Woolman Blog

Who has power today? (an essay in 100 words)

Author & Role: Lucy Labadie, Spring '12 Student

Publication Date: April 25, 2012

Corporations and industrial food systems providing so many globally with so much stuff have accumulated an incredible amount of controlling top-down power in society, both socially and environmentally. Yet these systems in place are too large for us to build a connection without an expiration date. Though they govern much of what we consume. I believe grassroots change by the people for the people holds potential for altering this system and that power-with lies ready in the hands and hearts of the people, and that change on this small-scale holds the most positive power in our society today.

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The Myth of Redemptive Violence

Author & Role: Lulu Dewey, Student Spring 2012

Publication Date: April 25, 2012

The myth of redemptive violence is increasingly prevalent in our society as we begin to see violence legitimized more and more by politicians, the media, and through numerous aspects of our personal lives. The belief that evil can be overcome through violence and that in every situation as a nation we are the good and the conquered must be the evil only serves to promote the idea that violence saves us.

A classic case of the myth of redemptive violence being promoted through the media were the deaths of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. These almost mythical figures, embedded in the American psyche as being a danger to the collective “everything” that we “stand for,” were successfully and violently eradicated. Their deaths were not mourned, but rather grossly celebrated as being something that we had been hoping for. We were the good and they were the evil, the fact that they were human beings and that they had been murdered didn’t seem to enter into the equation.

Politically, redemptive violence often goes unseen or unrecognized. The recent fervor over Kony 2012 was a mass movement against a universally hated and brutal criminal in a far-off land. However, how often do we oppose the brutality and criminality supported by our own government? When the American government imposes sanctions that kill 500,000 Iraqi children or tortures suspects that remain unconvicted of any crime, when our government approves indefinite detention and spends billions of dollars on wars that the nation does not collectively support, committing unmentioned acts of violence in places where we are not welcome, who opposes this? Both situations deserve our attention. The myth of redemptive violence paints us as the good, when really in a situation outlined by the over-simplified terms of good and evil we are no better than those who we decry with such passion.

The myth of redemptive violence and its presence in my daily life went unnoticed until I spent a week away from Woolman. Through my experience at the Woolman Semester so far I’ve begun to have a dramatic change of worldview, and the fact that coming home for the break seemed to at first entirely reverse this worldview came as quite a shock to me. I left Woolman with the belief that things were indeed not right with the world, but that they could be fixed and that I had the power to create positive change. Day three into the break and I found myself thinking aloud, “Well, things aren’t that bad. There’s nothing I can really do about any of it anyway.” I was mortified at this to the point where I stopped what I was doing and eagerly sat down to read the articles that were assigned for homework.

It came down to this: while at Woolman, I felt legitimate. Everyone around me seemed to be in full support of all of the same peace, social justice, and sustainability movements that seek to make our world a fair place for all. At home it seemed as if the problem was everywhere: I began to see the myth of redemptive violence appear in the television shows that I watched, the newspapers I read, the conversations I had, and the everyday activities that I carried out. Even the clothes I wear are made with little conscience: other people make them for a pittance and I buy them for a relative fortune. The key element of redemptive violence is separation: the belief that all human beings aren’t connected and that our world cannot possibly be webbed with boundless interconnectedness only serves to strengthen the power of redemptive violence to the point that it begins to infiltrate our very consciousness.

The struggle against the myth of redemptive violence is in itself a form of redemptive violence: it is a fight, a struggle, a battle, there seems to be a good and a bad, an evil and a righteous side. As Walter Wink writes, “In short, the myth of redemptive violence is the story of the victory of order over chaos by means of violence (pg. 3).” In our society and in our culture as it exists today, coexistence and unity are not considered to be valid means of creating said order. Peace and nonviolence are equated with chaos, everything around us screams out for winners and losers. However, our systems of war and of violence— both physical and structural—that seek to glorify few and degrade many are exactly that: systems. They are not so deeply ingrained in us as to be irreversible— we are entirely capable of changing the way that our society functions at its very roots so that our systems truly serve us in the pursuit of equality and dignity— if only we remain aware of the world around us and move with intent towards a future that is bright for all of us.

