complexity, cohesion and isolation

First of all let me say that the posts about the ALKC meeting in Halifax and Wendell’s comments have involved me in some pretty complex emotions!!! On the one hand I’m proud and happy that some “real” voices of literacy got heard there and on the other I want to cry when I think about the pervasive sense of isolation and sadness.

It seems as though literacy and literacy work is being, and should not be, defined by those who do not work in literacy.

Wouldn’t it make more sense
if policy makers, researchers and
counters of all kinds
would speak directly
to literacy students and literacy workers? Wouldn’t it be more efficient if the experts ~ literacy students and literacy workers ~ were consulted and engaged in decisions? Aren’t they the “experts” “key informants”, “stakeholders” whatever you want to call them?

OK now I got that said….. How can this happen? Well probably with great difficulty ~ but I see Literacies and the Literacies Café as the places where the voices and stories of literacy can be heard.

It seems to me that these places are ours. We can meet here to talk, to explore the complexities of literacies and to educate others about literacy, about the work that is going on, about the real stories and where we can define ourselves and our work on our own terms.

So what can we do to keep this conversation going ~ to learn from and support each other, to explore together why this work continues despite all and what keeps people going?

Words are the voice of the heart.
~ Confucius (c. 551-c. 479 BC)

Maria Moriarty