of these posts.

☮️ CITIZENS ARE COMMEMORATING JIMMY CARTER, THE
LONGEST LIVED PRESIDENT

☮️ ORIGINS OF BLACK HISTORY MONTH

​☮️ HONORING WOMEN

☮️ THE POWER OF FIRST

☮️ LOOKING AHEAD

☮️ MESSAGE FROM CHIEF SEATTLE OF THE SUQUAMISH
NATION IN 1854

☮️ PART II OF CHIEF SEATTLE MESSAGE

☮️ NOTES FROM A TEACHER USING CONFLICT RESOLUTION
TECHNIQUES

☮️ THE WORLDS PREEMINENT CHIMPANZEE EXPERT DIES


REMEMBER: No Log In, 12 Unique Sessions, In Your Own Time,
Free and Open to All.]]><![CDATA[“THE WORLDS PREEMINENT CHIMPANZEE EXPERT DIES”]]>Thu, 09 Oct 2025 19:59:22 GMThttp://www.alternativestoviolencecourse.org/blog/the-worlds-preeminent-chimpanzee-expert-diesDame Valerie JANE Morris GOODALL (91 years old) , British
anthropologist and conservationist, was regarded as a pioneer
​in primate ethology. She did 60 years of field research in Tanzania.

Her research demonstrated that chimpanzees share many key traits
with humans, such as using tools, having complex emotions,
forming lasting social bonds, engaging in organized warfare and
passing on knowledge across generations. Her 1966 PHD thesis
was entitled, “Behavior of Free-Living Chimpanzees.

JANE GOODALL wrote 32 books ( 15 of them for children ).
She was the subject of 40 films about conservation and climate
action. She received many many honors for her environmental
and humanitarian work; in 2002 she was appointed Messenger
of Peace by the United Nations.
​

🙈🙉🙊🐒🙈🙉🙊🐒🙈🙉🙊🐒🙈🙉🙊🐒🙈🙉🙊🐒🙈🙉🙊
]]><![CDATA[NOTES FROM A TEACHER USINGCONFLICT RESOLUTION TECHNIQUES]]>Mon, 15 Sep 2025 14:44:47 GMThttp://www.alternativestoviolencecourse.org/blog/notes-from-a-teacher-usingconflict-resolution-techniques
Hearing Versus Listening As a teacher, I use non-violence techniques and conflict resolution on a daily basis in at least two different ways. The one that I am passionate about is teaching the children how to implement these philosophies into their daily lives. The second way that I use non-violence and conflict resolution is with the adults that I come into contact with. I feel strongly about teaching my students this way of handling conflict because I want it to become a way of life for them.
To spare them a lifetime of anger, resentment, and violence they must learn how to handle these challenging situations with clear and effective techniques that diffuse situations and solve problems. I see, too often, adults that do not have tools to address their anger and stress in a way that promotes positive change. I want my students to have these resources in their toolbox so that when they become adults they can handle difficult situations in ways that they are proud of and in ways that promotes peace and justice to those around them. I use games, role-play, mentoring, class meetings, and mediation to help instill these methods into their daily lives in a meaningful way. In Sessions One through Six of this website you will find articles, exercises, videos, case histories and applications resolving personal conflict.

Submitted by Maureen Farri
]]><![CDATA[PART II CHIEF SEATTLE MESSAGE]]>Tue, 12 Aug 2025 17:16:16 GMThttp://www.alternativestoviolencecourse.org/blog/part-ii-chief-seattle-messageThe history, culture and lifestyle of the Suquamish Nation impressed
respect and love for the land on their young and old. All loved by these values and it was a clear vision to maintain the condition of
their homeland.
Chief Seattle looked to the future of the world and recognized that the culture of European settlers would lead to violence and
disrespect against the creatures and the land. Chief Seattle tries
to lead the settlers through pleads in his message. However,
there was a joint decision to sell their land and move to reservations
as an attempt to save the Suquamish people from slaughter.

