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Behind the camera, a grandmother to 7,300 sees the possibilities

Sep 17, 2019 / No Comments

There are few septuagenarians who could inspire the sort of rock-star status among a gaggle of teenagers that Bobbie Gottschalk does at the Seeds of Peace Camp in Maine.

Sightings of the diminutive, gray-haired grandmother—always adorned with a baseball cap and a camera around her neck—are often met with squeals of delight, and requests for hugs and photos with and by Bobbie. And she gladly obliges; each photograph is another chance to connect with campers, to hear how they’re feeling, what’s bringing them joy, what’s causing them concern.

In more than a few ways, her camera is a natural extension of what she does best: She sees people.

Whether it was seeing the potential in John Wallach’s idea to create a camp that brought together kids from the Middle East, or the reason one camper might be standoffish in group activities, or the heights that young Seeds and staff could reach if given the chance, for nearly three decades Bobbie has seen people not just for who they are, but for who they could become.

“Bobbie gave me the most important opportunities in my professional life and supported me through many of the most challenging moments we faced in building the Middle East regional program and keeping its spirit alive through profoundly difficult times,” said Ned Lazarus, a former counselor at Camp and Middle East Program Director. “I owe my entire career, and much of what I’m proud to have done in my life, to her faith in me and my ability to contribute to this community.”

Since her days as the first executive director of Seeds of Peace, she’s been a steady source of hope, encouragement, and guidance for Seeds of Peace staff and alumni alike. And while she could spend her golden years in the comfort of her family’s vacation home, every summer since 1993 she has faithfully returned to her small cabin at Camp—among the mosquitos, ticks, rain, and heat—where she’s embraced a new purpose: documenting the daily ins and outs of Camp, using her personal social media accounts to keep the organization’s alumni connected, and embracing the role of the loving-but-firm grandmother for campers, counselors, and 7,300 alumni.

“In so many ways Bobbie is all of the things that we as an organization strive to embody,” said Leslie Lewin, executive director of Seeds of Peace. “To say that Bobbie is the connective tissue of Seeds of Peace is an understatement; her impact on the organization and thousands of Seeds is immeasurable.”

AT HOME WHILE AWAY

The walls of Bobbie’s neatly-appointed cabin at Camp are a patchwork quilt of memories, adorned with photographs of her with Seeds and various staff from over the years, and, of course, turtles. Bobbie has long had a tradition of giving a necklace with a turtle charm to second-year campers, known as Paradigm Shifters, or P.S.s. It’s a small reminder that Seeds of Peace is the home that the campers will always carry with them, just as everywhere a turtle goes it carries its home.

But perhaps the most important item in her makeshift museum might be a single sheet of paper hanging over the desk where she uploads photographs (sometimes an all-night process, due to a shaky wifi signal) and writes the daily Camp Reports.

Dated April 1, 1993, it’s the cover letter that she sent along with her resume to John Wallach, the founder of Seeds of Peace. He and his wife, Janet—who remains an active member of the Seeds of Peace Board of Directors today—had attended a meeting of Bobbie’s book club the previous night to discuss the book they had co-authored, “The New Palestinians.” There, he mentioned that he was also looking for an executive director for a camp he was planning to start that summer.

Whether or not you believe in fate, it was truly exceptional timing.

“I had been looking to start something from scratch for children, possibly a camp in Maine—where I had grown up going to dance camp—and he needed someone with foundational and fundraising experience,” she said. “It was a perfect match.”

Further, the idea of a Camp that allowed historic enemies to meaningfully engage with one another, to see each other as human beings, deeply resonated with Bobbie. Her grandparents had been smuggled out of the former Soviet Union in the early 1900s to escape persecution for being Jewish, and she said she grew up very focused on peace. Her mother worked for the Red Cross and eventually became a teacher, and Bobbie attended a college established by Quakers. It was there that, during the height of the Cold War, she and a few other students from her Russian literature class had the opportunity to visit Russia.

“I had been warned that my being Jewish could make me a target,” Bobbie recalled. “This stern warning, and the emotional baggage from my grandmother, put me on constant alert. Not surprisingly, I had my first asthma attack there.”

In spite of this emotional and physical tension, she dove headfirst into her program, learning, most importantly, that the Russian students weren’t so different from herself and the other American students.

“They were afraid of us, just as we were wary of them. They would take us out on rowboats and grill us about our lives in the U.S.A. They would beg us to give them a pair of our jeans,” she said. “I learned that people have a lot in common, even enemies. And none of the people we spoke with wanted to wipe us off the face of the earth, like our political leaders claimed.”

It was a formative experience for Bobbie, and was undoubtedly a key reason why John’s idea for Seeds of Peace deeply resonated with her.

Those first few years were filled with triumphs and “I can’t believe we’re pulling this off” type moments: donated air tickets and services, foreign ministries agreeing to send kids to America to meet with the “enemy,” landing a front-row seat to the signing of the Oslo Accord, and numerous features from international press, including a national broadcasting crew that followed the first five days of the very first session of Camp.

“It was terrifying!” she said of having a camera crew present. “John was determined to have the media involved from the get-go, and I never would have invited the outside world for the first five days of Camp, but the feedback was really great. I think the idea that the next generation would not have to live through what the current generation was living through really resonated with a lot of people.”

From that first session of 46 boys, the Camp and Seeds of Peace grew quickly, soon including female campers and evolving the dialogue program. In 1998, Bobbie started SeedsNet, an online list serve for Seeds that would become her first foray into serving as a digital social connector.

But even as Seeds of Peace was growing and thriving, there was no denying that things would soon be very different. John was dying, and in the summer of 2002, he finally succumbed to non-smokers lung cancer.

“When we told the Camp, I think it really scared a lot of the campers,” she recalled. “They thought, ‘Well, this is the end of Seeds of Peace.’ So we had to mourn him and deal with our own grief, but we also had to give the campers hope that this was too good to die with John.”

The next few years were extremely difficult for Bobbie and Seeds of Peace. Out of respect for John, the staff had made few preparations for a future without him as president, and it took time to find the right successor.

“It was a very hard few years, probably a textbook case of what happens when the founder, especially one who is so magnetic and the face of the organization, dies or leaves and there hasn’t been any real preparation made beforehand,” she said. “People were very reluctant to try to fill his shoes and it was very difficult.”

