Experiment Zero – The Peace Experiments: Ch 2 - The Council Meeting of Unwanted Attendance

Kitty O’Compost arrives at a so-called informational meeting in the Old Gym, where folding chairs, fluorescent lights, and carefully chosen language are meant to keep the public at a comfortable distance. Joined by Marzipan and an unexpected student attendee, Kitty listens as officials explain a new facility using jargon that seems designed to obscure more than it reveals.

As terms slip, silences stretch, and a forbidden idea briefly surfaces, the meeting exposes a quiet tension between governance and participation, secrecy and shared responsibility. What was meant to reassure instead sharpens Kitty’s sense that something important is being managed out of sight—and that certain concepts unsettle authority simply by being named.

Experiment Zero is the prequel to The Peace Experiments, a peace-forward series where a group of young people are brave enough to challenge conventional arguments against peace and disarmament.

Join the Community / Get the Books: www.AvisKalfsbeek.com

Get the 2025 Podcast Recap eBook: www.AvisKalfsbeek.com/2025

Music: Alana Jordan (alanajordan) on Pixabay

Experiment Zero – The Peace Experiments: Ch 1 - Goats, Potholes, and Servers

Chapter One introduces Kitty O’Compost, a small-town reporter easing into an ordinary assignment in Midway, armed with a notebook, a sense of humor, and a highly observant goat named Marzipan. What begins as a routine walk toward town—past murals, potholes, and familiar civic neglect—takes an unexpected turn at the edge of a newly built facility that doesn’t quite belong.

This opening chapter sets the tone for The Peace Experiments: attentive, wry, and quietly unsettled. It’s a story about noticing small things, trusting instincts, and recognizing the moment when a local story begins to lean toward something larger—before anyone has named it, and before anyone admits they’re watching.

Experiment Zero is the prequel to The Peace Experiments, a peace-forward series where a group of young people are brave enough to challenge conventional arguments against peace and disarmament.

Join the Community / Get the Books: www.AvisKalfsbeek.com

Get the 2025 Podcast Recap eBook: www.AvisKalfsbeek.com/2025

Music: Alana Jordan (alanajordan) on Pixabay

This year-end episode offers a moment to pause and take stock. Avis reflects on the work of Peace is Here in 2025, the questions that shaped the podcast, and what it has meant to study peace seriously in a world still organized around war.

The episode looks back on a year of daily practice through series such as Wolff Peace, The Great Disfarmament and The Great Disarmament, Architects of Enough, and the introduction of The Next Peacelands. It also marks personal and creative milestones, including the release of Mono Mutante, the first Kickstarter campaign, and the arrival of Kitty O’Compost.

Looking ahead, Avis shares the direction Peace is Here will take in 2026. The podcast moves into a more intentional curriculum, inviting listeners to become peace scholars through attention, inquiry, and lived moral practice. Peace will be explored through history, philosophy, satire, and fiction, with an emphasis on imagining peace as a practical path rather than a distant ideal.

The episode closes with The Tip of the Peaceberg Prayer, a quiet New Year reflection on gratitude, unweaponed life, and the deeper truth of peace beneath the surface of the world as it appears.

Tomorrow begins a new thirteen-episode fiction series, The Peace Experiments Experiment Zero, where a small town reporter, a fact-checking goat, and a group of young people begin asking the questions adults avoid.

Thank you for listening, for your presence this year, and for walking into the next one together.

Peace and love,

Avis

• Get the Winter Holiday Reading list with links to the full stories: www.aviskalfsbeek.com/holiday

Get Avis’s books: www.AvisKalfsbeek.com

• Music: “Una Manana” by Javier “Peke” Rodriguez

Bandcamp: https://javierpekerodriguez.bandcamp.com

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3QuyqfXEKzrpUl6b12I3KW

• Upcoming series: The Peace Experiments – Season Zero starts 1/1/26! (Ep 184)

Kitty Reads Lit for Peace: Edith Wharton – 12/30/25 (The ’Seventies) plus The Next Peacelands

This episode features a New Year’s-season reading from Edith Wharton’s story “New Year’s Day — The ’Seventies,” part of her 1924 collection Old New York. In this piece, Wharton examines memory, reputation, and the quiet consequences of a life lived under the watchful eye of society. Kitty reads a short excerpt that brings out Wharton’s signature blend of precision, empathy, and moral insight.

Kitty O’Compost continues warming up her reporter voice for the forthcoming Peace Is Here series The Peace Experiments exploring peace, AI, and the commons.

For this special holiday edition of The Next Peacelands, Avis Kalfsbeek changes her focus from the factual grounding of warzones and arms suppliers to highlight the spiritual organizations and networks actively building peace around the world.

• Get the Winter Holiday Reading list with links to the full stories: www.aviskalfsbeek.com/holiday
• Get Avis’s books: www.AvisKalfsbeek.com

• Music: “The Red Kite” by Javier “Peke” Rodriguez

Bandcamp: https://javierpekerodriguez.bandcamp.com

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3QuyqfXEKzrpUl6b12I3KW

Intro Music: PulseBox on Pixabay

• Upcoming series: The Peace Experiments
• Edith Wharton – New Year’s Day (The ’Seventies) on Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/61321

Kitty Reads Lit for Peace: Henry David Thoreau – A Winter Walk plus The Next Peacelands

This episode features a reflective reading from Henry David Thoreau’s 1843 essay A Winter Walk—a quiet meditation on landscape, attention, and the moral clarity that comes from observing nature with patience. Kitty reads a short excerpt that highlights Thoreau’s deliberate pace and his belief that paying attention is its own form of ethical living.