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Interplay - How can playing save us? (From the Great Turning Trip)

Author & Role: Demi Thompson, Student 2012

Publication Date: April 24, 2012

In our day to day lives, we grow attached to certain aspects of how we live; whether its our dietary habits or personal relationships with people, objects or status. Some people live in the mind set that they are not attached to anything. Being attached is only half the situation. Interplay is a practice in which people can learn how to establish, lead, follow, attach, let go and then come back through dance.

The activities that were facilitated with our group at Interplay is movement and action based. During the establishing phase, each person picks a movement or action and moves and mills through the other participants. At any moment the game shifts, through the lead/follow phase each person randomly pairs up, one person will lead by continuing their movement or action and the other will begin to follow. As the leader is now 'attached' to their movement or action, in the next phase the pairs break apart all the leaders pick new movement/actions until they are a leader again or decided to follow someone else. At the end, each person returns to their original movement/action as part of coming back to things you were once attached to.

This game is a giant metaphor for life. It has applied to me in so many ways. One of the things that impacted me most about Interplay is the lead/follow concept. The idea behind it is that in healthy human relationships each persons must take turns in leading and following. Take a moment to think about how that idea applies to you.

Sally Mitchell, Cynthia Winton-Henry, and Shilpa Jain,

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The Great Turning Trip...Trash Mash-Up

Author & Role: Maria Doerr, Student Spring 2012

Publication Date: April 24, 2012

On the last day of our Great Turning trip we visited Bridget and Jessica McCracken at the Institute on Aging in San Francisco to learn about their project Trash Mash-Up. We spent part of the time talking about how much waste there is in the United States. Items like Tetra-pack cannot be reused or recycled in the traditional sense and just end up in the land fill. There is great possibility for all the trash a city produces. That’s where the McCracken sisters come in. On their own and with the help of supporters, they’ve collected large amounts of so called “waste” to be repurposed as costumes and art. They have worked with schools and kid groups to create ornate and cultural masks and costumes for theatrical productions and parades.

After discussing their work and organization, it was time to start getting creative. We were going to be making dream catchers—a cultural art form done by many Native American tribes to help catch good thoughts and dreams. Tetra-pack, markers, scissors and paper were whisked out of bags. The room exploded into the busy sounds of cutting paper and coloring. We followed the McCracken’s lead and, step by step, the assortment of trash became funky, silly and sweetly designed dream catchers. Everyone worked as a big group—our first grade teachers would have been proud—as we shared the glue sticks and politely asked for the scissors. We all helped each other to get the project done.

This activity showed me that one man’s trash is everyone’s treasure. I was reminded that we can do more than just the traditional sense of recycling in the blue bins. Repurposing old materials into interesting artwork is just one way we can make lemonade out of what lemons we’re given. We have available to us a whole world of usable, free resources that can be used in school programs and workshops for the youth. Attending this Trash Mash-Up activity reminded me of our trip to Inter-Play earlier in the week. Both activities focused on the great potential for social change that can be found in having fun. Being an activist does not have to be big, depressing work. Sometimes what change calls for are laughter and growing connections between people. There is a great value in remembering that we are all having this great human experience together.

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Occupy the Blog (A panel of Occupy Oakland activists during The Great Turning Trip)

Author & Role: Devin Cruz, student

Publication Date: April 24, 2012

The panel of Occupy Oakland activists was a very interesting stop on our weeklong field trip. I got to see what Occupy was about and what kind of people were in it. I knew Occupy was made up of a lot of different people, but it was really shocking to me to see how diverse they really were .In some way, Occupy has done a lot already for the people it helps, also for the people whom are helping. Learning and hearing everything the panel had to say was great. They spoke of what the movement means to them, how they got into it, and how it affects their lives.

The Occupy panel was made up of a high school young female, an older female nurse, a father of 3 kids and then 3 or 4 everyday normal people. These people shared their stories. The high school girl made an Occupy group within her school and put together walkouts. The father of 3 joined occupy because he felt as if the school board and government wasn’t helping the education system very much. They closed too many schools and cut funding so he felt like it was his job to step up and help. Another man spoke about how his life before Occupy was all about living what he thought was a negative lifestyle. Since Occupy his life changed dramatically. Now he has new friends, a new style of dress, a totally new way of seeing things, and is feeling good about helping people. Everyone spoke about how much they love to help and get things done. Over all it was great meeting these people, they gave me a real look of what Occupy is and made up of.

