Cheers!

Wind in the sails and moving forward!

Thank you to those of you who wrote about 'becalmed' experiences. It is an uncomfortable state for a sailor, but provides valuable time for reflection.

It is an interesting experience for a practitioner, working with people in conflict for so many years, to now be a part of the academic community who use language like "problematizing the hegemonic discourse of modernity".
I must confess that when someone first said I was pragmatic, I wanted to deny it, not totally sure of what was meant. It can feel a bit like the discomfort of having a leg on either side of a fence as I live each day between the practitioners and academic worlds. Perhaps better than the fence is the bridge, allowing two way traffic and communication.

As I write this I am also given the opportunity of bridging communities. My CKUA radio station plays online and it is 3 am in Alberta. I am emailing to a colleague in Sri Lanka who is working with children in a peer mediation program I am involved with, and I am messangering with a colleague and friend in Romania. We are both celebrating our friend Romeo Crow Chief (who was in Romania with me) who has had a big birthday.

It is November 11th and so the white and red poppies show a rememberance of those who gave their lives, both in war and work toward peace. I wish to honour all those who gave their lives...as I strive for a world where differences are resolved without war.

I will honour those who died in human violence, and I also think of the loss of life daily due to malnutrition and starvation. Whether driving across the Canadian praires and seeing the reaches of wheat and soybean fields, or going from Colombo to Batti and seeing the rice fields; I am struck with the world's capasity to feed all living beings.

Current reading:

John Paul Lederach (2005) The Moral Imagination
Linda Tuhiwai Smith (2001) Decolonizing Methodologies
Jack Mezirow(1991) Transformative Dimensions of Adult Learning
James Frey(2003) a million little pieces

What are you reading?
What are you reflecting on?

I look forward to hearing from you.

m.m.mcmanus@bradford.ac.uk
or marthamcmanus@hotmail.com

Take Care,

Martha

If you are an able letter writer, please email me and i will forward you the details as human rights organizations persist in demands that the rape of a 14 year old Sri Lankan girl is delt with in the courts.