Peace Is Here with Avis Kalfsbeek

Avis Kalfsbeek

Peace Is Here explores global peace light-hearted touch and a scholar’s heart. Join Avis Kalfsbeek, writer of environmental fiction, for a layperson's curriculum of peace. She explores peace treaties, nature’s quiet wisdom, and the down-to-earth creativity required for #TheGreatDisarmament. From deep-dive series on peace heroes to fiction stories and personal riffs, Avis looks beneath the surface to see the peace that is already here.

  1. Ep 232 Peacewarts: Chronicled Courage 101 - The First Peace Treaty (Class 3)

    6D AGO

    Ep 232 Peacewarts: Chronicled Courage 101 - The First Peace Treaty (Class 3)

    Peacewarts: Chronicled Courage 101 - The First Peace Treaty (Class 3) We enter the Hall of Records to examine the Treaty of Kadesh (1259 BC), the world's oldest surviving peace treaty. We deconstruct the myth of inevitable war by analyzing the "recorded logic" that ended a century of conflict between the Egyptian and Hittite Empires. By shifting our focus from the chariot battle to the scriptorium, we explore how peace functions as social infrastructure and a primary technology for solving problems that violence cannot touch. Homework: Look up the Treaty of Kadesh and find one of the specific clauses (like the rule about refugees or mutual aid) that sounds surprisingly modern to you. Write down one question about any of this episode's topics. If you don't have a question, write "no question." Optional: Journal. Think about a relationship in your life where you have reached a stalemate. If you were to write a non-aggression clause for that relationship today, what is the one specific "territory" or topic you would both agree never to invade again? Learning Topics: Peace as Social Infrastructure; The Treaty of Kadesh (1259 BC); The Battle of Kadesh Stalemate; Reciprocal Diplomacy; The Non-Aggression Clause; The Mutual Assistance Clause; The Erasure of Human Competence; Version 1.0 of Recorded Logic. ZERO, The Every Person’s Field Guide to a World Without Weapons:AvisKalfsbeek.com/zero Join the Community / Get the Books:AvisKalfsbeek.com Podcast Music: Javier Peke Rodriguez “I am late, madame Curie”https://open.spotify.com/artist/3QuyqfXEKzrpUl6b12I3KW

    8 min
  2. Ep 230 Peacewarts: Chronicled Courage 101 - Peace Erasure and the Jeannette Ranking Brigade (Orientation & Class 1)

    FEB 16

    Ep 230 Peacewarts: Chronicled Courage 101 - Peace Erasure and the Jeannette Ranking Brigade (Orientation & Class 1)

    Peacewarts: Chronicled Courage 101 - Peace Erasure & Jeannette Rankin (Class 1) We transition into the archives to study history as a lineage of persistence. This class defines "Erasure" as a political tool and examines the Jeannette Rankin Brigade (1968) and JFK’s "Strategy of Peace" as case studies in recovered memory and the "Great Refusal." Homework: Look upthe Jeannette Rankin Brigade or the 1963 American University Speech and find one detail that isn't typically taught in a standard history class. Write down one questionabout any of this episode's topics. If you don't have a question, write "no question." Optional: Think of a time you were told something was "inevitable." Looking back, was it actually inevitable, or was there a path of refusal you didn't see at the time? Learning Topics: The Mission of the Hall of Records; Erasure vs. Realism: How curated memory shapes our expectations of conflict; The Jeannette Rankin Brigade (1968): A 50-year bridge of anti-war activism; The Great Refusal: Rankin’s votes in 1917 and 1941 as principled alternatives to the military-industrial complex; The Burial of Traditional Womanhood: The radical shift in 1968 activism. Get the book Peace Stuff Enough: AvisKalfsbeek.com/peace-stuff-enough Join the Community / Get the Books: www.AvisKalfsbeek.com Podcast Music: Javier Peke Rodriguez “I am late, madame Curie” https://open.spotify.com/artist/3QuyqfXEKzrpUl6b12I3KW