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Striking at the Roots: A Public Service Announcement with Levana Saxon (From The Great Turning Trip)

Author & Role: Ariel Fisher, Student, Spring 2012

Publication Date: April 23, 2012

We pulled up to the increasingly familiar Berkeley Friends Meeting House. Its high gates and green gardens a welcoming sight to our eager minds. Already this visit seems different from most of the others. We started with a game of soccer. Four to twelve. Soccer for Suckers it was deemed only after we lost miserably. Seeing how though we outnumbered Team Awsome, as they were named, by eight people. The four of them had the ability to make up any rule they wanted. We struggled away, our eyes closed, one foot maimed, our goal taken away from us. Though we held faith until the end even with a losing score. It didn’t even occur to us to simply rebel. Though Team Awsome may seem to hold the power, it is only because we make it that way. The game was a metaphor of the ever present government. Looming over our every move, taking the win for themselves. It paved the way, opening our minds to the realization that we can make a difference that all we have to do is take the initiative.

Our next exercise involved looking at the many different issues that stir passion within us. Issues that we strive to fix, support, or change. Taking a vote, we narrowed the topic down to food injustice. Step by step we broke it down. Recognizing what the problem was and what was supporting it at it's very roots. From there we began to dismantled its structure. Taking each support or pillar and creating solutions to counteract them. Slowly we tackled food deserts, subsidies, fast food industries, and agro-businesses. Seeing what we could do just by taking the initiative we set out to educate others of the rising risks involved with food injustice and that there are other options available. In only a few hours we had a working PSA ( public service announcement ) complete with music, dance, poetry, and a skit. The visit gave us hope that we can make a difference in our society and that the key is standing up for what you believe.

This was part of a Theater of the Oppressed type exercise where we acted out: The Story of Fast Food

Eating Fast Food Makes Everyone Happy!!! (or does it?!)

Levana Saxon is an organizer and educator with Practicing Freedom, using participatory action research, popular education and creative action to generate collaborative community-led change. She began applying Freirian principles and popular education and theater practices with children in her home town of Aptos 16 years ago, Since then taught various forms of popular education and theater to educators, activists and students of all ages. To learn more about Levana's work, go to her site:http://www.practicingfreedom.org/

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The Great Turning Trip...Generation Waking Up: A Woolman Wake-Up

Author & Role: Lulu Dewey, Student Spring 2012

Publication Date: April 23, 2012

Collaborative at Project! Learn more about Generation Waking Up at: www.genup.net

On our last day in the Bay Area we participated in a Woolman Wake-Up with the organization Generation Waking Up. It was a sunny, breezy Friday morning and we drove across the Bay Bridge to the San Francisco Friends Meeting House. Inside we were greeted by David, Evan, and Adam. While they finished setting up the projector we made name-tags and did some collaborative art. Music was playing and the meeting house was bright and spacious. The three Wake-Up facilitators and their friend "Professor Fun" were highly enthusiastic and the room buzzed with almost tangible excitement. We soon came together into a half-circle of chairs and began the Wake-Up. First, we introduced the person to our right with the prompt, "What does... bring to this room?" Then we watched and verbally responded to some films created by Generation Waking Up. We had seen a few of the videos in class but as our trip came to a close the profundity of the facts that they laid out for us truly hit home.

In short, the Wake-Up served to remind us of the power we held to make positive change in a world that often seems dauntingly close to crumbling. It was at once sombre and joyful and the different artistic elements allowed us to remain in a creative rather than in a destructive mindset. So often it is tempting to hear about all that is wrong in the world and sink into feelings of guilt, hopelessness, and despair. Generation Waking Up gave us a sort of antidote to this set of emotions. Our visit concluded with more collaborative art. We were asked to draw our hopes for the future and write messages for the people of today's world, passing each piece of paper around the circle for every prompt. Before we said goodbye, we made a specific commitment to impact the world positively. The experience as a whole was extremely enlightening and was an excellent and inspirational way to begin to wrap up the Great Turning Trip.

