The Growing Edge Newsletter—October, 2024

With Carrie Newcomer & Parker J. Palmer

Photo by Fineas Anton on Unsplash

In this Issue

• Notes from the Edge

• Podcast Episode 57—Unexpected Hope in Improbable Actions: Facing Down a Civil War with John Paul Lederach

• Community Question of the Month

• Parker’s Online Appearances

• Carrie’s Events & Appearances

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Notes from the Edge

A Note from Parker

I’m going to hazard a guess that a majority of Americans don’t know that the U.S. has been on an international list of backsliding democracies since 2016. Nor are they aware that since 2018, U.S. intelligence agencies have been warning us that the most serious threat to our national security comes not from abroad but from right-wing domestic terrorists driven by white supremacist and anti-government ideologies. Of course, most Americans know about the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, but many will disagree that it was an “insurrection.” They’re convinced that this violent and lethal attempt to overthrow the legitimate results of the 2020 election was nothing more than “patriots exercising their right to protest.”

The folks I’ve just described are likely to dismiss talk of a 21st Century civil war in America as the product of a fevered imagination. But for those of us who are alarmed by the ease with which violent rhetoric, racist lies, and threats of massive deportations have become the new normal in presidential politics, it’s no stretch at all to imagine some form of civil war consuming this country again, given certain election outcomes.

On this sobering topic, one could have no better conversation partner than John Paul Lederach, Professor Emeritus of International Peacebuilding at Notre Dame. John Paul has had a remarkable career of both scholarship and activism in the field of peace-building. He’s been deeply engaged with deadly social-political turmoil in countries around the world, a job that requires compassion, intelligence, patience, and courage. So when I read his recent Pocket Guide To Facing Down A Civil War, I knew I wanted to learn from him once again. Please check out our podcast to find out why both Carrie and I are so glad we did—and please keep this issue in mind when you vote on Nov. 5th.

A Note from Carrie

I’ve found great encouragement in reading John Paul Lederach’s insightful new booklet, Pocket Guide To Facing Down A Civil War: Surprising ideas from everyday people who shifted the cycles of violence. We live in times when it often feels as though the edges of some important social fabric has been unraveling as we experience deep divisions and the normalization of toxic polarizing rhetoric. In this brave booklet, John Paul describes the patterns that harm the social fabric, but also describes the many ways that dividing and harmful patterns are disrupted and the threads of community rewoven.

I’ve long believed in the power of small, daily, intentional and even improbable actions. What creates positive change isn’t way out there somewhere. What we need is right here within us and between us. John Paul has spent his entire adult life studying and facilitating conflict resolution, dedicated to a creating a more peaceful world, and finding ways to heal the wounds of conflict after it has happened. His Pocket Guide is filled with stories of ordinary people doing the extraordinary work of social healing by staying in the conversation, staying curious, refusing to dehumanize and often just being “neighborly”.

I hope you enjoy our podcast episode this month as we explore together how the roots of conflict develop, and how we can be all be inspired by transformation brought about by the improbable actions of ordinary people. In a time when so many of us are scratching our heads saying, “How did we get here?” and “What can I do to help reweave and build a better more loving world?,” I found our conversation empowering and deeply moving. I hope you do too.

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The Growing Edge Podcast

Episode 57: Unexpected Hope in Improbable Actions: Facing Down a Civil War with John Paul Lederach

Join Parker and Carrie for a conversation with Notre Dame’s Professor Emeritus of International Peacebuilding, John Paul Lederach, about his Pocket Guide for Facing Down a Civil War. This new booklet draws upon Lederach’s experience as a renowned peace practitioner who has mediated conflicts around the world. Here, he provides thoughtful, sometimes surprising ideas and advice on how to navigate, disrupt and mitigate the patterns that lead to deeper conflict, with attention to what is happening right now in U.S. politics. For a taste of John Paul’s wisdom, check out this recent opinion piece in The Washington Post.

If you’d like to get a copy of The Pocket Guide, here are two easy ways to do it. It’s available as a 99-cent ebook on Amazon Kindle, or as a free downloadable PDF on John Paul’s website HERE.

But first, check out our conversation with a man who is deeply committed to peacebuilding, backed by a wealth of on-the-ground experience in war-torn settings around the world:

Visit our website for the full archives of The Growing Edge Podcast. If you enjoy the podcast please remember to rate us on I-Tunes, Spotify to help us reach new listeners and grow the conversation

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Question of the Month

John Paul speaks often about refusing to dehumanize others, and how open-hearted listening to one another’s stories can have deep and lasting impact. Have you ever experienced a positive shift in a situation or relationship when you felt truly heard, or you listened more deeply without judgement? Has a small act of kindness or curiosity ever helped create a way forward for you?

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Parker’s Online Appearances

The Charter for Compassion chose the updated edition of my book, Healing the Heart of Democracy, as their Global Read for September, 2024. In dialogue with my friend, Rabbi Ariel Burger—Executive Director of the Witness Institute—we explored what it will take to create “a politics worthy of the human spirit.” Check it out HERE.

Beth Buelow is a professional coach with wide ranging interests, and an excellent podcast host. In this edition of How Can I Say This…, Beth and I talk about “Connection and Community.” Check it out HERE…

HERE is a piece I wrote years ago for the journal of the ASCD, a global education organization focused on empowering educators to advance and elevate learning to meet the needs of all students—equitably and wholly. It’s called “Evoking the Spirit in Public Education,” which can and should be done without violating the rightful separation of church and state.

Music for the Moment

Carrie’s Tour Schedule

For more information about shows this fall, and to reserve your tickets visit: www.carrienewcomer.com/tour

Carrie On Substack

Carrie also has her own substack offering called The Gathering of Spirits. You can check out here regular postings of essays, music, poetry, video and Song Labs at www.carrienewcomer.substack.com