Reflections on the WE LEARN Conference
Providence, Rhode Island
March 2010

               In March, three UMFK students, one UMFK professor, and myself, a FKCHS student attended the WE LEARN conference (http://www.litwomen.org/conferences/conf10.html) in Providence, Rhode Island.  WE LEARN, or Women Expanding Literacy  Education Action Resource Network,  is a conference aimed at bringing women together in an environment that empowers them.  The workshop we led was called “Making Sense of Peace.”

            We wanted the participants to first give us their definition of the abstract concept of peace.  Answers given included being calm, feeling happiness, having a lack of conflict, and finding unity.  Professor Geraldine Cannon Becker then read “A Little Peace” by Barbara Kerley.  This book, though simple, is inspiring.

            Following the reading, the participants were split into groups based around the five senses.  Each group had one leader to guide them, but the responses were left up to them.  The questions they were asked were not always easy to answer:  What does peace look like?  What does peace smell like?  What does peace sound like? Taste like?  Feel like?  The answers were varied.  Peace looks like nature, calm sometimes, or wild.  Peace smells like incense, or air, or a calm place you like to go. Peace sounds like music or waves. Peace tastes sweet, you want to say, but you feel at peace while drinking bitter tea, too.  It depends on your culture.  What it feels like is up to you.

            After this, Prof. Becker then read “What Does Peace Feel Like?”  This book was a lot like the previous session, only the answers were those surveyed from children.  They had some very creative answers.

            Then I led a session where the participants were shown how to make origami peace cranes.  Between steps I told the story of Sadaku and the 1,000 paper cranes.  Many participants had trouble with the folding, which is a very delicate process.  However, it wasn't really the end result that mattered, but the peace found while focusing on the task at hand.

            The workshop ended with a final reading, from another children's book called “Zen Shorts” by Jon J. Muth.  This book tells not one but four stories, three of which are told by one character to the others.  These shorts are thought provoking, and leave readers or listeners to ponder their simple truths in connection to our workshop.

            We participated in a few workshops given by others as well.  The conference as a whole was inspiring and informative.  I can't wait to present in a similar manner this September at Goddard College where we will hold another “Making Sense of Peace” workshop at their 2010 Transformative Language Network—Power of Words Conference. (http://www.tlanetwork.org/conference/)  The workshop, alone, is an experience worth repeating again and again.  I know the other attendants feel the same way as I do. Coming together and learning from each other is a rewarding process we would recommend to everyone.  What do we give each other?  What do we take away from the process?  These things will be different and meaningful each time.

--Jessica Becker

Editor's note:  One of the students who attended made a poster and presented it at the first Scholar’s Symposium held at UMFK in April 2010.