One of John’s successors stripped Bobbie of the majority of her duties, and many friends and family members urged her to quit.

“But I couldn’t abandon this place,” she said. “When leaders leave, it feels like the end, and I felt I would be letting the kids down.”

She did eventually step down from her staff role in 2004 and became a member of the Board of Directors. But she was still only in her early 60s and wanted to stay actively involved, so as one chapter of her life closed, she recalled advice from her mother.

“She told me that the hardest thing about getting old is losing your purpose. You have to replace it with some other purpose,” she said. “I had always wanted to have a role at Camp, and we didn’t have a photographer, so I picked up a camera.”

BEHIND THE LENS

She’s mostly self taught when it comes to taking pictures, but some of the best advice she ever received came from a sports photographer: Stand still, the action will come to you.

It usually takes about a week for the campers to stop requesting so many photos and to become accustomed to seeing Bobbie snapping photos while they canoe, climb the ropes courses, dance, or play sports.

This familiarity not only makes for better photographs, but through the camera’s lens, the former social worker is able to observe the campers’ transformations in ways she wouldn’t so easily be able to do otherwise.

“You don’t just stare at people, but with a camera, they can’t see where my eyes are. And, I feel like I am able to capture the change that comes over their faces,” she said. “They start off withdrawn, maybe hiding under a sweatshirt or physically closing themselves off, but as they began to buy into it, to see that they are safe and an enemy can become something so much more, they completely change. Sometimes I have pictures of the same person from the beginning of Camp to the end of the first week and I can’t tell that they’re the same person.”

Taking hundreds of thousands of photographs has allowed her to observe a few universal and time-tested truths when it comes to being a teenager at Camp: “Winning trumps everything,” she said with a laugh. “Many of the kids are competitive to begin with, and even if they have a fight earlier in the day, once they’re on the same team for an activity, they’re going to work together because they want to win.”

7,300 REASONS TO HOPE

Her days at Camp begin when everyone else’s does—waking up with the morning bell, lineup by the lake, breakfast, then on to activities. She rarely leaves the grounds while Camp is in session, save for Friday evenings when she makes the 80-minute drive to see her family and do laundry before returning to Camp the next morning. Since 1993 she’s only missed a handful of Camp days, and those were for family emergencies or funerals.

When she’s not at Camp, she lives with her husband, Tom, in Washington, D.C., gives lectures about Seeds of Peace at college campuses several times a year as a Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow, and serves on the board of several nonprofits and educational institutions.

But among her many contributions, connecting Seeds with opportunities might be among those that she most values. She’s helped countless Seeds get scholarships, apply to colleges, and launch their careers over the years, and you don’t have to look far to find stories from Seeds about how her encouragement, mentorship, and care has had an immeasurable impact on their lives.

One was Tamer, a camper from Egypt who attended the very first session of Camp.

“As a kid away from home and family for the first time, I remember finding such comfort and warmth in Bobbie as a de facto godmother,” he said. “Bobbie encouraged me to pursue my dream of studying in the United States and helped me get to college. During school holidays, Bobbie welcomed me into her home instead of letting me spend it away from family on campus. Years later, it was also Bobbie who helped me get to and through law school. It is hard to imagine what my life would have looked like without Bobbie’s constant and ongoing support, but Bobbie is also an enthusiastic advocate for each of us. Even a quick scroll through her Facebook feed would show how she beams with pride as she promotes and celebrates each Seed’s achievements.”

With 4,957 friends on Facebook—a list that she has to occasionally cull, since the site limits individual accounts to 5,000 friends—she has taken on the unofficial role of connecting and celebrating Seeds on the social media channel. Sending a birthday message (sometimes as many as 30 a day) is one of her favorite ways to stay up to date with alumni.

“I’m just so pleased with what they’re doing, I never could have predicted so many of the things,” she said. “It’s like watching a garden bloom—but imagine if you planted that garden without having a picture or knowing what the seeds were going to look like.”

Of course, the flip side of being immersed online is that she also has a front-row seat to the negative sides of social media—the ugly exchanges that can play out online, or the constant bombardment of violence and social unrest around the world.

And while there is plenty happening in the world that disappoints her, she said none of it ever discourages her. The Seeds who have come before and are working to make the world better, as well as the ones who are just beginning their journey, are reason enough to keep up hope—and for her to keep coming back.

Sitting among the pine trees beside Pleasant Lake, a soft breeze picked up when asked if, after all these years, there was anything about Camp that still took her breath away.

“I can feel all 7,000 Seeds when I’m here,” she said without hesitation. “I can see the old ones on the lake, I can hear John and Wil Smith, and I know they would still be coming here today if they could. And as long as I’m able to, so will I.”

As Camp goes virtual, Seeds build skills and solidarity at a critical time

Aug 26, 2020 / No Comments

Somewhere between elaborate Excel worksheets, countless Zoom breakout rooms, spotty Internet service, and an unfettered desire to connect, it happened: Attendees to the 2020 virtual camp formed the transformative formula that is at the foundation of the Seeds of Peace Camp experience.

Across 13 time zones, dozens of Seeds from 12 delegations came together over the course of a week in August for virtual activities, workshops, and, of course, dialogue. It wasn’t the experience anyone had planned for this summer, but when COVID-19 led to the cancellation of in-person Camp in Maine, it brought a bit of Camp into Seeds’ living rooms, kitchens, bedrooms, and communities.

“Undoubtedly, the Camp experience can never be translated virtually; however, it provided me an opportunity of being in different realms at the same time,” said Emaan, a 2018 Pakistani Seed.

“While in the mornings I was learning my geographical identities and historical facts in online classes, in the evenings I was able to explore and understand the ideologies and mindsets behind them in virtual camp. I understood how everything is connected. It was like bringing my own realities at home and ‘the way life could be’ together in a unique way.”

There were nearly 60 Seeds who participated in the virtual camp, all of whom had previously attended Camp in the last three years, while new applicants for 2020 were invited to attend a Virtual Engagement seminar in July that gave them a taste of the Seeds of Peace experience.

Of course, there’s nothing like in-person Camp in Maine, but the digital version had its benefits: No barriers of cost or travel; no limits on participants; campers participated in multinational dialogue sessions; and the online nature allowed programming staff to design something that was nimble and responsive to what the kids needed in this moment.

“These are the young leaders of the next generation and we need to give them the skills, but they’re the ones working in their home environments and they know what they need,” said Interim Camp Director Clarke Reeves.