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The Great Turning Trip: Global Exchange

Author & Role: Jane Davis, Woolman Semester Student Spring 2012

Publication Date: April 21, 2012

The very first day of our Great Turning trip started out on a very high note with a visit to the Global Exchange headquarters in San Francisco. Our meeting took place in their conference room; the walls were decorated with posters of all types, works of art, and a large, colorful rendition of their insignia. Our workshop started off with an introduction to their organization. Global Exchange is involved with a huge number of projects including: organizing trips to countries like Palestine to establish people to people connections, a food freedom project to give communities choice in what they eat, a campaign against the U.S. exporting firearms to Mexico to fuel the drug war, and work in their stores to encourage fair trade. Though their projects spanned countries, communities, and the world there was definitely a common thread - an effort to empower communities and individuals to establish laws that recognize their rights.

Although I enjoyed every moment of the visit to Global Exchange there was one speaker who was unforgettable. Towards the end of the workshop a woman who we had seen on the way in came in to talk to us for a few minutes, Her name was Chie and she had been employed by a sweatshop in a U.S. protectorate. She talked about the conditions in the sweatshop and her impressive role in changing them. Chie was a supervisor in the factory because she is skilled in math. Although the position gave her some leverage it was not enough to really change things. Chie knew this so she brought in the show 20/20 and helped them do an expose on the sweatshop. Her work changed conditions greatly, but it also made her an enemy of companies that the factory worked for like Gap. To this day Chie is not allowed in Gap stores.

Chie, a new heroine of ours, at Global Exchange

Global Exchange reminded us of a few ideas that continued to show up for the rest of the trip. The workshop reminded us that when people are fighting for a say in their government or for better conditions in their work place they are not fighting for rights, they are fighting for recognition of the human rights that they were born with. Global Exchange also reminded us that if change needs to happen, begging for it is not going to work; change will occur if we go out and make it happen.

To learn more about Global Exchange, please visit their website at: http://www.globalexchange.org/

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Global Issues Trip: The Canticle Farm...A Quirky Utopia

Author & Role: Jenny Davis, Student

Publication Date: April 20, 2012

Our visit to Canticle farms began on a drizzling Wednesday morning. Kristin, the intern driving the Suburban in which we rode, parked on the street and we ambled out, meeting up with the other groups in front of a quaint white house. Number 1966, a plaque next to the front door read. I wasn’t sure what to expect; I knew that gangs had once dominated these streets, and there was the faint ticking of nerves in my chest. But then we were ushered inside by a smiling, grey-haired woman who introduced herself as Annie, and her house put me at ease immediately. I instantly took to the shelves teeming with books, the brightly colored carpet, the pictures of Annie’s five children propped on every available counter, and the comfortable chairs arranged in a circle in the living room. We introduced ourselves and, as part of the introduction, named one thing that we would like to protect. Annie described her involvement with the Canticle Farm and its mission: to break down the barriers that her neighbors had set up over the years and establish a loving and giving community on a street once considered to be dangerous and unsavory.

After introductions came a tour of the grounds and then a silent meditation with Pancho, a Mexican immigrant (“I’m from the part of the world called Mexico,” was the way he introduced himself) who lives intentionally without papers. The meditation took place in the attic the Casa de Paz, where Pancho and a couple of others live under a set of guidelines outlined on a piece of paper pinned in the entrance. Next came a couple of rounds of questioning, during which an outer circle and inner circle were established. The members of the inner circle rotated so that we were given the chance to speak with a variety of people. We were asked to listen in silence to our partners, and the same courtesy was extended to us. Questions included: what do you love about being a citizen of the earth?, what are you grateful for?, and who are you really?

Throughout our visit—amidst the tour of the expansive outside area and the crumbling old house Annie had recently purchased—the theme of interconnectedness and oneness emerged. It became apparent that a major component of Canticle Farm was its belief that all humans are figuratively one; we are also one, though, with the streams, rivers, rocks, and sky. This idea was refreshing to me, as it set up a mentality that allowed for spiritual connections to each other’s humanity and also the natural world. All of the other visits up until then had stressed their purpose of defeating something, be it corporations, the one percent, or even climate change. Canticle Farm, though, recognized the importance of seeing the world as all connected, becoming cognizant of the inherent humanity and kindness in the brutal police officer as well as the beautiful stream. I was intrigued by this mentality, which I defined as “us with us” as opposed to “us vs. them.” The idea that we are all one first seemed far-fetched, but after some contemplation I decided that I would like to subscribe to the “we are all one” doctrine to combat the frustration I had felt during some of the other workshops.

