Here are some of the great photos of Power Summit '09 from the Tacheny album!



Making POWER Summit T-shirts!

The creation of the mural from start...........

..........to finish!!!

Good times with tasty (and beautiful!) food

Thanks to our speakers and panelists!

Participating in the weekly peace vigil to bridge Minneapolis and St. Paul at the least, among other things, on the Lake Street and Marshall bridge. (Every Wednesday, 5-6 PM, or 4-5 in the winter.)

All the colors from the trip to the Mercado Centrale



Creating the wall, then knocking it down!

Having time to reflect or create in writing.

Beautiful smiling faces to match the weather!




The ever-present Italian Peace flag (PACE)

Day 3- Breaking down Barriers and Borders through our spirituality

To kick off our third day of POWER Summit, some of us took an optional field trip to the Minnesota History Center in downtown St. Paul to check out an exhibit called Open House: If These Walls Could Talk. Located in an actual reconstructed house, the exhibit tells the stories of various residents living in a house on the East Side of St. Paul during the past 100 years. Through interactive exhibits, we learned about the diverse immigrant families that called that place home through the years while getting a piece of Saint Paul history. It was fascinating to see how immigration has changed so much in the last century and to read about the unique, yet similar struggles and triumphs that each family experienced while living there. It got me thinking about all the different families that have lived in my own house, and where they came from, as well as encouraging me to think deeper about my own roots and family history.

Back at the Carondelet Center, we continued the day with a panel of speakers from four different spiritual backgrounds- Catholicism, Judaism, Islam and the Buddhist tradition. Each speaker inspired the group with their personal stories and experiences working for social change. They described how their spirituality sustains them and inspires them to continue their important work. Though all four claim very different beliefs, the same message of social justice and compassion echoed in their words. The panel helped us realize the universality of these beliefs, and it was clear that no matter what barriers and borders that we may build up between different religions, in the end we are all truly looking for peace and justice. Bree, of the Buddhist tradition inspired us all when she told us that our lives are like a crayon, when the crayon is all used up it is not gone, but rather the mark we made on the world with our crayon will live on. It is up to us to figure out what that mark is going to look like, and what difference we are going to make in the world.

Next, we got in our Learning Circles to reflect on and discuss what we heard in the panel. We learned more about each other and our personal histories as we shared our religious beliefs, experiences and struggles. We discussed the ways in which each of us are sustained by our spirituality and how that spirituality helps us break down various barriers and borders in our lives.

After a short snack break, Sister Brigid McDonald spoke about the weekly Peace Vigil on the Lake Street bridge to prepare us for our outing later that night. After listening to her stories about the peace movement, we were inspired by her energy and started making protest art right away! We carpooled over to the bridge and had a great time putting our words and ideas throughout the week into action through nonviolent protest. And in a way, we even broke down the border of St. Paul and Minneapolis! After the Peace Vigil, we headed over to St. Albert the Great Church in Minneapolis for a potluck dinner and an evening of storytelling and sharing about the Peace Vigil's ten years of resistance to war. It was a truly inspirational ending to a busy day!

After the storytelling, we all headed home to get some rest for tomorrow- the last day of POWER Summit, where we will be declaring our action steps, sharing our creative expressions and having a big celebration. I can't wait!

- Carolyn

Day Two – How building community helps break down barriers and borders

Day two began with another icebreaker. We got into our learning circles and wrote down every-day barriers and borders on small boxes. We thought of things like religion, sexuality, geography, class, and language that make us feel like there are barriers or borders between ourselves and people we don’t know and understand. Using those boxes, we constructed a big wall, then each group described and acted out little things that each of us could do in our interactions with people to break down some of those barriers. Finally, we joyfully destroyed the wall!

We then heard from Salvador Miranda, Twin Cities community organizer and instrumental leader in the inception and construction of the Mercado Central, a large Hispanic market on East Lake Street. His firey words at the very least made each of us think deeply about issues such as institutional racism, the prison industrial complex, affirmative action, the war on poverty, the war on drugs, charity and advocacy work, and the polarized political “debate of values,” that he identified as central to creating a solution to social problems. He framed his message through the story of his own journey from “Chicano homie” during Reagan’s first months in office to beneficiary of affirmative action to law student to community organizer to man responsible for many amazing developments for the Twin Cities’ Latino community. His message was challenging and inspiring. His energy was something that stuck with people throughout the day and will continue to influence many of us as we take on what he would call “battles” for what we believe in.

Following Sal, we hopped on Metro Transit and traveled west and north to visit two cool locations on Lake Street: Mercado Central and the Global Market. We indulged in great food, soaked up the sights and sounds of Lake Street and shopped and enjoyed the vendors of both places.

