2010 Indian Summer

I call this Indian Summer because of my love affair with Margarita who was a visiting post-doctoral scientist at Yale from Russia. This was not easy because early on Kiki knew about it and was furious. At first I said goodbye to Margarita, and later could not stay away from her. For a few years, I kept the secret, but eventually it came out and again I had to say goodbye, but could not carry it out. Finally at the end of 2014, Margarita went back to her family in Russia and the Indian Summer was over.

In those days, I had three women furious with me, sometimes at the same time, sometimes in alternation: Kiki, because of my relationship with Margarita; Margarita because I kept running out and not being available; and Lindsay, still furious with me over the divorce.

During these years, I was also frustrated with my work. My priority was CPNN, but despite repeated revisions and consistent work, it failed to advance, despite the addition of a monthly blog based on the CPNN bulletins. My trilogy of books went un-noticed by the world. Finally, I gave up trying to get in reviewed in the so-called "peace journals" (see correspondence with journal Peace and Conflict). They were on Amazon and Createspace but sold only one every few months. They were online, but I got almost no feedback. Roberto Mercadillo translated them into Spanish and they were published by Herder in Mexico. As of 2016 I received about $500 in royalties which went to the Culture of Peace Corporation. In 2015 I wrote a new book, richly illustrated, about the state of the movement for a culture of peace, but it sits on the shelf because I have no way to publish. I asked the Corporation directors for their advice after sending it to them and got only silence in return. Anyway, I put it on my website under the name Embrace the Fire: Cultivate a Culture of Peace. I started work to update my book on Psychology for Peace Activists, but didn't get very far, so I simply reprinted the original edition on Createspace/Amazon. I have no motivation to write!
At one point, with Kiki's help, I wrote a theatrical play about Freud's death instinct, taking place in the bunker of the Soviet missile system during the days when Gorbachev and Reagan met in Iceland. The play, The Last Death of Freud, remains unknown. I made a few efforts to find some company to play it and then gave up.
Given my frustration with work, the affair with Margarita was especially rewarding. Ironically, like Lindsay had been, she was only skeptical of my work for peace, and sometimes simply made fun of it.

On the other hand, Kiki supported my work fully, sharing my hopes and frustrations for the culture of peace movement, translating my bulletins and blogs with great care, and sharing my travels and meetings with activists around the world (Japan, Mexico, South Africa, Canada, Brazil, Spain, Colombia, etc.). We also traveled extensively in the US, including one long trip with Armand to Vegas, Grand Canyon, Sequoia and Yosemite parks, and another to New Orleans, Memphis, Neosho and Oklahoma. And our "niche" at Grandcourt continued to provide us with friends, pets (including the goats!) and objets d'art from our travels around the world.
Then there are projects that I will probably ever get to do, such as my ideas on the evolution and brain mechanisms of language, although I spoke to Roberto Mercadillo about trying to test some of my ideas with his brain imaging experiments.
One practical task that I undertook during these years was to develop annual reports on the culture of peace in New Haven as a member of the city Peace Commission. One result was to identify the initiative of restorative justice in the schools as a culture of peace priority and to get involved with it.
At the end of 2015, I tried to launch a new campaign that would include a "Shadow Security Council" that would issue statements about what the Council should do each time there is a major question before it. I started by trying to involve the directors of the Culture of Peace Corporation in the 2016 annual letter and going with Kiki to see Federico Mayor in Madrid who agreed to work on it. I then wrote to many people involved with peace cities, and continued with Ben Cramer in Paris, although after one year there was still no progress.