Conflict Res & Animated Short

Two bits for you today, one nutritious and one dessert!

First, nutrition:

In an under-reported story this week (that appealed to my former life as a student of international relations and peace studies), delegates from Iraqi Sunni and Shiite groups came together in Finland along with a group of conflict resolution specialists for a 4-day meeting. The talks, held in secret and only announced after their conclusion on Monday, included representatives from Northern Ireland and South Africa who shared their experiences of reconciliation and peace-making. The result: an agreement to hold more talks and a plan for resolving Iraq's political disputes through non-violence and democracy. The visionary meeting was organized by the Crisis Management Initiative and the McCormack School of Policy Studies at U. Mass in Boston. It's amazing to me that such a story of hope and real effort toward peaceful conflict resolution was so buried in the papers. You can read more about it here, here and here.

Now, dessert!

(Link to the video on YouTube if it doesn't run here.)



Cousin Jason recently set up a photo studio in his apartment and took over 400 self-timed photos of himself attempting to get one good shot to use on a job application. He'd used our digital camera, and so the pix ended up on our computer. When Jae and I looked through them, they ran together like a flip book with lots of unintentionally funny parts and a pretty neat effect. So I put them to music with a little editing, and voila! Nothing beats making iMovies when there's procrastinating to be done... Enjoy!

Posted by Amy Shaw.