An Improbable Tale Of Alien Romance
This short story was my 2005 birthday gift to a friend. In 2008, mediate.com made an exception to its nonfiction content rules to publish it. In 2013, I added it to… Read more An Improbable Tale Of Alien Romance →
Updating a useful metaphor
Words are words, right? Wouldn’t you assume that using words was a skill transferable from one career to another? With words, I manage conflict and write. Yet, switching from Conflict Manager to writer… Read more Updating a useful metaphor →
The Mind Of A Mediator: my novel in progress
At work, I make dozens of considered decisions about and during each intervention. Think about any conflict, and there was perhaps some heart stopping moment when you realized that someone needs to do or say something. But what? Each intervention, reframe, summary, or caucus, has potential to be a change leading the parties somewhere, with no returning to the prior state. Seventeen years ago, I wrote a 90,000+ word novel about a Conflict Manager’s thought processes at work, the in-the-moment decision-making. Editing those words has been my 16 year obsession since. If… Read more The Mind Of A Mediator: my novel in progress →
Transforming Conflict Attitudes
On Sunday, a group of 25 senior citizens gathered to watch a 1934 movie about a family torn apart by conflict over 15 years. In summary, the conflict was between a mother, M, and her daughter-in-law, S. The rift got deeper and uglier, until M’s 13 year old grandson reached out to her and brought her together with his mother, S, and father we’ll call Y. My role at the gathering was to facilitate the post-movie discussion. We began by asking who in the audience blamed M, who blamed S, who… Read more Transforming Conflict Attitudes →
Deborah Sword 