Mensch of the month! Dr. Tammy Lenski

While I love packing for trips, I’m no fan of airports — what with the $8 water, security theater, uninspiring shopping, and nagging, low-level mix of boredom and fear. (There’s probably a German word for that.)

Returning from my recent trip to New Orleans for the Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR) conference, I had that rare positive airport experience.  I got to hang out with a true peacebuilding luminary —  Dr. Tammy Lenski, recipient of ACR’s Mary Parker Follet Award.  Her acceptance speech was, to say the least, unorthodox…for which I’m bestowing upon her Mensch of the Month status, previously received by Dr. Alan Gross and Detective Jeff Thompson.

Here‘s Tammy’s official bio, followed by my interview with her.

 

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Taking the cake (and getting busted for it).

My sweet tooth will be my undoing.

I just got back from the Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR) conference in New Orleans. Among other highlights, I got to meet some Twitter followers in real life — to wit, Jason Dykstra, Tammy Lenski, Cinnie Noble and Ben Zeigler.  Check them out, because they’re doing amazing work.  It was also great to hobnob with my fellow board members of the National Association for Community Mediation and the New York State Dispute Resolution Association, as well as my New York Peace Institute peeps…all of which rolled deep in the Big Easy.

And, I got to hear Leymah Gbowee‘s plenary spiel.  If you’re not hip to her work, please watch Pray the Devil Back to Hell right quick. She’s fierce, funny, charismatic, and she’s done groundbreaking things to stop violence and promote women’s rights in Liberia.  One the many gems she dropped:  To build people’s capacity to build peace, first build yourself — a lesson I took to heart in the story that follows.

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