We ate lunch on the floor of Sister Kimberly and Brother David’s house (at Canticle Farm everybody is called “Sister” or “Brother”), and then Adelaja, who lives in a tent in Sister Annie’s backyard, told his story. He spoke candidly of the struggles he faced while trying to become a massage therapist, and then of his early life, confessing that as a child he strove to live in the most violent neighborhood possible. Adelaja and Kimberly fielded questions about their philosophies and involvement in Canticle Farm, and then it was time to leave. It was still drizzling when we returned to the Suburban, but this time as I looked up at the sky I felt instead of resentment—we had planned to work outside, but the weather had not permitted it—a certain affinity for the drops

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What a month!

Author & Role: Emily Zionts, Global Issues and Peace Studies Teacher

Publication Date: April 20, 2012

What a month! This last month has been one of the most inspirational times that I have experienced since coming to work at Woolman. Three unforgettable events helped to shape a wonderful month!

Climbing Poetree

The action started in late March with a visit to my Peace Studies class from two heroines of mine, Alixa and Naima, from the spoken word group: Climbing Poetree.

blog 2 - free slideshow maker

The following description is taken from their website:

Climbing PoeTree is the combined force of two boundary-breaking soul-sisters who have sharpened their art as a tool for popular education, community organizing, and personal transformation. With roots in Haiti and Colombia, Alixa and Naima reside in Brooklyn and track footprints across the country and globe on a mission to make a better future visible, immediate, and irresistible.

Soul-stirring and heart-opening, the poetry Alixa and Naima deliver challenges its listeners to remember their humanity, dissolves apathy with hope, exposes injustice, and helps heal our inner trauma so that we may begin to cope with the issues facing our communities.

Alixa and Naima have traveled over 10,000 miles with an all-women crew in a recycled vegetable oil-powered bus, delivering their latest production, Hurricane Season: the hidden messages in water, to over 9,000 people across the nation, and featuring 150 community-based organizations. They are currently translating this award-winning production into a multi-media curriculum that employs art and culture to help learners analyze systems of oppression and resistance, and uses a popular education model to build new leadership essential for fundamental social change.

For nearly 3 hours, these incredibly powerful women had us with our jaws dropped. One student later said that he kept forgetting to breathe because he was so moved by their captivating energy. Other students mentioned that they left the workshop feeling a whole new appreciation for art activism as a medium for getting a message out and inspiring others to do the same. Their words were both wise, eloquent, touching, and funny and wove a tapestry of images of social and environmental justice issues, some of which we had touched upon and others that were new to the youth. I, for one, will never forget that day!

The Economics of Happiness Conference

There I am next to two new role models of mine in an education workshop at the conference. Photo Credits: Becky White. Taken from ISEC website.

One year ago, I stumbled upon a documentary called, “The Economics of Happiness” and have been showing it to each semester ever since. The two-part film is strikingly similar to the way that I have organized my Global Issues class. The first half is a series of criticisms of the current form of globalization that is ruling our economic system, namely through top-down politics and giant multinational corporations. The movie strives to debunk several myths about this system, from the environmental perspective to the inner personal.

Just as Global Issues takes a turn towards actions and alternatives by mid-semester, so does “The Economics of Happiness”. As passionately as the ills of our current system are described, so then are the benefits of community building, local food systems, local energy, and more.

When I heard that the organization who created the film, The International Society for Ecology and Culture, were putting on a conference I was excited. When I heard that almost half of the presenters were folks that I use in my curriculum: Joanna Macy (writes prolifically about The Great Turning), Helen Norberg-Hodge (the creator of the Economics of Happiness film), Annie Leonard (creator of The Story of Stuff), Michael Shuman (local economies expert), Manish Jain (co-creator of Shikshantar, a learning community that we read about in “Walk Out, Walk On”), Charles Eisenstein (who writes about gift economies), Jon Symes (from the Pachamama Alliance), and so many more!

I am blessed with a very supportive staff and community at Woolman. I was feeling overwhelmed with work in the weeks leading up to the conference and friends at school both gave me the encouragement that I needed and took care of some chores that I had, in order to allow me to go. Woolman also helped pay my way as professional development. The rest of the cost was covered by a scholarship that I received from the organization.

My experience at the conference was so positive. I beamed (to myself) with pride about how aligned all of the innovative and inspirational work that was presented was with this crazy class that I have created from scratch and have poured my heart into over the last three years. It was so validating to know that what the youth and I were experiencing back at Woolman was what was being talked about in the frontlines of one of the most important movements today.

