Last weekend we jammed, heard amazing leaders talk about a range of topics from preventing nuclear proliferation,  super foods, social justice and health literacy, to rebuilding communities, by focusing on leadership and giving hope to young people. The Peace Jam is an annual event —started by an international effort for peace back in 1996 — with more than 39 countries active in participation, including Greece the last years with the group Eimai headed by Ellen Froustis at the steady helm.

A great chance to reconnect with Dr. Chris  Zarcadoolas, checkout her blog Public Linguist.  She gave insight about what is happening in health literacy and U.S. trends with e-health and technology, some communities’ access (and lack there of) to healthy food and obesity trends, the social media tidal wave, and questions of social equity and issues of trust.

HAEC/HAUniv Student discusses about vandalistic tagging

A student from Hellenic American College/ Hellenic American University working on a pilot study with a team of students and their professor in a Global citizen class and showcased several images of various vandalistic style graffiti posed both questions and concerns for the event’s audience members to ponder over in a workshop —messages which their younger counterparts will definitely “take home” in better understanding tagging and how much money is needed for clean-up, or how vandalized road signs can negatively affect drivers.

Nobel Laureates actively support Peace Jam events as guiding beacons across the globe. Luckily we heard Nobel Laureate 1980, Adolfo Perez Esquivel, Argentinian Activist and Painter, share his lifelong lessons. He talked about the problem of foreign debt by comparing both Greece and Argentina as countries in crisis. He said,  “A democracy is constructed you cannot just give it, built from below. We are ALL responsible for bringing and building democracy…”  He talked about the importance of caring for our earth, maintaining hope especially for young people that there is “always some light ahead of us”. We must not despair but always move forward. Education helps us become free men and women.