![\"Zehr-book-MS\"](\"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/is\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2015\/05\/Zehr-book-MS-300x182.jpg\")
<\/a>More than 300 attendees agreed, traveling from around the world to honor Zehr\u2019s influence as a reformer, teacher, a mentor, and visionary; to mark his retirement as a full-time faculty member; and to celebrate the 25th\u00a0anniversary of the publication of Zehr\u2019s groundbreaking work, Changing Lenses: A New Focus for Crime and Justice<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n The evening also provided an opportunity to support the ongoing work of the Zehr Institute of Restorative Justice<\/a>, of which Zehr will remain a co-director with friend and colleague Carl Stauffer<\/a>. A silent auction of global artifacts, artwork, locally crafted food and libations, and books, along with other donations, also raised about $15,000, not including pledges, for the continued work of the Zehr Institute.<\/p>\n Among comedians, a \u201croast\u201d is a gathering at which a guest of honor is subjected to both praise and good-natured jokes at their expense. Stauffer, dressed in a suit and tie, emceed the evening\u2019s festivities with Vernon Jantzi<\/a>, a longtime colleague since Zehr\u2019s arrival at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding<\/a> in 1996. Jantzi came more appropriately appareled to the podium in the requested \u201cHoward Zehr-styled formal wear:\u201d boots, tan khakis, a tan shirt, a camera slung about his neck and a Indiana Jones-looking hat.<\/p>\n When queried by Stauffer about his neckwear, Jantzi looked at his floral tie and retorted: \u201cThis is a tie that’s as ugly as sin. I tried to get one as ugly as Howard would wear, but this is the best I could do.\u201d<\/p>\n First on the program was a panel of alumni roasters, all of whom remarked in some capacity on their strong and shared personal friendship with Zehr, his sense of humor, and quiet way of inspiring confidence and empowerment. Among them was Catherine Bargen<\/a>, MA \u201808, now restorative justice coordinator at the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General in Vancouver, Canada, who spoke of becoming Zehr\u2019s student one day and shortly after, accepting an invitation to co-present with Zehr at a conference.<\/p>\n \u201cHoward sees something in you before you see it in yourself and he nurtures it until it comes to fruition,\u201d said Tammy Krause<\/a>, MA \u201899, a 14-year veteran of working federal capital cases who is herself a pioneer of an approach called defense-oriented victim outreach.<\/p>\n The youngest member of the panel, Katia Ornelas Nunez,<\/a> MA \u201813, spoke of the serendipitous mistaken identity, and subsequent meeting,<\/a> in her native Mexico, between Zehr – in Tamaulipas to present the keynote address at the First National Conference of Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanisms – and poet and victims advocate Javier Sicilia, \u201ctwo men who share similar bodies and souls.\u201d<\/p>\n Danny Malec,<\/a> MA \u201804, contextualized Zehr with a reference to Malcolm Gladwell\u2019s “The Tipping Point,” which describes three types of “change makers.” \u201cHoward for me is the consummate connector,\u201d said Malec, citing Zehr’s skills in networking between practitioners and connecting his colleagues and students with exciting opportunities.<\/p>\n Paulette Moore,<\/a> MA \u201809, took the microphone in \u201cprotest\u201d to argue that the breadth and sheer vivacity of Zehr’s creative contributions in a variety of fields do not render him \u201cthe grandfather of restorative justice,\u201d as he’s sometimes referred to, but rather \u201cthe Lady Gaga of restorative justice!\u201d<\/p>\n Charito Calvachi-Mateyko<\/a>, MA \u201806, a founding member of the nonprofit Latino Initiative on Restorative Justice, spoke movingly of Zehr\u2019s influence on her personal journey from her native Ecuador and her current work as an educator and training of restorative justice in many Latin American countries.<\/p>\n Zehr\u2019s <\/a>recent photography exhibit<\/a>, which focused on the aging body, took the brunt of several spirited jokes from Barb Toews<\/a>, MA \u201800. Toews is a former student who has written The Little Book of Restorative Justice for People in Prison<\/a><\/em> and co-edited Critical Issues in Restorative Justice<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n A panel of guest roasters included nine distinguished colleagues, some of whom wrote or provided video greetings: RJ practitioner Chris Marshall<\/a> honored Zehr\u2019s influence in New Zealand, criminologist John Braithwaite sent congratulations from Australia, and Zehr\u2019s longtime friend, Bruce Bainbridge, did the same from the State Correction Institution Graterford, where he is serving a life sentence.<\/p>\n Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz<\/a>, currently co-director of Mennonite Central Committee<\/a>‘s Office on Justice and Peacebuilding, proclaimed that she had \u201c30 years of stories\u201d to fit into the next three minutes, speeding through Zehr’s powers of suggestion, his fast pace of speech, and his commitment to well-made coffee.<\/p>\n Actor, director, and playwright Ingrid DeSanctis remembered collaborating with Zehr on the non-fiction play “A Body In Motion<\/a>,” based on Zehr’s book “Transcending: Reflections of Crime Victims,”<\/a> which received a standing ovation from 500 inmates at Graterford Prison in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n David Anderson Hooker<\/a>, a mediator and consultant with a history of teaching in Center for Justice and Peacebuilding programs, proclaimed that he and Zehr shared something that nobody else in the room did: both are alumni of Morehouse College, a historically black college in Atlanta, which boasts graduates such as Martin Luther King Jr.<\/p>\n \u201cYou carry the mystique of a Morehouse man well,\u201d said Hooker, adding that the \u201cMorehouse man\u201d is \u201cwell-read, well-traveled, well-spoken, well-balanced and\u2026\u201d He stopped. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to work on well-dressed,\u201d he concluded, to laughter from the crowd.<\/p>\n Kim Workman, director of the New Zealand-based organization Rethinking Crime and Punishment, not only told humorous stories, but played the keyboard and sang an original ditty he called \u201cOde to Howard.\u201d<\/p>\n As the evening drew to a close, Zehr\u2019s family joined in the fun. His wife, Ruby, recalled one of their first dates in college, when Howard invited her to the snack shop to share a Coke because he did not have enough money for two. She was followed by Howard’s brother, Ed Zehr, who reminisced about Howard’s boyhood skills tinkering with electronics and gadgets.<\/p>\n When Zehr assumed the stage after 9 p.m., he was met with a standing ovation. Cracking jokes, he recounted the early days of restorative justice work with Canadian colleague David Worth, announcing their next 50-year plan for the field \u2013 expansion to a social movement.<\/p>\n At the end of the night, William Goldberg<\/a>, director of the Summer Peacebuilding Institute<\/a> and mastermind behind the festivities, presented the honoree with a custom Howard Zehr bobble-head doll.<\/p>\n \u201cRuby says my memorial service is taken care of, so she won\u2019t need to have one when I die,\u201d Zehr reflected afterwards. \u201cI got off pretty easy overall!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After dinner\u2026<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"Colleagues](\"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/is\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2015\/05\/Zehr-Carl-MS-300x182.jpg\")
<\/a>Guest Roasters<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"Zehr-Lorraine2-MS\"](\"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/is\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2015\/05\/Zehr-Lorraine2-MS-300x182.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"Zehr-Hooker-MS\"](\"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/is\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2015\/05\/Zehr-Hooker-MS-300x182.jpg\")
<\/a>The Zehr bobble-head<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"HZBobble.May.15_07-soula\"](\"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/is\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2015\/05\/HZBobble.May_.15_07-soula-200x300.jpg\")
<\/a>