The week’s offerings were built from a survey that potential participants took earlier this summer to determine which topics and activities would resonate most. The responses led to options that included workshops on subjects like human-centered design thinking, and discussions on cultural and faith practices and race and privilege.

Seeds had their choice of eight optional workshops and social activities, and the most well attended were those that focused on skill-building and academic and career-oriented subjects. One such course was Conversations on Global Issues and Public Policy, which began with presentation by a Seed who is currently studying public policy in graduate school, and gave Seeds the opportunity to hear directly from graduate students working in the fields of Gender and Public Policy; Energy and Environment; Economic and Political Development; and Human Rights and Humanitarian Policy.

At the heart of virtual camp was the four-day Multinational, Cross-Camp Dialogue, which was themed “Building Leadership Through Solidarity” and included discussions on personal identity, gender, class, and race and ethnicity. They were, of course, abbreviated versions of what Seeds would have experienced at Camp, but for Seeds like Omar, a 2019 Egyptian Seed, they were still able to have a surprisingly significant impact.

“I didn’t think virtual camp would take all my time and energy and that it actually could be useful and educating,” said Omar. “But it improved my self confidence and my ability to communicate and speak in discussions and dialogue, which was most important for me because these skills are really needed in these times—especially if you’re leading change. Every time Seeds of Peace does something like this I always have that feeling that there is always good to do in this world and change to make and work for.”

There were challenges, of course: spotty internet connection, vastly different time zones, competing obligations at home, Zoom fatigue, and trying to replicate the chemistry of a Dialogue Hut—or even the magic of Camp’s Cafe Night or a dance party—is a lot more difficult to pull off online that one might expect. Actually, it’s probably exactly as difficult as one might expect.

But if there’s one thing that virtual camp proved, it’s the importance of finding ways to continue to connect, inspire, and develop young changemakers, especially when it’s difficult to do so.

“During isolation, a global pandemic feels big, scary, and everlasting,” said Elie, a 2018 American Seed. “Virtual camp has reminded me that I am never alone in the world. There are always incredible people out there waiting to unleash their powers and stand together in solidarity.”

Read more reflections from Seeds about the camp ››

Amid uncertainties, Seeds of Peace Educators rise to the challenges of the moment

Sep 30, 2020 / No Comments

For most of the 20 years that I’ve worked in conflict regions, the United States, alongside terrible disparities, has felt comparatively safe and predictable in ways that the fortunate usually take for granted.

But when I moved to Philadelphia in 2017, after 11 years in Jerusalem, I noticed disturbing dynamics in American society and politics that reminded me of the dynamics “over there.”

In response to this, my colleagues and I, who had been putting the bulk of attention into the Middle East, South Asia, and Cyprus, expanded our work in the U.S., and in the summer of 2017, we started offering Educating in a Diverse Democracy, a course for American educators at the Seeds of Peace Camp in Maine.

We planned to again hold the course in Maine for the summer of 2020, but when Camp was canceled because of the Coronavirus, we, like so many others, turned to the remote option. With Educating in a Diverse Democracy: Challenges and Possibilities, we offered a series of mini-courses and webinars for American educators engaged with the challenges of the moment: Coronavirus and the fallout from it; systemic racial injustice; environmental catastrophe, a divided society; a dysfunctional media landscape, a broken political system, turbulence and uncertainty like few Americans alive today have experienced before.

The overarching theme that integrated each part of this online effort was the critical role of the educator in supporting young people and cultivating educational ecosystems where seeds (in the broadest sense) flourish. As Meenakshi Chhabra, a member of the team and long-time Seeds of Peace Educator, puts it, “If the teachers don’t change then nothing changes.”

We divided the four weeks into four thematic mini-courses that together composed an arc of learning. Each week started with a Monday forum presenting the theme and ended with a Thursday evening salon. Forums and salons were open to the larger community. On Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, we offered workshops to take a deeper dive.

The first week of the initiative, “Practicing Dialogue: Starting with Self and ‘Other’,” we set the framework for the dialogue-based experiential education at the heart of this work. We explored the interplay between the mind and body, while practicing the self-knowledge that makes conditions for dialogue possible, the skills for active listening, for perspective taking and enlarging the scope of empathy—along with the awareness of when it’s just not the time to talk.

The second week, “Inviting Imagination: Art and Education” was funneled through the idea that spoken dialogue is not enough; through the arts, people deepen their capacities for self-reflection, expression, communication, and community. This week started with the chance to play and exercise the imagination, led by the artists and GATHER Fellows Hanoch and Mira. (View the resource booklet Hanoch created as part of his Fellowship; or Mira’s music video Think of Others, produced with support from Seeds of Peace). The week continued with a series of workshops led by Micah (2004 American Seed and 2015 GATHER Fellow) and the musician Austin Willacy, who have recently started a new initiative, Raise Your Voice.

The third week, “Engaging and Embodying the Moral Imagination,” grew from the idea that, crucial as it is to integrate the arts and education—the arts by themselves lack a moral component while the education that we are practicing is deeply concerned with moral questions of how to live.

Featured guests included the historian Michael Hines, and Sulaiman, a 2015 GATHER Fellow, co-founder of Combatants for Peace, and co-author of the coming book “The Same Water, The Same Stones: A Palestinian Journey to Collective Liberation.” Through talking about what he has learned in life, Sulaiman helped us to distill “the moral imagination”—that bundle of values, skills, and capacities at the heart of a Seeds of Peace education.

The fourth and final week, “Action Planning for Educators,” launched with a forum in which Seeds of Peace elders Tim Wilson and Bobbie Gottschalk explored what to do on the ground, how to work in systems, how to turn ideas and hopes into tangible realities. We spent the week focused on how people want to engage and what they want to do now.

Throughout the four weeks, educators from across the Seeds of Peace community shared wisdom and best practices that led to countless moments of connection and insight. Weekly forums included up to 60 people; a core group of educators, high school and university students, stayed together throughout the month, making it possible to have the kind of intergenerational dialogue that we strive for. Those new to Seeds of Peace benefitted, as did those already part of this work. One educator said: “We don’t have many spaces like that in our lives.” A second said: “We don’t have these spaces to authentically, freely converse, especially with a group of people who know what’s up.” A third reported that the time together “was therapeutic and gave me some tools for self-help going back to school.”