After a filling meal, we returned to the Carondelet Center for more processing in a large group. We felt drained but inspired, confused but enthused, challenged but eager to act. From our large group we broke into our two creative expression groups. The writing group workshopped what we had created on Day one, sharing, offering comments and compliments, and loving everyone’s energies, styles, and effort. The mural group made great progress on their visual creation, adding color and significance to what was a white canvas the day before.

We finished day two ready for rest and more adventures tomorrow!

Day One – A personal look at barriers and borders

We started the day off with some wonderfully awkward icebreaker activities. Faith encouraged us to greet new friends as if they were our long lost relative, then another new friend as if we really didn’t want to be here, then another as if they were telling us we had just won a million dollars. We then moved into our learning circles – small groups which whom we will spend time throughout the week processing, discussing, and reflecting.

Next, we heard from Kim Anderson. After a short introduction from her about Casa Guadalupana, the immigrant resource center which she founded and runs, we got into groups and did an empathy-building exercise around immigration. Kim gave each group a foreign board game with instructions in a language we couldn’t read. Our task was to try to figure out how to play the game while one of our group members took notes on the group process. Upon reflection on the activity in a large group, we found that each group, even though we had different games and different languages, faced similar struggles and dealt with them similarly. We all tried to relate parts of the game to other games we had played before. We all expressed feeling frustrated and that it was unfair. We didn’t even know where to begin with these children’s board games, all because of a language barrier. It helped us feel a miniscule portion of what groups of immigrants may experience when trying to come to the US.

Lunch on Monday was delicious Mexican food with a salad made of organic lettuce from our community garden.

After lunch we heard from a panel of young people. Two of them were recent immigrants from Iraq and one was the son of two Hmong immigrants. All three openly shared stories of either their immigration or the immigrations of their parents. The POWER Summit audience was struck by their struggles, from language to culture to education, and inspired by their energy and hope. Instead of being bitter after so many setbacks, the three of them work in different ways on behalf of immigrants. They were gracious and happy to answer our questions about their what they miss most of home and what their greatest hopes for their futures and the futures of other immigrants. Some spoke of missing friends and family and their hometowns. All were hopeful that immigrants will soon have an easier time, both in the immigration process itself and in terms of the cultural challenges that often face immigrants.

The rest of Monday was spent doing creative expression. Half of us spent time with Jessica Lopez Lyman and Steven Tacheny working on writing while the other half learned from Gustavo Lira, a local muralist, and began designing our own mural. Both groups will present their final creative expression projects during Thursday afternoon’s Celebration of Gratitude.

Our latest development team meeting has last Tuesday! And here is a brief update!
We began the meeting with an excercise led by Jessica Lopez Lyman. One person stood on a chair while another person sat behind the chair. Both people looked out at the room and described what they could see. Jessica then shared that the chair represents institutional racism, and asked us to reflect on that. We had some great sharing about institutional power and how for those of us who are "standing on the chair," it is hard for us to recognize our unearned privilege because don't always recognize that the chair is beneath us, we just see the world and think that what we see is the same as what everyone else sees. The exercise helped some of us remember that those who are oppressed by racism are seeing the world from behind huge obstacles, in our example, a chair.
Then, we got into updates. They included:
1. updates - they are coming in! National and local
2. food - our chef at the Carondelet is willing to try to make ethnic foods, and had experience cooking authentic Mexican food. Excellent!
3. money - scholarships and discounts are indeed available, and the process in informal and easy (basically a conversation with Jill and Jennifer)
4. marketing - we have been invited to table at De LaSalle and can investigate individual contacts at public schools to move into marketing
5. We did a little schedule clarification, then moved into larger groups.
This was out last meeting before pep and prep in June! Groups are emailing final lists of needed materials and plans before then.
Remember that you can register for POWER Summit at our website: http://www.csjstpaul.org/celeste_power_summmit_schedule.aspx
See you in June!
Peace,
Esther

Welcome, Spring!
The following is a brief summary of our meeting on March 3.
The environment task force talked about their planning of ice breaker activites, creation of ambience, etc.
The creative action group shared their ideas about individuals they are considering bringing in, as well as visions of what the creative action could look like, including spoken word, visual art: murals, 3-d, art for social change, graffiti artists. We will again have stencils for making POWER Summit t-shirts.
The ending celebration is now the Celebration of Gratitude! We are working on food, music, other activities that will be elements of this.
The waste free people spoke to the issue of waste free in terms of food - sustainable, local food coming from different ethnic traditions. We are looking at Mexican and Hmong ethnic dishes, since those cultures are very present in the twin cities. Again, we will be gathering lettuce from the community garden for a portion of our meals.
The people working on developing the panels shared an exciting pool of community contacts who were considering inviting to share their stories at POWER Summit. The panel members come from international and local backgrounds, are of diverse ages and education levels, and identify with different spiritual traditions.

Happy Thursday!
To see our latest schedule for POWER Summit 09, just click on the "find us on facebook" link in the post below. You don't need to have a facebook account to see the group and check out the schedule. However, if you are on facebook, we'd love to have you in the group. Anyone can join!
Peace!
Esther

Salutations!

