Participants of the conference were asked to participate in a community poem by adding to the statement
"I am ..."
The Following is Our Community Poem.
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I am from coal mines and circuit riders, laundry tubs and canned tomatoes, preachers, teachers, mulligan and plum pudding

I am from a comfortable place, I want to be made uncomfortable

I am from song-filled cars traveling NE along the Great Lakes, sparkling swimming pools, burning hot sidewalks, and prickly weeds in the grass

I am from nowhere and everywhere. I am from what I feel from myself and from others

I am from commod bods and practical jokers. Tires, tears, and tractor pieces. I am from long grasses, German crosses and prarie roses

I am a Native American. I am a spiritual being who God created to do his work.

I am from Irish rebels who longed and lived for truth

I am from the earth

I am from a land who first witnessed the gold cross and armoured horses

I am from the earth, sun, sky--fall leaves, grandparents and tradtions

I am from the wind, the rain, the snow and the sun. From nutmeg and cinnamon and rhubarb pie!

I am from beans, rice and cumbias and polkas, from the beet fields of the Red River Valley and from the Board of Education.

I am from a loving home

I am from the teachings and living spaces of my uncles, brothers, Father and Mother

I am from the roots of perseverance

I am from many different towns, from an oppressed nation that I was never taught about

until I was an adult and I still get frowned upon

I am from Guatemala, the land of the Mayas, People of the corn. . .brown like our coffee

I am from the thunder-beings, the water-beings, and the 4-leggeds.

I arn from a neighborhood, family, community that taught hospitality and grace

I am from the North, boiled potatoes, white bread, white snow, and white buffalo

I am from cascading mountains of windows and doors and the smell of sea winds embracing foggy, melancholy mornings. Trolley bells and makeshift pickle-buckets, bongos along roads jutting into and along the bayO Warmlands and jammies in soft light, washing my soul with peace, to sleep.

I am from the sacred waters of Mother Earth and Father God.

I am from my ancestors who have helped me understand things. I am from my culture which I grew up with.

I am from ignorance and interest in working for Social Justice. Three acres of land, pristinely cleaned by my hands with my sister, music and songs.

I am from the shell in a nest on top of the tree with my mother eagle sailing above me.

I am from the salt and the sea.

I am a stone. I traveled where I have to be.

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