Reading. Listening. Watching.

December 1

Dec 01, 2023

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Hi All,

Yesterday, I watched an inspiring webinar through The American Friends of the Parent Circle that was a “conversation with renowned Irish author Colum McCann. Colum engaged in a heartfelt dialogue with Rami Elhanan and Bassam Aramin, bereaved fathers from Israel and Palestine, the protagonists of Apeirogon.”

I am in the middle of Apeirogon now thanks to the thoughtful recommendation of my friend Jennifer. When my writing coach and friend Jena posted about this upcoming webinar earlier this week I registered immediately. Listening to these men talk and call each ‘brother’ was the first time I have felt any hope since October 7th. I strongly recommend both the book and the webinar but I will share my biggest take away here.

Colum McCann said at one point that the only way out of conflict is through education and personal storytelling. How true this is.

Over the past few months, I have been shocked at how much I have learned about the Middle East- truths that I feel should have been front and center at some point in my education that just weren’t. Mind you I went to a great high school, a strong liberal arts college and I have two masters degrees. And there are so many things I am learning now for the very first time about a conflict that is so crucial to our time. I certainly don’t know the best way to get this information out there- to both adults and children who I believe are ‘choosing sides’ before doing their homework- but something must be done to change how we learn about events both historically and in the present day.

And then to McCann’s point about storytelling. I believe that while we need to be learning history and current events through reliable news sources, there is also such a strong place in our educations for story telling- both ‘real life’ storytelling and fiction written by authors who take the time to check their facts. It is through stories that our hearts open and force our brains to do the hard work of understanding.

I would love to hear what you all have been reading, listening to and watching lately- both the hard stuff and the fun stuff :)

xo, Stacey

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