{"id":516,"date":"2021-03-12T15:40:20","date_gmt":"2021-03-12T20:40:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/pxd\/?p=516"},"modified":"2021-03-12T18:01:12","modified_gmt":"2021-03-12T23:01:12","slug":"pxd-blog-a-re-introduction-by-simelwe-dlova-and-timothy-seidel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/pxd\/2021\/03\/12\/pxd-blog-a-re-introduction-by-simelwe-dlova-and-timothy-seidel\/","title":{"rendered":"PXD Blog: A Re-introduction by Simelwe Dlova and Timothy Seidel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This photo of Simelwe was taken in front of the Campus Center building. (Photo: Lucie Martinot-Lagarde )<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

PXD Blog: A Re-introduction by Simelwe Dlova and Timothy Seidel<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been a while–more than a long COVID winter–but we (Simelwe and Tim) are dusting off the PXD Blog with some new energy and new ideas for 2021. Welcome back, Everyone! It\u2019s been a hard year. We don\u2019t know where to begin so we are not even going to try. Besides, you\u2019ve lived it too so we really don\u2019t need to tell you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But we are breathing new life into the Blog of the Peacebuilding & Development (PXD) Program<\/a> at EMU so that we might hear folks share a little about what this past year has been like for them. In particular, we\u2019ll be hearing how their explorations of peacebuilding & development\u2014whether as a student at EMU, an alum at work somewhere in the world, or a PXD program partner with whom we are co-laboring through this\u2014have aided in their sense-making of and engagement with this past year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me (Tim) that was the original vision of the PXD Blog: provide an online space for our students, alumni, faculty, and program partners to connect, share stories, and raise awareness about our shared work for peace and justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And we\u2019ve read some really nice reflections over the last few years from brilliant students, alum, and teachers like Ariel Barbosa reflecting on EMU\u2019s first full \u201cday on\u201d celebration of MLK Day<\/a> or Nate Bailey\u2019s reflections on his journey \u201cFrom Harrisonburg to Denver\u2014by way of the Middle East\u201d<\/a> or Myriam Aziz on \u201cAttempts at Decolonizing the Classroom.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me (Simelwe), I am in my first year at CJP for a masters in Conflict Transformation. I have been working with Professor Tim Seidel on reopening the PXD Blog. Throughout this year, you will read contributions from students, alumni, and faculty and staff. This will be content about current course material, personal contributions, poetry, careers and whatever else people want to reflect on about campus activities, events, and our experiences with the world around us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My hope for this platform is that it opens the door and encourages students, faculty and staff, alumni and others to share and speak about what matters to them. After reading previous blog contributions, I resonate with many and more with Gabby McMillon\u2019s urge to be intentional about balancing voices and including all narratives especially those rarely heard from. In her reflection on \u201cCampus Engagement with Native American Voices and Experiences,\u201d<\/a> Gabby writes <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe will never be able to live together in a society where certain voices are raised above all others and dominate narratives. This perpetuates inequality, trauma, and violence. As peacebuilders, it is our duty to listen to marginalized voices and do all that is in our power to elevate them for others to hear.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We hope this will be another platform for doing just that, elevating voices and for everyone to listen to those voices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you are a member of the PXD community and would like to contribute a post, we welcome submissions! We look forward to hearing from you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simelwe Dlova is a Conflict Transformation student at the <\/em>Center for Justice and Peacebuilding<\/em><\/a> and<\/em> Timothy Seidel<\/em><\/a> is assistant professor and director of the <\/em>Peacebuilding and Development (PXD)<\/em><\/a> program at <\/em>Eastern Mennonite University (EMU)<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PXD Blog: A Re-introduction by Simelwe Dlova and Timothy Seidel It\u2019s been a while–more than a long COVID winter–but we (Simelwe and Tim) are dusting off the PXD Blog with some new energy and new ideas for 2021. Welcome back, Everyone! It\u2019s been a hard year. We don\u2019t know where to begin so we are … Continue reading PXD Blog: A Re-introduction by Simelwe Dlova and Timothy Seidel<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":288,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[3],"class_list":["post-516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-featured","no-featured-image"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p95hha-8k","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/pxd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/pxd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/pxd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/pxd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/288"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/pxd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=516"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/pxd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":523,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/pxd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516\/revisions\/523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/pxd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/pxd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/pxd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}