On Tuesday the POWER Summit development team met at the Carondelet Center while outside temperatures continued to drop. Today, as I type this, it feels like 34 below here in Saint Paul, although the sun is shining and beautiful. It's hard to remember the heat of last summer's Summit, and we can't wait for the return of that sunny, peaceful week.
Before it arrives, though, we have much to do in preparation. At our development team meeting, we divided into working groups, including groups to focus on planning our panels, the closing block party, making the Summit waste free, environment and community building, marketing, and creative action. We also checked out our new publicity, which looks great and uses our new theme of Breaking Down Barriers and Borders: From Cliques to Global Conflicts, Learn Practical Peacemaking Skills.
Check back soon for a posted schedule, and don't forget to find us on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=44264158365&ref=ts
Peace,
Esther

Hello!
Many of you will soon be receiving or have already received a fabulous POWER Summit newsletter via email. If you didn't get one in your inbox and would like to start, or got one and wish you had not, send me an email at ebmoss@stkate.edu and let me know what's up.

Along with the newsletter updates, we want to keep you aware of various events happening in the CSJ community. You'll notice that many of these events have to do with the upcoming election. I can think of no better way to be an active peacemaker than to infrom your vote and encourage others to do so as well. These CSJ happenings are a great way to get started.

Also, I know many of you are getting involved in Get Out the Vote or other such organizations in your local communities. Tell us about it! You can use this blog or the facebook page to update the POWER Summit peace community about your own peace/election related goings on.
Here are the promised event updates:

Eco-Spirit ritual focusing on the element of water, Sunday, September 28, 4 p.m., Carondelet Center. All are invited to attend this family-friendly gathering centered on creation, compassion, and healing. After the ritual, we’ll move outside (rain site: Ad Center) to share a potluck meal together. [This ritual is an evolving gathering of people who are seeking a spiritual community to gather with on a monthly basis. The ritual will be shaped by the universe story/creation as sacred text revealing the divine and calling us to deep communion with earth and each other. We plan to incorporate the arts, movement, and great music. It will draw upon the world's wisdom traditions of indigenous as well as from the main religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. It is a recognition of ancient sacred energy … that the Spirit has been moving long before human history but also in and through the very beginnings of human's understanding of the holy on up through today.]

The State of Minnesota and our Legislative Response to Climate Change, Tuesday, September 30th, 6:30-8:30 p.m. , Carondelet Center. Featuring Senator Ellen Anderson, along with J. Drake Hamilton and Sheila Bayle of Fresh Energy. Voter Registration with Legislative Advocacy Partners. Co-sponsored by the CSJ EarthPartners & Legislative Advocacy Partners.

Non-Partisan G et Out The Vote Rally, Monday, October 6, 7-9 p.m., Carondelet Center. Secretary of State Mark Ritchie as keynote speaker.

Election 2008: The Voting Challenge – Thursday, October 9, 7-8:30 p.m., Carondelet Center. This is a follow-up to the Convention for the Common G ood presented by G ina Webb, Joänne Tromiczak-Neid, Mary Ellen Foster, Joan Spence Wittman, Ann Redmond, and CSC students Rachel Toenjes and Holly Larson who attended the convention providing an opportunity to examine the tools to help us make an informed decision based on Catholic Social Teaching and to clarify our own thinking and raise questions.

Non-Partisan G et Out the Vote (NP G OTV) – NP G OTV has information available at the CSJ Ad Center and Carondelet Center, including voter registration materials, NETWORK presidential candidate position sheet, absentee ballot application forms, voter registration forms, and pins and bumper stickers (free through the Minnesota Council of Non-Profits).

Visiting Women's Communities of Faith – Saturday, September 27, 9 a.m.-7 p.m.

Visit Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, Benedictine Sisters, Franciscan Poor Clares, and Sisters of St. Joseph all in one day! Explore with a group of women, 20-40 years of age, who are also seeking. See where the Sisters live and pray. Enjoy a day of learning, praying, and talking with us. Limited to 12. Contact Jill Underdahl, junderdahl@csjstpaul.org , 651-696-2873 to register or for more information.

High school students! Youth Venture Minnesota wants you to know about a high school workshop they are piloting called the Dream It. Do It. Challenge . It will take place over a series of Saturdays starting in October and will be held at a recreation room at Green Central Gym Park at 3400 4 ^th Ave. south Minneapolis . The workshop is free to all participants and will include: A weekend retreat in the Minnesota woods (at a YMCA camp with a ropes course), many hands on activities, more opportunity for youth peer-to-peer interaction, and up to $1000 in seed funding for every community Venture that launches as a result of participation in the Challenge. For more information, contact Jess Kraft at jkraft@youthventure.org at 612.455.2007.

Peace,

Esther