Transforming Initiatives

The Power of A Cup of Tea

Marine veteran Conor Curran tells about an encounter with an Iraqi man who showed kindness in the midst of a Marine raid of his home.  That transforming initiative of serving tea to “the enemy” changed his life and rippled through the lives of many other people. Listen to Curran’s story:

Beauty Pageant Becomes a Protest

A beauty pageant for Miss Peru turned into a demonstration against violence against women. At a traditional moment in the pageant, instead of giving their physical measurements, the contestants one-by-one gave statistics about violence against women in the past few years in Peru.  Peru has the second highest rate of violence against women in Latin… Read more »

Creative Vandalism of Monuments

In Bulgaria graffiti artists have turned the imposing Soviet-era monuments into a “canvas” for contemporary political speech against the domineering regional politics of Russia.  Sometimes they use colors such as Ukraine’s yellow and light blue to make their point.  The most extensive guerrilla art was to turn a major monument into a hilarious gathering of… Read more »

Clowning about Racism and Facism

Clowning has been growing around the world as a transforming initiative in response to the neo-Nazi and white-supremacist hate rallies.  Instead of meeting hate with anger and violence, clowns meet demonstrations for bigotry with humorous mocking with a light-hearted but very serious touch.   Sarah Freeman-Woolpert published an outstanding article with a global and historical… Read more »

Projected Protest

In a creative protest artist Robin Bell projected a number of statements on the facade of the Trump International Hotel in Washington D.C. regarding bribes including the entire “emoluments” clause from the U.S. Constitution.   Earlier Bell projected an anti-Trump message about the appointment of climate change denier Myron Ebell to the lead the transition… Read more »