Inspiration for Activism Part II –

I had the good fortune to attend the nursing activism think tank last summer in Amherst, MA. Since then, here is how activism unfolded thus far in 2019:

• The introductory course I taught to our graduate entry students last fall fragmented along political and racial divides. It happened so quickly it caught me off guard. I tried many ways to bridge the chasm, including bringing in a facilitator to conduct a restorative justice peace circle. I will be metabolizing those lessons for a long time to come. It left me breathless.
• In late Oct/early November I joined a 23 person peace delegation to Israel/Palestine. It was a bracing immersion into the necessity of what we so breezily call ‘intersectionality.’ I was stunned by the bravery, fortitude and persistence of lives lived in true non-violent resistance.
• At my College we continue our work in Cook County Jail, with the men and women detained within a foul system and with the men and the women work within it.
• I took restorative justice training in circle keeping and am itchy to try it out in the jail, in the community, in my College classrooms and conference rooms.
• I designed and am now facilitating an elective course in Primary Prevention of War and Peace Promotion.
• When I can, I travel north to an interdenominational monastery run by women to relearn the essential value of stillness.

Geraldine Gorman teaches public health nursing, cultural fluency and ethics and the grief, loss and dying course in the hospice/palliative care certificate program. She has also designed a primary prevention of war elective. She is a member of the American Public Health Association and through the Peace Caucus, is a founding member of the Primary Prevention of War group. She is an advocate for the inclusion of the humanities in nursing education and practice.