About Me?
Like any question, that can be answered in (at least) two ways:
I am a professional
Peace Educator, Facilitator, and Software Engineer.
I am part of a tradition and a continuation of conversations that were started with me.
The Professional Answer
I earned a Bachelors of Music in Jazz Composition from Towson University and a Masters of Arts in International Peace and Conflict Resolution from American University.
I was the Director of the Peacemaker Youth Leadership Program at Kids for Peace where I taught about world cultures and worked with middle and high school school students to write lessons for elementary students on difficult peace and justice issues such as child soldiers, landmines, and environmental issues. We also held youth conferences on the Darfur conflict and the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
I then created a Youth Program with the International Rescue Committee in Baltimore that provided youth caseworkers and adjustment groups for newly arrived refugees from places such as Congo, Somalia, Nepal, and Iraq. I also served as a advocate for appropriate educational and mental health services for the families and served as an advisor to Baltimore City Schools, the Maryland Board of Education, and the Johns Hopkins Bayview Mental Health Clinic.
I then facilitated inter-agency collaborations to address Medicare and Medicaid fraud with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
Most recently, I have worked as a Principal Application Engineer leading a team in the development of an enterprise-level mobile app used in four continents.
Visit my professional website for a detailed account of my activities.
My interests now focus on creating Peace Education lessons and activities focusing on history.
*The exploration of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics topics properly contextualized within their social applications, implications, and contexts.The Personal Answer
I view myself as part of a longer tradition and view this work is a continuation of a set of conversations that were started with me as I tried to understand my place in this world (and begin my unlearning). This began in 2004 with my study-abroad mother in Argentina telling me that you survive a dictatorship by turning off the TV and trying to live each day the best you can.
Then in 2005, when I was volunteering in El Salvador, the conversation continued in one strand with my hosts in El Mozote telling me about their experience accidentally digging up children's bones in their back yard that were still undiscovered from the massacre by the US-backed military junta 25 years prior. Then in another strand with the renowned Lutheran Bishop and human rights advocate, Medardo Gomez. He shared with me how they worked to support their community in the darkest times of the Civil War as well as the most difficult times of the post-war period.
It was a conversation with an eight year-old girl in 2006 whose dad had just been sent to Iraq as a civilian contractor asking me why people were fighting there. It was then also the conversation her mother had with me the next day thanking me for helping her daughter be less concerned about her father because she now better understood what was happening there.
Likewise, it was a resettled Iraqi refugee scolding in 2010 at me about how every time Americans try to fix something they make it far worse. It was also the many discussions with resettled refugee families about how they have gathered the personal, familial, and communal resilience to thrive in their new lives in the US.
The best I can do now is continue this series of conversations with others.