Dear Friend,

So many of you are engaged with various aspects of restorative practices. 

I mean ‘restorative’ in a big-picture way. In a poetic way. In a curious way. Where reckoning is incorporated into restorations.

There’s… Restorative justice. 

There’s …Restoring the relationships between humans and our ecology.  Restoring eco-systems/ecosystem restoration.

Between different parts of our social body. 

There’s…Restoring relationships within and between organizations; between people and finances/money flows.

There are many forms of Peacemaking.

The word ‘restorative’ echoes with the word ‘Re-storying’. Which is a big part of circle practices and healing practices of many forms. 

Engaging with historical narratives, including erasures, can support practitioners. I’ve come to see how much our work of ReMembering can help enable restorative practices, from ecosystems to prison systems.

Not as a panacea. You know too much to believe any one thing ever has all the answers. But as a pathway to better enable

potential societal well-being. 

Edward C. Valandra, in his editorial role for the book, Colorizing Restorative Justice, which I often recommend, talks about colonization as the First Harm on the American continents.  Part of what that means is that today’s harms are significantly influenced by things that happened a long time ago. Not all of them of course. But things were set in motion, institutions developed, moral codes embedded in culture, and landscapes altered, in ways that shape the people (and the problems) who might be showing up in your life today. 

So - it’s really important for you to engage With practices and elements of remembering. 

Which is why I keep teaching this foundational course. 

For you.