We are left inspired. We are left with questions. We are left whelmed but not overwhelmed. We are left determined. Through this online effort, Seeds of Peace has a larger stronger group of American educators committed to cultivating an ecosystem where Seeds, and the values of the organization, flourish.

At the time of publication of this article, many educators in the U.S. have returned to settings unlike any they have previously known, and in too many cases, they’re going forward without the necessary guidance, resources, or support. Thanks to contributions from participants in this summer’s online initiative, we are currently preparing a resource packet for educators that will be available later this year. In the meantime, we invite you to visit our website resources, sign up for notifications, or learn how you can get involved. Together, we might be able to figure out how to meet the challenges and possibilities around the next bend.

What We’re Reading: 11 stories of women changing the narrative

Mar 27, 2019 / No Comments

On a typically quiet Friday in Seeds of Peace’s New York office, Chief Financial Officer Alina Yavorovskaya ebulliently visited each of her female colleagues, offering them first dibs on a bouquet of chocolate-dipped fruit sent from her family.

For most women living in the United States, March 8 comes and goes without much ado, but in many other parts of the world, including in the Ukraine, where Alina grew up, International Women’s Day carries a little more clout.

“Nobody works, it’s a real holiday. You get flowers, you get cards, it’s not like here. It was very nice,” she explained to a half-dozen colleagues, mostly females younger than herself, who paused to enjoy the sweetness of the moment, then got back to work.

March is also Women’s History Month, so we’re bringing you stories from, by, and about women that are inspiring, frustrating, moving, and thought provoking. The voices come from Nigeria, Kansas, Jordan, India, Seattle, New Zealand, and Nepal. They are complex and as layered as the women who wrote them (there’s four takes on feminism here alone!) but they all have a few common threads: Change is possible, change is happening, and while we have much to celebrate, there are still miles to go. In other words, take a moment to appreciate the sweet fruits of progress won by the women before us, then let’s get back to work.

Here’s what we’re reading, and watching, this month:

Jewish Radical Feminism, by Joyce Antler
Social movements are so fascinating and mysterious to me—I am always wondering: How do individuals come together in a way that actually affects change? Through extensive personal interviews, Antler examines the lives and recognizes the accomplishments of Jewish women who contributed to feminist movements during the second half of the 20th century. She describes how many of these women started their feminist work by simply by meeting and talking to one another: Conversations led to theory, which led to writing, which led to publications, and eventually gathering momentum into a widespread feminist movement. We are so indebted to the women of this generation who spoke up for change and equality when it wasn’t inevitable—and of course, we still have a long way to go. As the women’s movement continues to grow and change today, I am grateful that I can look to role models who struggled with the same questions of identity and liberation as I do now. Their experiences inform my own; as a woman, as a Jew, and as a human trying to seek out justice in this world. — Emily Umansky, Development Associate

Solar Mamas, by Mona Eldaief and Jehane Noujaim
This documentary follows Rafea, an illiterate Bedouin mother of four from a poverty-stricken community in the Jordanian desert chosen to spend six months at India’s Barefoot University learning to become a solar-energy engineer. Along with 27 other women from developing countries, they are taught concrete skills that they can bring home to electricity and change their communities, even if their communities— or in Rafea’s case, her husband—aren’t quite ready to embrace their newfound empowerment. Solar Mamas resonated with me as Jordanian, and I feel proud when I see women who continue to build a sound base of inner strength. They are presenting an admirable model of integrating traditional male roles of achievement and provision, with traditional female roles of nurturing and caring. — Farah Bdour, Coordinator, Middle East Programs

Why I Am Not a Feminist: A Feminist Manifesto, by Jessa Crispin
As a parent, I think a lot about (and talk actively with my daughter about) a feminism that offers a world built anew, rather than just arguing for inclusion into the broken systems we have today. In this work, Jessa Crispin warns that efforts to make feminism more palatable and universal, even fashionable, have diluted its core messages and philosophy—and as a result, rendered it ineffective and useless. She argues that feminism isn’t meant to be comfortable or acceptable to everyone, that there needs to be a “mental and emotional cataclysm” that creates the urge and urgency for real change: “[R]adical change is scary. It’s terrifying actually. And the feminism I support is a full-on revolution. Where women are not simply allowed to participate in the world as it already exists … but are actively able to reshape it.” This book was a good gut check on the ways feminism has become trendy or seemingly performative at times, and a reminder to demand more, to stay true to and push for the ways that feminism can free us all. — Eva Amour, Director of Impact

Shrill: Notes From a Loud Woman, by Lindy West
West’s memoir oscillates seamlessly between the profane and vulgar to the poignant and sweet, making it a true joy to read, and so captivating that you’ll finish in one sitting. Every vignette is chock full of bold vulnerability, realness, and the relatability of being a woman navigating a world (both on- and off-line) that often doesn’t want to hear the full range of her experiences and views. She addresses issues around body image and self esteem, women’s reproductive rights and feminism, and manages to find humor in the minefield of online trolls. Her piercing honesty is almost disarming – a crusader for lifting the voices of women, unapologetically, despite it all. — Eliza O’Neil, Manager of U.S./U.K. Programs

Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
I was only about 20 pages in when I went back to Amazon and purchased five more copies of this small book to give to friends with very young daughters. Drawn from a letter Adichie wrote in response to a friend’s request for advice on how to raise her newborn daughter as a feminist, the book lays out 15 suggestions that read like a best-hits collection of advice from every wise, compassionate, and empowered woman you’ve ever met. It’s page after page of truths that I’ve always known in my heart but couldn’t quite put my finger on, wisdom I wish I’d heard at an earlier age, wisdom I needed to hear now, and things I want to make sure I say to my nieces—and nephews!—over and over again. While it hits at the heart of today’s sexual politics and what it means to be a woman, many of the messages also align with the work of Seeds of Peace, with advice like: “Teach her to question language.” “Change comes from one person.” “Teach her about difference. Make difference ordinary.” “Teach her to reject likeability. Her job is not to make herself likeable, her job is to be her full self, a self that is honest and aware of the equal humanity of other people.” — Lori Holcomb-Holland, Development and Communications Manager

Also don’t miss

I Am Not Untouchable. I Just Have My Period. This brief documentary is one of several currently available that shows how something as natural as a period, and lack of education and access to affordable sanitary products, can have a debilitating effect on women. I Am Not Untouchable, from The New York Times, takes viewers to a rural village in Nepal, where superstitions and cultural beliefs surrounding menstruation greatly limit many girls’ lives, including in some cases, not being allowed to stay indoors, go to school, or even look their male siblings in the face for fear it will shorten the boys’ lives. In the Oscar-Award winning short documentary Period. End of Sentence (now streaming on Netflix), the director Rayka Zehtabchi follows a group of local women in a rural Indian village as they learn to operate a machine that can make low-cost, biodegradable sanitary napkins. They they then sell the products to other women, bringing a source of income—and empowerment—to women who had for so long been held back by shame and poverty.

