Author name: Ron

I had a rule. It was an incredibly successful rule I used while teaching junior and senior English at a continuation high school. As mentioned in a previous chapter, a continuation high school is for kids who mess up in the regular system. It was called the “I don’t know” rule, and it was simple. […]

What does continuation high school, mediation, and Shakespeare have in common? A continuation high school is a school in California where students either choose or are sent to make up the grades they lost while behaving badly in regular schools. I taught in a continuation high school for 13 years. I have always loved Shakespeare,

When conflict arises, the thought of stepping into a courtroom can feel overwhelming, expensive, and emotionally draining. Litigation forces you into an adversarial system where control is surrendered to judges and attorneys, often resulting in outcomes that satisfy no one. At Magnum Mediation, we offer a powerful, constructive, and peaceful alternative: Resolution without litigation. Choosing

People have often asked me why I am a mediator. Why, after 25 years of living andworking in the UK, Europe, and the US, as an actor, followed by driving 18-wheelers inNew York, and then a total of 22 years spent as a teacher and adjunct professor, did Iwant to work as a mediator? In

After retiring in 2021, after 16 years as a continuation high school English teacher in Fontana, and having decided that for my third professional career I wanted to be a mediator, I had to find a 40-hour training course that would launch my career. It wasn’t easy. The one in which I eventually enrolled was

I found the following quote in an editorial by Thomas B. Edsall in the New York Times recently: “Motivated ignorance differs from the more familiar concept of rational ignorance in that ignorance is motivated by the anticipated costs of possessing knowledge, not acquiring it. That is, it is not simply that the benefits of accurate

I recently discovered a trailer for a 2018 documentary that looked sensational. THE PEACEMAKER follows mediator Padraig O’Malley as he moves from one troubled country to another while simultaneously dealing with the agony of his alcoholism. It is a deeply moving and revealing portrait of a man trying to promote peace among others while trying

Every day, regardless of the weather, I walk three miles through my neighborhood. While I walk I listen to audiobooks, mostly fiction, mostly excellent. I trawl through the New York Times looking for book reviews or winners of the Booker or Nobel prizes and download them. It is awesome training for a mediator. To listen

Four men grew up together and started a business because they enjoyed hanging out. Soon the product started making money and they created a crude profit share arrangement and that sufficed. Then they began creating ancillary businesses tied into the original and those started making money too. So much unexpected money that one of them