iWitness - All Issues
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Spring at WoolmanApril 20, 2012 Baby goats and baby lambs, daffodils and apple blossoms. It is hard to avoid being prosaic about spring at this time of year. Woolman has never looked better, with a garden bursting with promise of summer bounty, the orchard pruned and the wildflowers (there are even ones named Henderson shooting stars) blossoming in the woods and meadows. |
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Spring Semester BeginsFebruary 10, 2012
After the first full day of Spring Orientation, I sat bundled up in a ring of students, interns, teachers and staff around a blazing fire. The temperature was in the thirties with a bit of wind chill. We had tried to convince Jacob, the Environmental Science teacher, that we could have our fire circle indoors in front of the wood stove. Jacob was not impressed and reminded us that people have been gathering around fires for thousands of years…and that something important can happen when we do. |
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Venturing ForthJuly 8, 2010 In this issue, we look at Woolman Semester students who have gone out in the world to make a difference. Here are some of their thoughts and stories. To see more amazing work by Woolman alumni, please visit our new student projects page for a small but growing showcase. |
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You Are InvitedMay 27, 2010 This is an exciting and poignant time of year at Woolman. Our spring semester students are finishing their studies and preparing for the transition home. It is sad to contemplate losing them, with their incredible energy, enthusiasm, and passion for creating a better world. To see them share some of the amazing work they have done this semester, come to baccalaureate this Friday at 7:30pm. And please join us for the graduation ceremony this Saturday at 9am, to hear students and teachers speak about what this semester has meant to them.We also have some exciting events coming up. June 20-25 you can join us for the first ever Woolman Intensive, a week-long workshop for adults focusing on community, permaculture, and nonviolent communication. The following week is our popular Family Work Camp, a week of fun not to be missed. And in July Sierra Friends Camp takes off again with a summer of adventures for 9-14 year olds. |
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Food, Water and HousingMarch 24, 2010 These three basic necessities have been the recent focus of Woolman Semester classes. Environmental Science has been diving in to the issue of water rights: who gets to drink it, and who gets to control it. Their unit culminated in a mock court-hearing about the use of our local watershed, the Yuba River.Food and housing were the themes of our two service trips: one group of students traveled to Visalia, where they worked alongside soon-to-be homeowners with Self-Help, an organization that helps people in need build their own homes. The other group worked in Sacramento with Soilborn Farm to grow fresh organic procuce for inner-city residents. They also helped Harvest Sacramemnto to glean fruit that would otherwise go to waste from backyard fruit trees. They then spent a day at the Sacramento Food Bank, distributing the food they had helped gather. |
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Place, Power and ParticipationFebruary 21, 2010 The spring semester has just begun, and already so much has happened. Students spent their first week hiking, doing service, and learning about coastal ecology at Jughandle Ecological Staircase. Then classes started: Global Issues began by looking at citizenship and participation, Peace Studies examined structures of power, and Environmental Science studied the meaning of "place." This issue presents a sampling of students engagement with these concepts and experiences. |
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A Season of GratitudeDecember 21, 2009 One of our school's founders and lifelong supporters, Russ Jorgensen, passed away on November 28, 2009. With his dry wit, committed pacifism, love of his wife Mary, and too-numerous-to-count arrests for civil disobedience, Russ inspired and challenged us all. Losing Russ at this time of year only makes us more aware of our gratitude to Russ and all who created Woolman. As we celebrate our graduates of the 12th Woolman Semester, we remember the life of Russ Jorgensen. We ask that you join us in that celebration by supporting these young people who come to Woolman to learn to live lives, as Russ did, of integrity and action. Please consider joining with Russ's lifelong support of Woolman by making a donation this month to the Woolman Semester. |
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Sharing the WealthNovember 21, 2009 The week spent in Mexico tied together all three classes, bringing together water issues from Environmental Science with wealth and poverty from Peace Studies and border politics from Global Issues. In this issue you'll find students making connections between these themes, articulating global problems in need of solutions, and envisioning ways to create positive change. Please join the dialogue, either on WordPress, Facebook, or by submitting an article for publication. |
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Service is a Two-Way RoadOctober 27, 2009 In this issue you will find a multitude of ideas and experiences of service by Woolman Semester students, interns and staff, inspired and informed by their recent week-long service trips. Is service really relevant to Peace Studies class? What's the relationship between service and activism? Who do we serve, and in what ways does service serve us? You'll find the full versions of these abridged articles, plus more on our WordPress blog. And we hope you will join with us in creating a two-way dialogue by adding your own voice, either by commenting on blog articles, or by submitting your own. And be sure to join the Woolman Facebook fan site to be part of the dialogue. |
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The Food IssueSeptember 30, 2009 Woolman Semester students returned from the recent food intensive with fresh ideas about food justice, organic farming, eating meat, sustainability, and genetic engineering. You can read some of their thoughts and experiences in the articles below, but it doesn't end there. You'll find more food for thought on our WordPress blog, where you can add your own ideas into the mix. You can connect with the day-to-day happenings on our campus by joining the Woolman Facebook fan site, discuss big ideas on our Twitter page, and comment about student-produced videos on YouTube. We look forward to hearing from you. |