31 Historical Moments Influenced by Women, The Lily (Washington Post): Regina Jonas. Mary E. Walker. Miriam Menkin. Bhairavi Desai. You might not know all their names, but you surely are familiar with their accomplishments in some form: First woman ordained as a rabbi; the first and only woman to receive the Medal of Honor; first in vitro fertilization of a human egg; creation of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, respectively. This article shows us the courageous women behind moments that changed their lives, and the lives of untold numbers of others.

The Roots of Jacinda Ardern’s Extraordinary Leadership After Christchurch, The New Yorker: With a thoughtful, nuanced response to the horrific terrorist attack earlier this month in New Zealand, the prime minister of this small island nation taught the world something about leadership, empathy, and strength in a time of crisis.

Israeli women who have stood up to the occupation for 26 years, +972 Magazine: A model of persistence and dedication, this group of women has endured being harrassed, spat upon, and cursed at to every Friday since 1988, to show their support for Palestinians’ struggles.

How Arab Women Are Using Slam Poetry to Fight Racism and the Patriarchy, Scene Arabia: Through the lens of two Arab female artists, this article explores how spoken word is being used to connect seemingly disparate minority communities, and use those commonalities to push back against oppressive systems.

What would you add to this list? Have any recommendations for future editions of What We’re Reading? Let us know in the comments below, or send your picks to lori@seedsofpeace.org.

Alumni Profile: Lilly
Building empathy for refugees through Minecraft

Apr 25, 2018 / No Comments

Our alumni are working in ways small and large to make an impact in their communities. This “Alumni Profiles” blog series will feature some of our over 7,000 changemakers in 27 countries around the world who are working to transform conflict.

For Lilly, finding harmony across identities and cultures isn’t just her calling—it’s a fundamental part of who she is.

After all, the 2018 Seeds of Peace GATHER Fellow is an American of Iranian descent currently living in London, and her work deepens our understanding of how we use technology to connect with others.

In that same spirit, we had the opportunity to speak with Lilly over Skype as she weathered a particularly dreary rainstorm, nonchalantly sipping tea in her cozy apartment. Suffice to say, she has made the transition to life in the UK very well.

Seeds of Peace: To start things off, what Hogwarts house would the Sorting Hat put you in?

Lilly: You know, I never actually got around to reading the Harry Potter books.

Seeds of Peace: Don’t you live in London?!

Lilly: [Laughs] Don’t tell anyone. I think it’s a punishable offense here.

(Sorry, Lilly…)

Seeds of Peace: What did you read as a kid, then?

Lilly: I read a lot of Herman Hesse and DH Lawrence growing up—stories that have a spiritual aspect and have a deep understanding of human psychology, and that search for meaning and beauty. I also read a lot of Joseph Campbell. His approach to life really inspires me, the way he searched for universal truths across cultures. I always thought my own identity was very rooted in that.

My parents were from Iran, but I grew up in America. So I sometimes felt like I was both a part of and apart from two different worlds. The idea of what unites humanity and what makes us different appeals to me. I think I’m drawn to working with refugees because of that, because of my family history.

Seeds of Peace: Can you talk about what you are working on as a GATHER Fellow?

Lilly: It actually started out back in 2015, when the refugee crisis was reaching its peak. I was thinking about ways to work with young influencers, storytellers, and creators to educate society on the experience of refugees and redefine how we think of refugees, instead of just looking at them as victims. Part of that is also teaching how to successfully integrate migrants into their communities, which means understanding the needs of host societies.

We decided to do so through Minecraft. It’s the most popular game in the world with almost 75 million players. So there’s this huge audience, and because it’s open world, there’s also enormous untapped storytelling potential. I’m working with Syrian-American writer Alia Malek to develop a 45-minute interactive story in Minecraft that follows the journey of a girl who has to flee her hometown in Syria and make her way to safety.

Seeds of Peace: How are you going about developing this story?

Lilly: I travelled to Lebanon, met with Syrian refugees in the UK and France, and spoke to NGOs to craft a story representative of what young refugees are exposed to, while also being relatable to kids.

And this is how I learned about Seeds of Peace’s model of dialogue and identity. The approach really appealed to me: leading by a search for commonality, while also exposing the tragic, individual realities of what young people are forced to deal with in these situations. It’s important to show these hard conditions to a young audience—when I visit schools here in the UK, most children have no idea that classrooms get bombed in Syria regularly.

What really excites me about this project is looking at best ways in which we learn. Because the standardized education model is so archaic and out of touch with our societies and the future we need to build. I’m excited to shape this thing I’m passionate about in a way young people can engage with.

Seeds of Peace: You recently participated in our GATHER incubator program in Sweden. What about the Fellowship so far have you felt has been most helpful? And has anything been especially challenging?

Lilly: I’ve been most excited about having dialogue with people who have similar values but different experiences and initiatives. Also, being part of a network that can offer help. Working with mentors who have a lot of experience with budding projects, getting their input and guidance on turning mine into a sustainable business model, has been invaluable.

I don’t like public speaking, so I’ve definitely been worried about that aspect of things. Seeds of Peace has offered a lot of support with it, though. “Support” keeps coming up in my conversations with people; it’s been a really significant word for me recently. The power to rely on others to uplift you—it’s something for which I’m grateful to Seeds of Peace.

Photos by Stina Svanberg.

March 4, 2014 | Five for Good (New York)

Mar 4, 2014 / No Comments

Five for Good is an event bringing together startups that advance social good to share their work before a panel of experts and venture capitalists. Five startups will get live feedback from both the panel and attendees.

Hosted by the Young Leadership Committee. This event is free and open to the public via RSVP.