    9 min
  3. Ep 229 Javier Peke Rodriguez and Peacewarts Moves to Weekly

    FEB 15

    Ep 229 Javier Peke Rodriguez and Peacewarts Moves to Weekly

    Javier Peke Rodriguez and Peacewarts Moves to Weekly In this transition episode, Avis shares a heartfelt appreciation for the music that sets the tone for our study of peace and announces an intentional shift in the rhythm of the Peacewarts curriculum. The Music of the Lab Avis shares a bit about Javier "Peke" Rodriguez, the acclaimed Spanish composer and pianist whose atmospheric and therapeutic soundscapes provide the backdrop of the Peace is Here episodes.  A New Pacing: Peacewarts is moving to weekly. After a month of daily episodes, the material of Peacewarts 101 is calling for more breathing room. To allow scholars more time to soak up the concepts and to allow Avis time for new writing projects—including the completion of Bullet Poof (Book 7 in the Pedro series) and continued work on The Peace Experiments book series—Peacewarts is moving to a weekly Monday release schedule. This new pace means our curriculum will now extend through September 2027, giving us a longer, more sustainable horizon for our study. The Roadmap Ahead For new scholars joining us, the weekly pace makes catching up more attainable. You can find Peacewarts orientation in Episode 198 and the fictional festival in Episode 199. Universal Understars: We mapped the invisible infrastructure of a world without war. Living Roots: We explored peace as something biological and rooted in the soil. Chronicled Courage (Starting Monday): We begin recovering the nearly erased stories of refusal—moments when war was cued up, but someone chose differently. Future Departments: Resonant Charms: Language without coercion. Social Chemistry: The biology of de-escalation. Morphological Peace: Redesigning broken systems. Ethical Defense: Navigating propaganda without cynicism. Kinetic Peace: Empathy in motion. The Peace Stick Avis reflects on the Tao and the nature of opposites. If peace and its opposite are on either side of the same stick, our goal is to float that stick to a part of the river where the "opposite" of peace is merely a frustrated day—kicking a stone down the road—rather than the violence of war. Get the Music: Javier Peke Rodriguez https://javierpekerodriguez.bandcamp.com/

    12 min
  4. Ep 228 Peacewarts: Living Roots 101 - Subsistence as Dignity (Class 14)

    FEB 14

    Ep 228 Peacewarts: Living Roots 101 - Subsistence as Dignity (Class 14)

    Peacewarts: Living Roots 101 - Subsistence as Dignity (Class 14) We conclude our journey in the Department of Living Roots by reframing subsistence not as a state of poverty, but as the highest form of dignity and freedom. We explore how dependency has been used as a weapon through the get big or get out era and the cultural construction of peasant shame. By examining the resilience of Cuba’s organopónicos and the concept of time sovereignty, we establish that food autonomy is the ultimate form of disarmament, removing the primary levers of coercion and violence from society. Homework: Look back at your notes from the last 14 classes. Whichliving root felt the most important to your own sense of security? Write down one question about any of this episode’s topics. If you don’t have a question, write "no question." The Final Project: Identify one skill you have learned this semester—whether it’s mending, seed-saving, or just learning a neighbor’s name—and teach it to someone else this week. Learning Topics: Subsistence as Dignity; The Harvest Table; Dependency as a Weapon; The Earl Butz Era; Cultural Stigmas of Traditional Farming; The Devaluation of the Hand; The Cuban Special Period (organopónicos); Time Sovereignty; Precarity Panic; The Law of Return. ZERO, The Every Person’s Field Guide to a World Without Weapons:AvisKalfsbeek.com/zero Join the Community / Get the Books:AvisKalfsbeek.com Podcast Music: Javier Peke Rodriguez “I am late, madame Curie”https://open.spotify.com/artist/3QuyqfXEKzrpUl6b12I3KW

    8 min

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About

Peace Is Here explores global peace light-hearted touch and a scholar’s heart. Join Avis Kalfsbeek, writer of environmental fiction, for a layperson's curriculum of peace. She explores peace treaties, nature’s quiet wisdom, and the down-to-earth creativity required for #TheGreatDisarmament. From deep-dive series on peace heroes to fiction stories and personal riffs, Avis looks beneath the surface to see the peace that is already here.