Kitty O’Compost continues warming up her reporter voice for the forthcoming Peace Is Here series The Peace Experiments exploring peace, AI, and the commons.

For this special holiday edition of The Next Peacelands, Avis Kalfsbeek changes her focus from the factual grounding of warzones and arms suppliers to highlight the spiritual organizations and networks actively building peace around the world.

• Get the Winter Holiday Reading list with links to the full stories: www.aviskalfsbeek.com/holiday
• Get Avis’s books: www.AvisKalfsbeek.com

• Music: “The Red Kite” by Javier “Peke” Rodriguez

Bandcamp: https://javierpekerodriguez.bandcamp.com

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3QuyqfXEKzrpUl6b12I3KW

Intro Music: PulseBox on Pixabay

• Upcoming series: The Peace Experiments

• Henry David Thoreau – A Winter Walk on Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/9846/pg9846-images.html#chap05

This episode features a winter excerpt from Sarah Orne Jewett’s “Aunt Cynthy Dallett,” published in her 1899 collection The Queen’s Twin and Other Stories. Set in the snowy Maine hill country, the story offers a calm, closely observed portrait of kinship, hospitality, and the quiet bonds that hold a community together even in the most isolated seasons.

Kitty O’Compost continues warming up her reporter voice for the forthcoming Peace Is Here series The Peace Experiments exploring peace, AI, and the commons.

For this special holiday edition of The Next Peacelands, Avis Kalfsbeek changes her focus from the factual grounding of warzones and arms suppliers to highlight the spiritual organizations and networks actively building peace around the world.

• Get the Winter Holiday Reading list with links to the full stories: aviskalfsbeek.com/holiday
• Get Avis’s books: AvisKalfsbeek.com
• Music: “The Red Kite” by Javier “Peke” RodriguezBandcamp: https://javierpekerodriguez.bandcamp.com

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3QuyqfXEKzrpUl6b12I3KW

• Intro Music: PulseBox on Pixabay
• Upcoming series: The Peace Experiments
• Sarah Orne Jewett – “Aunt Cynthy Dallett” on Gutenberg:https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/74980/pg74980-images.html#Page_279

Kitty Reads Lit for Peace: John Burroughs – Winter Sunshine plus The Next Peacelands

This episode features a winter selection from John Burroughs’ 1875 essay collection Winter Sunshine—a calm, observant reflection on landscape, weather, and the steadying practice of paying close attention. Kitty reads a short excerpt that highlights Burroughs’ quiet conviction that nature offers both clarity and companionship.

Kitty O’Compost continues warming up her reporter voice for the forthcoming Peace Is Here series The Peace Experiments exploring peace, AI, and the commons.

For this special holiday edition of The Next Peacelands, Avis Kalfsbeek changes her focus from the factual grounding of warzones and arms suppliers to highlight the spiritual organizations and networks actively building peace around the world.

• Get the Winter Holiday Reading list with links to the full stories: www.aviskalfsbeek.com/holiday
• Get Avis’s books: www.AvisKalfsbeek.com

• Music: “The Red Kite” by Javier “Peke” Rodriguez

Bandcamp: https://javierpekerodriguez.bandcamp.com

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3QuyqfXEKzrpUl6b12I3KW

Intro Music: PulseBox on Pixabay

• Upcoming series: The Peace Experiments
• John Burroughs – Winter Sunshine on Gutenberg (various editions): https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/4279/pg4279-images.html

Kitty Reads Lit for Peace: Kate Douglas Wiggin – The Birds’ Christmas Carol plus The Next Peacelands

This episode features a warm, humane reading from Kate Douglas Wiggin’s 1886 novella The Birds’ Christmas Carol—a tender holiday story shaped by Wiggin’s early work as a teacher and social reformer. Kitty reads a short excerpt that highlights Wiggin’s belief in community care and the quiet dignity of everyday kindness.

Kitty O’Compost continues warming up for The Peace Experiments (Season Zero), the forthcoming Peace Is Here series exploring peace, AI, and the cultural commons through grounded storytelling and thoughtful reflection.

For this special holiday edition of The Next Peacelands, Avis Kalfsbeek changes her focus from the factual grounding of warzones and arms suppliers to highlight the spiritual organizations and networks actively building peace around the world.

• Get the Winter Holiday reading list with links to full stories: www.aviskalfsbeek.com/holiday
• Get the Avis’s books: www.AvisKalfsbeek.com
• Music: “The Red Kite” by Javier “Peke” Rodriguez
  • Bandcamp: https://javierpekerodriguez.bandcamp.com
  • Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3QuyqfXEKzrpUl6b12I3KW
• Intro Music: PulseBox on Pixabay
• Upcoming series: The Peace Experiments
• Kate Douglas Wiggin – The Birds’ Christmas Carol on Gutenberg: https://gutenberg.org/cache/epub/721/pg721-images.html