I also really appreciated that the conference had such an uplifting and empowering way of approaching the topic. All of us who attended know the scary facts and figures. When you only have a weekend, there is not enough time to dwell in the destruction and despair that we are well aware of. Because, the flip side of it, is that there is also not enough time to cover all of the beautiful and successful initiatives popping up worldwide that are effectively recreating connections between humans and also between humans and the natural world. There are so very many of these communities and organizations! And goodness knows, you aren’t hearing about them in the mainstream media or mainstream education systems!

There are a great many ideas that I took home with me and immediately began emphasizing more strongly in the classroom. One that I would like to write about now is the power of community. Over and over again, speakers drilled home the importance of human connections—not just as a warm and fuzzy way to feel good in your neighborhood, but as a survival mechanism.

It was very interesting to me when I first began teaching Global Issues. I noticed from the kids what I call the “localization movement backlash.” Students who had been raised in eco-friendly, liberal communities were well aware of these ideas. I think that for the most part, that is wonderful! However, one of the effects that this had on the youth is that some were completely fixated on only “acting locally” or were hyper-focused on the power of individual choices to create change. I am a huge proponent of acting locally and living the change that we want to see, but I also see a world that is increasingly interconnected. No longer can we just live our peaceful lives and feel proud to not be taking part in oppressive systems. We can diminish those negative affects through our personal choices, but those communities that are bearing the brunt of globalization, environmentally and socially, are nearly invisible to the mainstream American. It is my firm belief that it is the responsibility of privileged folks living in relative peace to examine the roots and then work to dismantle unhealthy economic institutions.

The Economics of Happiness Conference brought community ties back into the forefront of my mind. The challenges that the global community faces are insurmountable without strong local community connections. Repeatedly, it was said that part of the problem is that we have replaced our dependence on each other for monetized goods and services. Why should I go out of my way to get to know my neighbors? I don’t need them. I can pay people to fill my all of my needs. When I teach about The Earth Charter in class, we spend time talking about how the ways in which so many of our activities and relationships are facilitated through material goods. We use our foundations of Nonviolent Communication to examine what real human needs are being met through the use of our iPods, cell phones, and video games. Finally, we ask ourselves (me, too!) how we can work to meet those needs without those “things” that have unintended consequences such as child slavery and environmental injustice in other parts of the world.

These are hard questions to ask and can be overwhelming for some who have lived immersed in the culture of unquestioned consumption up until now. What I learned about strengthening local economies at the conference brought new energy and a wider context to these conversations that I was already having.

Another theme that was repeated throughout that weekend and absolutely emerged again in The Great Turning Trip was the importance of joy in our social movements. Yes, this work is hard. Yes, these crises are scary. But no, we don’t have to be gloomy doomsday naysayers in our approaches to recreating the world! We can laugh, we can sing, we can play…in fact, we might have to! Doing all of those things helps empower others to join along with us, instead of grieving alone, feeling overwhelmed and disempowered. And the best part about it is that all of that hilarious, dorky, silly play is also creating those very community bonds that we so direly need as we move into the future.

The Great Turning Trip

The capstone event of this month of inspiration was the first ever Great Turning Trip, but you can see the other blog below about that!

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The Great Turning Trip...From Every Angle: Global Exchange

Author & Role: Chelsi Torres, Woolman Semester Student Spring '12

Publication Date: April 20, 2012

The first day of the Great Turning trip started off with a stop a Global Exchange. Walking into the first nice city building of the week was a bit overwhelming until I stepped into the offices at Global Exchange. I was greeted by smiling faces and art of all different kinds promoting every peace, justice, and sustainability cause out there. This was definitely a place for the Woolman students.

Our group settled into a large conference room and began an activity defining words like justice and collectively understanding why much of our society is set up to benefit only 1% of the population. That introduction really helped to get in the mindset of why Global Exchange was there in the first place. They saw how our world has all of these issues and are answering the question: How do we create a world where everyone and everything has a high quality of life?

