• JUNE Dear Commonweal Friends, Welcome to the Spring issue of Commonweal News. We can no longer fit reports on Commonweal’s two dozen programs and projects in a single issue, so I will simply start by saying that Commonweal’s programs are doing well. In this issue, we report on our core work in healing and the 200th week-long Commonweal Cancer Help Program. We hear from Commonweal Garden Co-directors James Stark and Penny Livingston-Stark about their remarkable tenure in Commonweal Garden. They are turning the garden over to Anna O’Malley, MD, who has a beautiful vision. David Steinhart reports on the influential work of the Commonweal Juvenile Justice Program. Commonweal’s Collaborative on Health and the Environment (CHE) Director Karen Wang announces a new initiative and website focused on bringing CHE’s collective knowledge to millennials. We remember our beloved Jnani Chapman, the senior Cancer Help Program masseuse, who died recently in a tragic accident. The historical context in which we are working is unusually turbulent. There are profound connections between the environmental, economic, technological, social, and political dynamics of our time. We often focus on the unique characteristics of this turbulence in the United States. But we see reality better if we step back and look at the global system. Techno-capitalism is the principle disruptive force. It causes, responds to, and interacts with increasingly disturbed biospheric conditions. Human communities are equally affected by techno-capitalism and biospheric change. Our response becomes a third force at every level—from the personal to the geopolitical—in turn interacting with the first two. Often we see only the disruption. We miss the creative opportunities. That is part of Commonweal’s work—to see the opportunities amidst the turbulence and tragedy of our times. With deepest gratitude, Michael Lerner, President
PHOTO COURTESY ERIN O’REILLY
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