ADDRESS: 175 Varick St., 7th Floor Lounge, New York, NY 10014
DATE: March 4, 2014
TIME: 7 p.m.
LOCATION: WeWork Labs
WEBSITE: www.fiveforgood.splashthat.com
CONTACT: Jenn Lishansky | events@seedsofpeace.org

100 Toll Brothers volunteers to prepare Seeds of Peace Camp for its 19th season

May 26, 2011 / No Comments

OTISFIELD, MAINE | The Seeds of Peace Camp, which focuses on conflict resolution and leadership development, announced today that clean-up activities to prepare the Camp for its 19th season will take place on Saturday, June 4.

About 100 volunteers from the New England Division of Toll Brothers Inc. will spend the day at the camp. Toll Brothers Inc. is one of America’s leading luxury home builders and Bob Toll, Chairman & CEO, is a member of the Board of Directors of Seeds of Peace.

The camp will be filled to capacity this summer, and one of the key projects will be readying bunks that have not been used for several seasons. Other work will include repairing and renovating buildings and fixing winter damage, as well as painting and landscaping.

“It’s not drudgery, it’s a delight—it’s one of the highlights of the year,” said Chairman & CEO Bob Toll. “We have a great time pitching in, making things better than the year before, each and every year. Everyone loves it.”

“In these fascinating political times, with the power of youth to create historic change on full display in the Middle East, the work of Seeds of Peace could not be more important,” said Seeds of Peace Executive Director Leslie Lewin. “We’re so grateful to the Toll Brothers team for helping us get ready for what will likely be our most important and most challenging summer to date.”

Seeds of Peace is a non-profit organization dedicated to the pursuit of lasting peace in regions of conflict. Our mission is to empower young people with the relationships and skills needed to lead the way towards a better and more peaceful future, free from violence, hatred and fear.

Toll Brothers is the nation’s premier builder of luxury homes. Toll Brothers, Inc., is the successor to three generations of home builders and is a publicly owned company whose stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE:TOL, www.tollbrothers.com).

Seeds of Peace Director Leslie Lewin profiled in “How Great Women Lead”

Apr 13, 2012 / 3 Comments

NEW YORK | Seeds of Peace Executive Director Leslie Lewin joins US diplomats Hillary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice and Susan Rice and 17 other leaders profiled in “How Great Women Lead,” a new book by Olympic medalist and Rhodes Scholar Bonnie St. John and her daughter, Darcy Deane.

Published this month by Center Street, the book examines the qualities that motivate these women. Leslie is one of the youngest leaders profiled in the book, which features women from various professional backgrounds, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Academy Award winning actress Geena Davis, Teach for America founder Wendy Kopp, and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg.

Bonnie and Darcy traveled to the Seeds of Peace Camp in Maine to interview Leslie about her leadership style and watch her navigate the challenges of bringing together 170 teenagers from conflict regions while supervising dozens of staff and volunteers.

“With her dark brown hair pulled back into a bouncy ponytail, the ever present Dunkin Donuts coffee cup, baggy sweat pants, and freckles dancing across a make-up-free face, she looks almost as young and optimistic as the counselors and campers she leads. Part camp director, part mother hen, part world-class diplomat, Leslie’s dynamic spirit is the spark that keeps this amazing place going year after year.”

The authors spent four days at Camp, writing that it was “absolutely extraordinary to witness.”

“We didn’t just ask her questions about her leadership style,” says Darcy.” We lived it with her.”

“Leslie is such an effective leader because she teaches with her actions … she exudes the attitude that she wants the other staffers and campers to share.”

Bonnie St. John is the author of “Live Your Joy” and is the first African-American to win Olympic ski medals. She attended Harvard and Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar and worked in the Clinton White House. NBC News calls her one of the “most inspiring women in America.”

Bonnie’s 17-year-old daughter, Darcy, co-authored “How Great Women Lead.” Darcy is a junior in high school and plans to pursue a career in linguistic anthropology.

Learn more at www.howgreatwomenlead.com »

Seeds of Peace
Hadassah Magazine

Mar 1, 2000 / No Comments

BY LESLIE CHESS FELLER | There are laughter and tears, playful roughhousing and intense debate-just as you would find in any group of teens enjoying summer sports and heart-to-heart camaraderie—only these kids are the sons and daughters of enemies—and the future may lie in their hands.

“My daughter attended an Israeli-Palestinian peace camp last year in Maine,” Saeb Erekat, senior Palestinian negotiator, told the Wall Street Journal in January 1998. Erekat added that when floods hit his home town of Jericho, none of his Israeli counterparts called to ask how his family was doing, but 21 Israeli kids immediately contacted his daughter. “Every single one of the kids from that camp called Dalal to see if she was O.K. This is the future.”

For the past seven summers Israelis and Arabs, ages 13 to 17, have come to the Maine woods “to make peace with the enemy” at the Seeds of Peace International Camp in Otisfield. After a three-week period, the young people and their delegation leaders emerge uplifted from the often difficult process. They arrived separated by allegiance and religion, but sharing the bond of growing up shadowed by war. They leave united in their determination to build a better future.

At first glance, it looks like any other summer camp. Under towering pines, shrieks of laughter mix with birdsong and a bugle announces lunch. The dining hall resounds with syncopated table-thumping as green-shirted campers express their disdain for the blue “bug juice” and mystery meat du jour. The uproar ceases briefly while grace is said: “For friendship, health, love and opportunity, we are thankful.” The carefully worded prayer sets the stage for the difficult work ahead.

Later that afternoon, Anna Tunkel, an Israeli Jew from Ashdod, listens while Nizar Al-Wasir, a Palestinian from Gaza, describes the death of his uncle, Khalil, a leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization, killed by Israeli commandos in 1988. “I was six and I woke up and heard my mother screaming,” he says, pain in his voice. “My mother’s never talked to an Israeli … but she wants me to.”

“We’re friends even though we see certain things differently,” Tunkel says. She pointed out that Al-Wasir’s mother, who works for the ministry of education in Gaza as director general of students, made sure he was selected to come to Seeds of Peace. “She put her feelings aside because she wants her son to have a different life.” “We must stop the killing,” Al-Wasir says. “Now I think, ‘it could be my friend Anna on that bus.'”