When two women began talking about all that Global Exchange does, I felt overwhelmed again. One part of their work is to work with communities to create a specialized way of living in order to create community rights. They also sent people to many different areas of the world on reality tours to show how different life is in areas like North Korea. Some of their staff helps organize other groups that want to create justice. There is even a Global Exchange store that sells fairly traded goods. They seemed to hit from all angles, and even though it was confusing to understand how it all fit together I realized that was exactly what the world needed. One of the greatest things I have learned from my education so far at Woolman is that no issue stands alone. Everything is connected and that’s how Global Exchange creates change. Working through issues through each branch of their influence.

Part of our time at the Global Exchange office was with a woman named Chie who previously worked in a sweatshop and is now working with Global Exchange to end sweatshops. Her story was heartbreaking, but also extremely inspiring. Through realizing that this kind of labor needed to end, she eventually managed to create a documentary on the horrible conditions in this sweatshop and have it shown on ABC’s 20/20 with Barbara Walters. Such a huge exposure of the GAP company and their use of sweatshops was not tolerated, and to this day Chie cannot go into any GAP store without being asked to leave. Chie introduced me to one of the most important lessons that I learned on this trip: do not simply ask, “Please change this.” Instead, assert your rights as if you have them, because you do.

After leaving those offices with motivation and possibility I held onto that one large lesson that Chie taught me through the entire trip and realized that it applied to every group and organization that we visited. I realized that this is the way to make change. Did the civil rights movement make strides by asking, or demanding that their rights be respected? Maybe, but what really shook people up was when those oppressed people acted how they wanted to be treated and demanded by action. This is one of the most fundamental concepts of activism, and I thank Global Exchange and everyone at Woolman who made this trip possible for teaching me how to make our world a more just place.

If you are interested in learning more about Global Exchange's community rights work, please check this out:http://www.globalexchange.org/communityrights/actnow

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The Great Turning Trip: Center for the Elderly and the Youth in the Arts

Author & Role: Lucy Labadie, Spring '12 Student

Publication Date: April 19, 2012

CEYA: Institute on Aging

On Friday afternoon we visited the Center for the Elderly and Youth in the Arts (CEYA), which is a program of the Institute on Aging in San Francisco. It provides the elderly a nurturing daycare environment alongside an opportunity to engage in creativity through the arts and intergenerational sharing with youth volunteers. It is an inspiring place, with warm old folks and smiling volunteers. But you can’t help but wonder at the end of the day, where and who they go home to. Or who doesn’t get this opportunity at all. It struck me to pay attention to the generation gap within our society. It is now an emerging worldview to give respect and acknowledgement to the ancient knowledge that we used to harbor – to pay attention to the wealth of knowledge that humans have accumulated over millennia. Yet to a large extent we are systemically divided from the elderly of our society, from the old wisdom that presently exists. They live alone in their old age, and usually in a home specifically for senior citizens. Personally, I felt a rekindled awareness of who is in this generation we’re talking about when it comes to a generation waking up, which we talked about earlier that morning.

Jessie McCracken, the program director, showed us around and talked about the power of storytelling, and of creative engagement. This seemed to be a theme of the visit. Through their art, the elderly at the daycare were able to express themselves, share, and ultimately feel a sense of connection and purpose each day. One intergenerational workshop that the program does is an interview project between a youth and an elder, through which the elder shares their story and the youth interviews, takes note, and shares the story back to the whole group. It is empowering for them to be heard and to be given such respect, acknowledgement, and worth. One statistic that sank me was that the people most prone to suicide in America are the senior citizens of our society. They are marginalized in our culture. Little of what we consider productive they are able to contribute to. Much of the week during this trip we spent with new organizations promoting youth engagement, ‘a generation waking up’, and our 15 billion year old existence. It was not until this last visit that things came together for me, that bringing the elderly population and their care into the picture is so necessary if we are moving to create sustainability, social and environmental justice, and peace in this time. We are here, said one well-known monk, to awaken from the illusion of our separateness. I think this means recognizing that we have much to learn from the stories and creativity that our grandparents can contribute.

FOLLOW THIS LINK TO LEARN MORE ABOUT CEYA: http://ceya.ioaging.org/artists/artists_senior_programs.html

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Who Has Power? (in 100 words!)

Author & Role: Jenny Davis, Student

Publication Date: April 19, 2012

We have the power in our community, a body that I define as the world. Because we as people have the power to dehumanize and harm each other, we too have the power to give each other hope and dignity: I, like my hero Elie Wiesel, believe in the inherent power of humanity over ourselves and over each other. We have power-over in that we have structured governments and legal systems; power-with in that movements that promote cohesion (such as the communist ones) have been executed; and power-from-within in that our society has nurtured very many creative and soulful people.

