Landing back in the USA

Sitting in the Unitarian Universalist Church on Pensacola Boulevard yesterday for their Sunday morning service I was struck with a moment of revelation that has happened to me several times in the past few months. The revelation is, "Hey, I'm living in the United States." I am no longer from the US, I am the US. I am the culture that pervades here. When the pastor presented a video about the sweeping of the continent by the US and the invasion of all the indigenous lands it was a video I had seen, it was a story I had heard, it was a story I had told. But, it was the first time I had seen and heard the story while sitting int he United States among the people, as one of those whose story this is. In his song "Democracy is Coming to the USA" Leonard Cohen describes America as "the home of the best and the worst." This line has been going around and around in my head as I have tried to resume my life here. There is so much that is advanced and good about this place and at the same time so much that is tragic and wrong. I have been looking around trying to find my place, my calling, and the work that I will do.

Community is diverse and dispersed here. Finding one's way as a newcomer takes time. But DPS is ready to launch in the USA. The first DPS workshop will be happening in January. I am teaching about Theatre of the Oppressed to my students at Newpoint. The path is emerging. There is now pathway to peace, peace is the way. 

I am looking forward to the challenge of using the best to make the worst visible and inching the change along. 

I am going to be using this blog to describe the process of creating a life of conflict transformation practice through art and dialogue. I hope that it will be useful.