For more on this topic see SESSION TWELVE
☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️]]><![CDATA[MESSAGE FROM CHIEF SEATLE OF THESUQUAMISH NATION IN 1854]]>Sat, 12 Jul 2025 15:15:28 GMThttp://www.alternativestoviolencecourse.org/blog/message-from-chief-seatle-of-thesuquamish-nation-in-1854The following is a reply to the US Government offer to buy this
Nations land and move these indigenous people further North.
​
red man has always retreated before the advancing white man, as the mist of the mountain runs before the morning sun. But the ashes of our fathers are sacred. Their graves are holy ground, and so these hills, these trees, this portion of earth is consecrated to us. We know that the white man does not understand our ways. One portion of land is the same to him as the next, for he is a stranger who comes in the night and takes from the land whatever he needs. The earth is not his brother, but his enemy, and when he has conquered it, he moves on. He leaves his fathers’ graves behind, and he does not care. He kidnaps the earth from his children. He does not care. His fathers’ graves and his children’s birthright are forgotten. He treats his mother, the earth, and his brother, the sky, as things to be bought, plundered, sold like sheep or bright beads. His appetite will devour the earth and leave behind only a desert.
☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️
]]><![CDATA[LOOKING AHEAD]]>Thu, 12 Jun 2025 14:18:33 GMThttp://www.alternativestoviolencecourse.org/blog/looking-aheadNo ray of sunshine is ever lost,

but the green which it awakes into existence

needs time to sprout,

and it it is not always granted for the sower
to see the harvest.

All the work that is worth anything
is done in faith.

​ By Albert Schweitzer
💫⭐️🌟✨💥💫⭐️🌟✨💥💫💫🌟✨💥💫⭐️🌟✨💥💫⭐️🌟
]]><![CDATA[THE POWER OF FIRST]]>Wed, 09 Apr 2025 17:36:47 GMThttp://www.alternativestoviolencecourse.org/blog/the-power-of-firstby Amanda Gorman , first-ever Youth Poet Lauereate of USA

Power unfurls in a girl at school
like the first pages of a book unwritten,
She’s a story waiting to ignite.

An educated girl is like the question
of the first rain
tosses at the earth
after the drought——
Are you ready to start again?

A girl who dreams to be the first
in her line
to go to school
is the most vivid of things ——
like the one red spark that stands
up to the sky
in a chorus of wet logs.

A girl who graduates secondary school
in the first wave that hug the shore
after a hurricane.
Whispiring the coming of better things.

These we know as truths
not wonders.
The miracle isn’t just in a girl
being the first;
It is in her seeing
that which is nonexistent;
It is in her seeing the blank space
of an untouched sky
and sculpting her own dreams
into the emptiness.

A girl who is the first
is a vision in and of herself.

( five more short versus)

WE ARE HERE NOT TO BE THE FIRST
BUT TO REFUSE TO BE LAST.

💫✨🍁🌟💥⭐️💫✨🍁🌟💥⭐️💫✨🍁🌟💥⭐️💫✨🍁🌟💥







]]><![CDATA[HONORING  WOMEN]]>Fri, 07 Mar 2025 16:30:37 GMThttp://www.alternativestoviolencecourse.org/blog/honoring-womenIn 1978 a weeklong observation in California was championed by
Gerda Lerner and the National Women’s Historical Alliance to
be recognized as a National week (1980) and then a month(1987
in March)in the United States spreading internationally after that.

In 1980 President Jimmy Carter said, “ From the first settlers who
came to our shores from the first American Native families who
befriended them, men and women have worked together to build
this nation. Too often women were unsung and sometimes
their contributions went unnoticed.

But the achievements, leadership, courage, strength and love
of the women who built America was as vital as that of the
​men whose names we know so well.”
Themes evolved. For 2025 since women inspire, support and
strengthen their families, communities and country the theme
became ACCELERATE ACTION emphasizing urgency to
expedite progress toward gender parity.
🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀
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