Social Contract
I grew up in Eastern Washington State. The town was so small that the high school had 64 students and my class had 14 students. The teachers had to teach multiple subjects but they did a great job. One teacher especially has shaped me. Dorothy Smith. Dorothy taught English, history, and German. Mostly she challenged…
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Will We Mend the Tears?
According to the latest FBI report on hate crimes, such crimes have reached the highest level since the government began tracking them in the early 1990s. This is the insidious effect of dehumanization. It propagates the notion that certain groups are dangerous, justifying harassment, oppression, and violence against them. Although most people exposed to dehumanizing…
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Finding Calm When Engaging Difference
In today’s increasingly polarized society, it can be challenging to maintain calm and composed when engaging with people across political or ideological divides. Yet, these exchanges are essential for nurturing mutual understanding, empathetic connections, and social cohesion. How do we approach these often sensitive conversations without losing our cool? Understanding the Root of the Differences:…
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Hope Springs Eternal
Viveka Hall-Holt is the 2022/23 Treacy & Levine Fellow at PTU Hope springs eternal. This has not always been my experience. Â Â Growing up, I knew that the world had problems, but I was also confident that the grown-ups knew what they were doing and had a plan. Climate change was maiming our earth and wars…
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A New Phase
My first experience with Paths to Understanding was in November of 2017. I was invited to a board meeting. Our co-founder, Father Treacy, was present and the group was trying hard to keep the organization together after the sale of their retreat center, Camp Brotherhood, the year before. They were working through understandable grief and…
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Poles Apart
Everyone is talking about how divided we are. Most of the time this conversation is accompanied by a sense of dread and despair. People don’t know what to do. In her book, Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity, professor Lilliana Mason tells a story about how we got here and what it means. In…
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‘Let’s Go Together’ Council meets in Skagit
We held our first LGT Council meeting on Tuesday, May 11th 2023. We met at the Upper Skagit Cultural Center. So far, the Council includes Upper Skagit Elders, Skagit Valley Catholic Churches, Mount Vernon Rotary, Burlington Lutheran Church, Skagit Valley YMCA, Skagit Unitarian Universalist Church, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints of Skagit County,…
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Love is Like That
May 31st is the birthday of Father William Treacy who co-founded our organization together with Rabbi Rafael Levine. Since I got involved in the Treacy Levine Center, now Paths to Understanding, we made big plans for Father Treacy’s birthday every year. We held big gatherings with food, music, and stories. During COVID, we invited people…
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Connecting Us to One Another
I was honored to be on a panel at an antisemitism conference at Kol Ami Center for Jewish Life in Kirkland, WA. I first met Rabbi Kinberg when she spoke out against anti-Muslim bigotry and the Muslim ban in 2017. I so appreciate all she does to rehumanize people to each other in these divisive…
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