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Introducing: The Great Turning Trip

Author & Role: Emily Zionts, Global Issues and Peace Studies Teacher

Publication Date: April 19, 2012

“By what name will future generations know our time?

Will they speak in anger and frustration of the time of the Great Unraveling, when profligate consumption exceeded Earth's capacity to sustain and led to an accelerating wave of collapsing environmental systems, violent competition for what remained of the planet's resources, and a dramatic dieback of the human population?

Or will they look back in joyful celebration on the time of the Great Turning, when their forebears embraced the higher-order potential of their human nature, turned crisis into opportunity, and learned to live in creative partnership with one another and Earth?”

-David Korten

Activists, authors, indigenous elders, and philosophers from many countries and backgrounds describe this point in human and natural history as The Great Turning. It is a term that recognizes that we are at a crossroads and if we are to continue the path that we have been on for the last 100 years, the result will be unmatched devastation of human and natural life. However, there are actions, alternatives, and solutions springing up in the intersections of human rights, economics, and ecology that are actively combating these crises. The best part is that the folks participating in them are even having fun in the meanwhile!

Adios Mexico Trip

In mid-February, I was informed that the Department of State raised the security alert specifically for the area surrounding where we travel to Mexico. The warning said to "defer all non-essential travel". It was the notification that I knew was coming, given that the conditions on the border seem to giving little sign of improving. It was the notification that caused us to cancel the Mexico trip.

This was an emotional decision for me. I’ve made that trek 5 times now, with nearly 50 different students and 20 interns. I truly believe that all who attended were profoundly affected on some level by experiences that went straight to the heart of the immigration debate and turned people who had known very little about the issue before the class into lifelong allies.

Students of Fall 2011 at the border fence in Mexico

No matter how amazing our trip was, this loss is nothing compared to what the Mexican people are experiencing at home. Please hold our friends to the south, and their family members here in the states, in the light. Not only that, but I urge you to continue to take action to support a healthy local Mexican economy and immigration reform in the U.S.

As for The Global Issues trip, when one door closes, another opens, and as I came out of my sadness for the loss, I was able to open my heart to the new opportunity in front of me!

And so, from April 9^thto the 13^th, staff and students ventured out on our first ever Great Turning Trip. This experiential learning journey’s goals were two-fold. Part of the trip included a tour of innovative and inspirational organizations located in the San Francisco Bay. But much of the time was also be spent in interactive workshops with leading activists using internationally acclaimed methodology for helping us to get in touch with our own individual roles in The Great Turning.

On the trip, we were able to see with our own eyes that being an activist means something different to each of us. Through experiencing and being introduced to a range of activism methodologies and alternative systems, it became easier to envision how we might each use what makes us happy in life to make the world a better place!

Activities from the week included: meeting with a former GAP sweatshop worker at Global Exchange, having our very own panel of Occupy Oakland activists, visiting an intentional community based on the principles of The Great Turning in a gang ridden area of Oakland, taking an activist mural tour through the Mission District in San Francisco, and so much more! Please visit our blog next week to read about the visits in the students’ words: http://blog.woolman.org

Finally, it is necessary to express my gratitude for those who helped this trip happen. Each of the organizations were incredibly generous with their time and spirit. Thanks to Bob and Kathy Runyan (and Keith for organizing a song circle and labyrinth walk) at The Quaker Center for hosting us on our mini-vacation the weekend before. And an enormous and heartfelt THANK YOU to Cindy, Peter, and Matthew Trueblood for so kindly hosting our entire group of 22 staff and students from Sunday through Friday at their house!

Thanks for your support!

Emily Zionts

Global Issues

Peace Studies teacher

During the "Wake Up" Experience with Generation Waking Up

On the Activist Mural Tour in the Mission District

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Sustainability update 5

Author & Role: Ariel Fisher, Jenny Davis

Publication Date: April 17, 2012

This week, we seeded about 95% of the plants we are going to use in our English Cottage Garden. We also did an enormous amount of weeding. Finally, we finished our powerpoint presentation, which we will show in class on Wednesday. The presentation will discuss the history of English cottage gardens, our process of seeding, planting, and weeding, and our plans for the garden.

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