After the World Trade Center bombing in 1993, John Wallach, former foreign editor for Hearst Newspapers and son of Holocaust survivors, felt compelled to wage peace. “I went to leaders I’d come to know while covering the Middle East,” Wallach explains. “I asked them to trust me with their children, to help me give the next generation a chance to escape the poison.” The late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, PLO chairman Yasser Arafat and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak all responded. Forty-five English-speaking Arab and Israeli teenagers attended Seeds of Peace that year.

In 1999, the program welcomed 435 campers for three sessions. The third, sponsored by a chapter of the Jewish federation and held in Kent, Connecticut, was an experiment to see if the program could be run in a different location. In an environment that lets them see the enemy has a face, campers learn to listen even if they don’t like what’s being said. “Our idea of winning is to see them able to take the other side’s point of view and argue it effectively,” says facilitator Linda Carole Pierce, one of a hand-picked and ethnically diverse team of conflict-resolution experts. In daily and often tumultuous “coexistence” sessions, confrontation and the sharing of pain soon lead to empathy and friendships with the potential to affect the course of history. Delegations come from Israel, the Palestine National Authority, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Qatar, Tunisia, Cyprus, Greece and the United States. Each formally represents its government. The program, which received a UNESCO Peace Prize in 1996 and was the subject of a CBS 60 Minutes segment, has graduated nearly 1,500 “seeds” and more than 70 delegation leaders.

The latter, whose program parallels that of the campers, are already in positions of leadership, usually in ministries of education. “I arrived not knowing what to expect,” says Ron Zohar, an Israeli who is head of Scouts in Afula. “I am now feeling very hopeful.” Zohar and Hanaa Herzalla, a Palestinian delegation leader who is principal of a girls’ elementary school near Jenin, left camp planning on working together to spread the message. “Afula and Jenin are only 20 miles apart,” says Zohar. “We’re arranging meetings between the kids and their families.” “They will come to us and we will welcome them,” says Herzalla, adding that this was the first time she had ever met Israelis face to face.

“My name is Ibrahim and I am ice,” says a 15-year-old Palestinian at his first coexistence session. It didn’t take long for the ice to melt. “I thought Israelis are enemies of Palestinians so I had to be ice and not get upset,” he explains a week later, flashing the easy smile that made him a leader of the Kent session. Arm in arm with Israeli Eitan Moss, one of his closest friends, Ibrahim’s smile vanishes as he describes his anger three years ago when a relative was shot by Israeli soldiers. “At first, I just wanted to kill the guy who did that; then I thought, we will all go on murdering each other and what good will that do?” (Ibrahim’s family name is being withheld for security reasons.) “I have three older brothers,” says 15-year-old Moss, whose parents settled in Sinai and then were forced to leave. “My family is very right wing, but not because of religion. It’s about defense. My father fought in two wars. There are things he cannot forget. I always had a brother in the army. We worried all the time and my mother would cry when anyone got killed.” In the last election, though, his father voted for Ehud Barak. “Before I come to camp,” Moss says, “even my father tells me to go make peace.”

The two hadn’t spoken to each other on the plane, nor on the bus coming to camp-even though they had to sit next to each other. Then they found themselves at the same table in the dining hall, in the same coexistence group and bunk. “We stayed up late at night talking,” Ibrahim recalls, “emotional, personal stuff…you just go deep and you feel so close.” The two agreed they have to face the facts and find a compromise.

“These are extraordinary young people, tomorrow’s presidents and prime ministers,” asserts Wallach, an inspirational presence whether shouting “Good morning, Seeds!” at the 7:30 prebreakfast lineup or singing 60’s peace songs at evening campfire. “Every morning I say, ‘Go out and make just one friend from the other side.’ I have faith in these kids. They have the power to wake up the world.”

Arabs and Israelis, some initially terrified to sleep in the same room, soon share everything from toothpaste to bunk chores. “We don’t serve pork,” explains camp director Tim Wilson, “because both Jews and Muslims don’t eat it.” Meals can be kosher if required. Although everyone wears the Seeds of Peace green T-shirt with its olive-branch logo, the religious might choose a long-sleeved shirt and jeans instead of shorts. Some Muslim girls wear a head covering called a hejab, some Jewish boys the traditional skullcap.

Romance is forbidden, but hugs are encouraged. Historic enemies attend each other’s religious services, compose camp songs and whisper to each other after lights-out. On a steep climbing wall, a Palestinian holds the rope for an Israeli and vice versa. They play tennis, baseball and soccer as teammates. Competition reaches fever pitch during color games, instead of the usual color “war.” The winning team gets to jump in the lake first, their victory even sweeter for being immediately shared by the other side.

When violence erupts in the Middle East, campers and staff struggle through the aftermath. With the guidance of skilled facilitators, painful incidents can trigger the sort of catharsis that heals. In July 1997, a Hamas bomb attack on a Jerusalem market killed 15 Israelis and threw camp into turmoil. “It was terrible,” says Reem Kaldowy, a Palestinian who lives in Israel, “but in a strange way that bomb united us.” As Israelis cried and raced for the phones to make sure their families were okay, Arab friends stood behind them, equally shaken, trying to offer reassurance. Recalling how she ran to find her best friend, Mira Knyazhitsky, Kaldowy says, “We cried together.”

When two Jewish students were murdered in Megiddo last summer, an Israeli girl left her coexistence group distraught. “It breaks my heart,” says Tamar Bukaya, “so I go to cry by myself and then Rima from Jordan came to find me. She say everyone feels bad like I do.”

“There are tears,” Wallach says, “but they are perhaps the most hopeful sign of all. To be unafraid to cry in front of each other, to be so vulnerable and so human, that’s what draws them together.”

At one session, a coexistence group exploded in reaction to plastic world globes used unwittingly as table centerpieces at a dinner following former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger’s visit to the camp. The globes showed Palestine as a nation bordering Israel. “It is not a state yet,” says Mor Lankry, an Israeli from Moshav Devora, trying to explain her delegation’s anger. “It will be when peace is negotiated. But for now the world does not recognize a country called Palestine-which makes the globes wrong.” Her best friend Asmaa Maloul, a Palestinian from Jenin, led the chorus of furious replies. “Palestine was existing for hundreds of years before the Israelis came! It was our homeland always!” The verbal battle raged for an hour until interrupted by the facilitator who initiated an exercise to show how to argue successfully. As in all activities, Israeli is partnered with Arab. Lankry and Maloul sit side by side, engaged in intense but no longer hostile discussion. They leave the session together, still talking.

