Portraits as vehicles for reflection and change?

“Gazing into one’s own eyes is an interesting experience. I’d think there could be great therapeutic value in having some conversations with oneself, someone who appears to be a sympathetic listener (provided by a sympathetic photographer). “ This was Phil Easley’s response after I posted his portrait montage on my photography website. I enjoy portraiture....

Taking stock of the restorative justice field

In their book Restorative Justice Dialogue:  An Essential Guide for Research and Practice, Mark Umbreit and Marilyn Amour offer the equivalent of a state-of-the-union address for the restorative justice movement: a comprehensive overview and a stock-taking of the field as it has developed, as it currently exists, and what lies ahead.  The timing is excellent.....

Core capacities of restorative justice practitioners

In January a small group gathered in Seattle for several days of restorative justice dialogue and we’ve continued the discussion since then by email. (The participants are listed below.) One of the questions raised was what we considered to be the core capacities of effective restorative justice practitioners. Aaron Lyons, a practitioner in Vancouver and....

Photographic truth and documentary photography

Does a photograph represent “truth?” What makes it truthful? When is it untruthful? If it does convey truth, whose truth is it?  These questions have been with photography since its origins.  They have become more pressing with the advent of digital photography and the ease with which a digital image can be manipulated.  They are....

10 steps to resisting personal cooptation

In my previous entry I noted that Philip Zimbardo, in his book The Lucifer Effect, suggests “A Ten-step Program to Resist Unwanted Influences.” Because this has generated interest I will list his 10 steps below.  These are in the form of personal commitments. For his explanation of each see pp. 451-456. 1.  “I made a....

Wrongdoing (and heroism) in context

Philip Zimbardo’s 2007 book, The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil, provides an in-depth description and evaluation of his 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment. To study the dynamics of prison, this famous experiment randomly assigned college student to be guards or inmates in a mock prison. Within a very short time the project had....