It makes sense that the unthinkable brutality this week at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL would be a crystalizing moment, no? But the heart-wrenching truth is that since the massacre at Sandy Hook in 2012 there have been at least 138 people murdered in over 200 shootings in schools. Read that again and let it sink in… I’ll give you a moment… Like so many others, I am heartbroken, angry, disgusted, and bewildered. Even with an unimaginable number of mass shootings and deaths (my research to give you actual statistics led me down a rabbit hole of wretched oblivion), we continue to argue hatefully rather that to reasonably address the horrific realities that allow this to be happening. The fact that so much death is taking place in the place we freely send our children to learn, socialize, interact, express themselves, and discover the world and each other is utterly and deeply disorienting to my mind and heart. Are you afraid? You probably are and justifiably so. But, do we realize that for many of us, our very existence has come to be based in fear? Probably not. Our fears can overcome us to the point that we think they are the only truth. This leaves us only to argue, defend, react, and live from the pervading and all-consuming belief that we are all out to get one another. Self-preservation at all cost is crippling and, literally, killing us. So we pray and hope. Whatever you believe about life or God or the universe… there is no denying that we have free will. While we may pray or hope or wish for change for a better world for ourselves and our children and grandchildren, we must also realize that there is something else for us to do. And, whatever you believe about our right to bear arms, there is no denying that it is our responsibility to treat weapons with the same common sense caution as we do so many other (including far less lethal) of man’s astounding inventions. Lawn darts are outlawed but automatic rifles are not. We need training and a license to operate a car, but not to purchase an instrument of war. One man carried a bomb in his underwear and we have airport body scans. Not to mention fireworks and guard rails and glass containers and sealed packaging and having more that 5 cats… And there is this… After 58 people were murdered and 850 more wounded by a man at a concert in Las Vegas, House Resolution 367 – “The Hearing Protection Act” – is being proposed to make it easier to obtain the very type of “silencer” he used…. to preserve the shooters hearing. WAIT!!!! WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!!!!!!!! True. Have we lost our mind? Yes. Yes, I think collectively we have. But as I said, “there is something for us to do”. The doing, giving, saying, and acting may be different for each of us, but we must all DO SOMETHING. For me that something is Music in Common. As I hear the stories and visions and demands from the students who survived the shooting in Parkland, I think about MIC participants with whom we have worked over the past 8 years. Whether they live in the United States or the Middle East, they represent the generation that is about to inherit our rubbish. They have something to say. They have said it in over 40 songs that can been heard here. Like the teens in Parkland this week, they have questions and concerns and ideas and demands and perhaps even solutions. But do we hear them? Are we really listening and valuing and respecting their voices? They can’t vote, so do their voices matter? Let’s remember that teens sitting at lunch counters, riding buses, writing their stories, speaking out loud and marching in the streets have already altered our collective views of segregation, child labor, civil rights, and war. Do not underestimate the power of a generation whose inheritance is our collective madness. They are a generation who has more technology in the palm of their hand than the entire world had just 20 years ago. We use it to monitor them, sell to them, preach to them… let’s use it to hear them and to protect them. Music in Common gives young men and women a place to speak their minds, a place to listen to one another and to exchange ideas, empowering them with tools to collect their thoughts and put them to paper. We offer a platform to put creative energy to use, to use the power of music to express themselves and to share their values, questions, visions, hopes, dreams and yes, demands, widely. We give them a worldwide stage where they can be heard and feel valued. And, most inspiring to me is that from what I have seen, they are willing and eager to engage with open minds and they are far less divided and steadfastly opposed to one another than any government, community, culture, or religion. We can do better and be better by listening to them. Their collective mind is not lost, it is determined. This is me DOING SOMETHING. What are you DOING? In Peace ~ L Lynnette Najimy MIC Director of Outreach & Engagement
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“Peace” is a word that is frequently used but not frequently explored. When I was growing up, peace was a circular symbol I would doodle in the margins of my notebook, or a two fingered hand gesture that was nothing more than a brief salutation of goodwill. As I got older, I learned what situations gave me inner peace and which ones did not. I learned what peace wasn’t by looking at the newspaper and media coverage of world events. I also learned that peace at large was the thing to which our most noble and inspiring historical leaders dedicated their lives. Peace was never a concept that was foreign to me, but it also was not a concept I ever explored in depth. I held it high in importance yet only accepted its vague meaning. In September of 2015, I decided to attend the School for International Training (SIT) in Brattleboro, Vermont for a graduate education. I had spent time working in humanitarian aid and was eager to gain wisdom on how to be a more thoughtful and engaged citizen. I wanted to learn the theory and best practices that come with contributing to the conditions of the world. I quickly felt drawn to my peacebuilding classes and was awed by the entire academic field dedicated to peace studies and conflict transformation (the area of study used to be known as conflict resolution, but was changed due to the philosophical belief that conflicts can only be transformed, but not resolved). I became fascinated with how various people all over the world conceive of peace and deal with conflict. I appreciated that the field of study involved the intellect but also emotion. In my first day of class, my professor shared his belief that “peacebuilding involves the imagining of a social space that meets the core needs and goals of all parties.” My classes taught me that in order to effectively move through the world in a different way, I needed to engage all of myself while learning. So I began applying my interest and love for music to my studies. As a lifelong singer and lover of music, I became curious about the social space that music creates and how it might heal and positively transform relationships. For the internship portion of my degree, I had to look no further than my backyard to find Music in Common, an organization that offers collaborative musical programming for peoples of various cultures and faiths to build relationship. Music in Common has provided the space for me to put theory and practice into action. For my research and capstone project, I explored the connection between music, healing and conflict. The stories and wisdom that I gathered from my research will continue to inspire me on my lifelong exploration of peace. It is my hope that this work can offer space for those reading to pause and reflect on the concepts that exist all around us and effect us as we move through the world. The title and abstract of my paper, as well as full access to the document, can be found HERE. Abstract Music move us personally and with more meaning than any other medium in the world. In the past few decades, modern advances in neuroscience have proved via neuroimaging that musical processing involves almost every region of the brain, a task that no other stimulus can achieve. Science can show what is happening in our brain, but humans have intuitively known and utilized music for healing purposes since the beginning of humanity. This research examines the dynamics of continued scientific advancement in light of Non-Western ways of knowing. The study is an attempt to shorten the distance between music, healing and conflict. Through a qualitative research methodology, the correlation of music and healing was explored by interviewing musicians and healing practitioners in New England. Musicians and healers shared stories that help explain the role of music and healing in Western society and how they might transform conflict. This paper offers space for the peace-builder interested in music and healing to pause and consider the weight of their work. MIC Western Massachusetts Coordinator and JAMMS Facilitator Marisa was born and raised in the Berkshires in Western Massachusetts. Her most joyful passion is music and singing. Marisa recently completed her Master's degree at the School for International Training in Brattleboro Vermont. She studied conflict transformation and specifically the connection between music and peacebuilding. She is curious how the social space created by music can heal and positively transform relationships, a pursuit that aligns perfectly with the mission and vision of Music in Common |
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