After the governments negotiate a treaty, the two girls agreed, real peace will depend on people from both sides realizing they are all human beings. “At camp, I met the enemy,” Lankry says. “Her name is Asmaa and now she is my friend. She is just like me. We’re teenagers. We like the same music and sports. We love our families. We all want peace.”

The girls intend to continue their friendship back home. “What happens after camp is so important,” says Sami Al-Jundi, an Israeli Arab from East Jerusalem who is a Seeds of Peace regional coordinator. “We are very careful, but it’s worth it when you see Israeli and Palestinian families welcome each other to their homes.” This past October more than 500 graduates joined diplomats from around the world to celebrate the opening of a year-round Seeds of Peace Center in East Jerusalem. The building was chosen because it straddles the old border between Arab and Jewish sectors. Israeli and Palestinian teenagers can now meet on home turf to publish The Olive Branch, a quarterly newspaper; participate in coexistence sessions; and take classes in subjects ranging from culture to computers. “What we did at camp, it changes you so deep,” says Asel Asleh, an Israeli Arab from the Galilee, “to believe maybe we can make a difference. It’s like music to my spirit and food to my mind.”

In May 1998, Dalal Erekat was one of 75 16-year-old Seeds who participated in the world’s first Middle East Youth Summit held in Villars, Switzerland. At the end of an intense week, the teenagers produced and endorsed a peace accord that addressed all the major issues. The Charter of Villars was formally presented to each of the leaders in the region by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan.

When Saeb Erekat was his daughter’s age, he says, he was “throwing stones at Israeli vehicles, demonstrating and fighting.” With her friends from Seeds of Peace, Dalal Erekat is working to create a different future.

Leslie Chess Feller, a freelance writer living in Weston, Connecticut, is a recent National Federation of Press Women award winner.

Seeds explore the role of media:
3 key takeaways

Feb 21, 2019 / No Comments

In a hotel conference room in Nazareth, groups of Seeds sat in circles, heads down, eyes glued to their phones, silently carrying out a dialogue session using only the mobile messaging service WhatsApp.

After 20 minutes of talking only online, they put down their devices and had the same dialogue face-to-face, where they could read one another’s body language, hear the tones in others’ voices, slow down and listen to one another, just as they had learned to do during dialogue sessions last summer at Camp.

The exercise, part of a November 2018 “Role of Media” seminar, was designed to give Seeds “a tangible experience of the digital world versus face to face,” said Orlando Arellano, who was part of the Seeds of Peace staff organizing the event.

While social media, the Internet, and even 24-hour cable news has given us more ways than ever to connect, speak out, and receive information, studies have shown that it’s also leaving us increasingly isolated, anxious, and divided. Over the course of a weekend, 52 Israeli and Palestinian Seeds examined the cognitive, cultural, and personal effects of social media and mass-media messaging.

Through workshops, discussions, and real-time experiments, Seeds came to better understand how the media influences their daily life, some of the pitfalls of social media, and how it can be used in more productive and positive ways.

Here are a few key takeaways from the seminar:

1. Social media may be reshaping our brains.

While social media, texting, and email have given us more ways than ever to connect, studies have shown that these forms of communication are actually rewiring our brains in ways that could have deeply concerning effects for the way we view and interact with the world.

In a video shown to Seeds at the seminar, Dr. Dan Siegel, clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine, explained that studies comparing written communication (text, email, social media) versus face-to-face found that the written communication is lacking seven essential non-verbal signals—posture, gestures, timing, intensity, eye contact, facial expression, and tone of voice—all of which Seeds are taught to recognize to make them better communicators in dialogue sessions.

But it’s not just dialogue that looks different when these cues are or aren’t used- there’s actually a difference in our brains. Non-verbal cues are sent out by the brain’s right hemisphere, which works with our bodies to give us emotions, a vital element in connecting with another person. Written communications, however, and even thinking about how many “likes” a post on social media is going to get, activates the brain’s left hemisphere, which has to do with logistics and analytical functions.

This shift is a notable one for researchers, Dr. Siegel said: “What I’m deeply concerned about is if social media, email, texting are not actually getting people more face-to-face time with each other, or getting even getting them in touch with what’s going on inside of them, then the new generation will be much more use to a very surface level of experiencing the world.”

2. The medium matters.

Communication isn’t one size fits all, and if you’re going to use social media—which most of us do—it’s important to examine whether the platform you are using is the most appropriate for what you hope to communicate or to accomplish.

In one experiment at the seminar, program managers posted images and stories on Facebook to demonstrate how easily a conversation could go off the rails, or how an idea, no matter how carefully written, could be misinterpreted. One Seed said of Facebook that she realized “she was spending too much time trying to prove a point where I’m not being heard.”

So before crafting a post, it’s important to think about your intention and the possible effects. Do you want to educate, entertain, provoke, persuade, engage, or something else? Are you ready for responses from people who feel differently from you, and will you be able to continue the conversation in a healthy way in public? What will it mean when you narrow an idea down to just 180 characters, or only a photograph? Is this something you want following you forever?

If you’re thinking of posting a message that you wouldn’t shout in the middle of the town square, or an image that you wouldn’t want on a billboard above your house, you probably shouldn’t post it on Facebook or Instagram.

“WhatsApp is great for something by voice, but when someone is writing, maybe they’re not conveying an entire idea or emotion, so it’s probably not good for dialogue,” Orlando said. Even emojis can’t substitute the nuance and emotional depth of a face-to-face conversation (or phone call), when complex or emotional subjects are up for discussion.

3. Social media can be a tool for change.

It’s easy to focus on the negative aspects of social media, but the positives are undeniable: these free platforms spread power from the few to anyone with an Internet connection.

Another video shown during the seminar gave powerful examples of ways social media has been used as a positive tool: In Mexico, citizens use it as a way to safely report information on drug wars and cartels. In Jamaica, health officials are supplying information to the masses about HIV. Anyone with a phone can now be a citizen journalist, and revolutions have literally begun on Twitter.

The possibilities for social media are endless, but, of course, the efficacy of any tool lies largely in the hands of the person using it. And understanding the ways that social media can be used for good, Orlando said, is critical to having more positive interactions online.

“We are living in a different time, and using media in a productive way can have a positive impact if we know how to use the tools around us,” he said. “Generationally, it’s an opportunity.”