freedom day is coming

It seems ridiculous that my last post is about a wintry walk when we are in the midst of the summeriest of springs here in southern Ontario.

But I am BUSY! So many little projects and events. I am saving up my free time for getting out of the house, away from the computer and talking to real live people face-to-face.

Still blogging regularly here and here.

This weekend I am going to this. See you there?

May 15th is FREEDOM DAY. I return from this symposium in Montreal on May 14th at 4:15 p.m. On May 15th I lie on a chair in the backyard and read a novel -- please neighbours, have mercy and do not drill holes in bricks that day. (The garage builders added a new awning yesterday. To the house, not the garage. The neighbour to the north moved away -- we were surprisingly sad about this -- and the new people are renovating. Until now it has been a quietly tappy sort of renovation but today it has become loudly drilly.)

And on May 16th, we are launching the Crazy Wisdom Parade and I am going to this:

Beyond Active Listening:
Story and Diversity in Adult Literacy Teaching and Learning

Part of the International Day for the Sharing of Life Stories, this workshop is about what practitioner-researchers from two community-based adult literacy programs are learning in their research project on story and diversity.

The research is about the many ways we use story in literacy teaching and learning and how our own stories are at play in our practice whether we acknowledge them or not. How we came to be literacy practitioners and why we continue to do this work is part of our stories. In literacy practice, we are usually working across social differences of race, class, educational level, etc.. In this research we explore moments of complexity in working across differences. We are trying to learn how to do the work of honest self-reflection that helps us to listen and hear in more authentic, non-oppressive, generative ways.

We invite literacy practitioners, advocates, researchers and other allies to learn about this group’s work and to engage with us for an afternoon in your own reflective process about story and diversity. We will use simple arts-based ways of working together.

When: Friday, May 16, 2008 1:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Where: OISE/UT, 7th floor, Peace Lounge
Department of Adult Education and Counselling Psychology
252 Bloor Street West, Toronto, (St. George subway station)