MORE DETAIL TO COME: For their Samantha Smith Challenge project, the students at the Poland Community School took on the sticky subject of Cyber-Bullying.

Samantha Smith Challenge

Messalonskee Middle School

Grades 7 and 8

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The Issue: Homelessness, Hunger, Poverty

The Question: How can we work together in conjunction with the Maine State Government to reduce homelessness, hunger, and poverty in our state?

Community Partners and Stakeholders:

• Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter
• Johnny's Selected Seeds
• State and Local Government Officials

Facts Learned that Influenced Your Thinking:

• One in eight families in Maine is living in hunger/poverty.
• Maine has 43% more poverty than every other state.
• The two biggest causes of homelessness are lack of affordable housing and loss of jobs.
• Maine is the third most hungry state.

Plan of Action:

• Research
• BakeSale
• Share MMHS brochures in our community
• Bird House on MMS Trails

Results:

• We will be planting a garden of peas and green beans at the Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter.
• Residents will plant with us to be able to sustain the garden after we're gone and use the crops in their cooking.

Ongoing support needed:

We just need the snow to melt to be able to actually go plant at the MMHS and hang our birdhouse on the trails.

Students:

Adam DeWitt (Grade 8) Ainsley Corson (Grade 7)

Alysan Rancourt (Grade 7) Chase Veregge (Grade 8)

Connor Collins (Grade 7) Emma DiGirolamo (Grade7)

Eve Lilly (Grade 7) Hannah Cummings (Grade 7)

Hunter Atwood (Grade 8) Jordan Devine (Grade 7)

Josie Varney (Grade 8) Katie Luce (Grade 7)

Madison Jewell (Grade 7) Makenzie Smith (Grade 7)

Matthew Dostie (Grade 7) Molly Glueck (Grade 7)

Myranda Wohlford (Grade 7) Paige Lilly (Grade 7)

Teacher: Lindsay Mahoney

Quotations from Students:

• "There are a lot more homeless people in our community than I expected. The homeless shelters need more help and resources than they have. It was a good learning experience because I learned how to help people right now in our state."
• "It was fun because it wasn't school work; we got to go out in the community and change an issue that is affecting our area."
• "I like that we are making a difference by helping the homeless shelter and not just learning about it."
• "We learned to look at problems in the world/our community and figure out how we could solve them, not rely on others to solve them for us."

Samantha Smith Challenge

York Middle School

Team Snow Leopard, Team 1

Grade 7

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The Issue: Eating Healthy

The Question: What does it mean to eat healthy?

Community Partners and Stakeholders:

• Local farmers
• Local Hannaford store
• YMS community

Facts and Resources that Influenced Your Thinking:

• Students watched the movie Food Inc., which gave them an overview of the food system here.
• They started their research around the topics of GMO's, pesticides, corn products, Monsanto, and slaughterhouses.
• Through their research, they realized that they had to re-focus and choose a specific topic, as the topic of "food revolution" was too big. They decided on "what it means to eat healthy".

Plan of Action:

• To teach the YMS and York communities about what it means to eat healthy.
• Make a website with the following:
• Tasty Tips for eating healthy
• Tips for how to plant a garden
• Tips for what to pack for healthy school lunches

• PSA with this info in it
• Hanging Tasty Tip signs around the school and at the local Hannaford.
• Make healthy snacks for the team while we showcase our projects.

Results:

Findings of research include:

• What it means to eat healthy--
• Eat nutritious foods that your body will like.
• Upping fruit & vegetable intake.
• Limiting the amount of processed foods.
• Eat meat & animal products in moderation.
• Go to your local farmer's markets.

Students:

• Belle Babcock Grace Beecher

• Lily Brodski Ashley Carney

• Leah Daigneault Aidan Drew

• Sydney Fogg Riley Johnston

• Delaney LaBonte Sara L.amoureaux

• Riley Linn Justin Suarez

• Logan Works

Teacher: Melissa Fenelon

Names of people who made the video: Riley Linn & Riley Johnston

Thoughts about this experience:

"I gained confidence in speaking by going to the farmers market and interviewing the farmers." - Sydney Fogg

"This made me think about what I eat more & made me more cautious about what is in my food." - Aidan Drew

"During our showcase, it really came out how much work everyone did for the community." - Riley Linn

"It felt good to make a change in people's thoughts on healthy eating." - Leah Daigneault

"The process made me think about how I am living and eating." - Grace Beecher

Samantha Smith Challenge

York Middle School

Team Puma, Group 4

Grade 7

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The Issue: Animal Rights

The Question: How do we promote awareness of animal rights and the problems of animal abuse and abandonment? How can we support our local shelter, the Animal Welfare Society in Kennebunk, Maine?

The Solution: The animal rights group will be speaking with all fifth grade students at the York Middle School. We will educate them on animal rights and how to prevent animal abuse. We will also be asking the school community for donations for the Animal Welfare Society in Kennebunk, Maine.

Community Partners and Stakeholders:

• York's Wild Animal Kingdom (attempted)
• Animal Welfare Society, Kennebunk, Maine
• Fifth grade teachers

Facts and Research that Influenced Your Thinking:

• If you suspect abuse-Contact the Animal Welfare Program in Augusta at 287-3846 or toll-free 1-877-269-9200. You can also e-mail them at animal.welfare@maine.gov.
• Studies have shown that when there is domestic violence, child abuse, elder abuse or any type of human violence in the home, there often is or has been animal abuse as well.
• Research on puppy mills, circus/zoo animals, dog fighting, poaching, and illegal hunting.

Plan of Action:

• The animal rights group visited the Animal Welfare Society on April 9, 2015. They were given a tour and taught how to make treats for the animals there. They were educated on animal abuse, abandonment, and the conditions of the shelters in southern United States.
• The group has created a presentation for the fifth grade students at York Middle School which they will present in May.
• They have also created flyers asking for donations of items that are currently on the Animal Welfare Society's wish list.

Results:

All students gained knowledge of animal laws in Maine and ways to spot abuse or neglect.

Ongoing support needed:

The students need to complete their presentations to the fifth graders, collect the donations, and bring the donations to the Animal Welfare Society.

Students:

Jackson Forbes Abby Bourgeois

Jessa Fitzgerald Betsey Greene

Dyamond Dempsey Hannah Newcombe

Austin Fisher Joelle Shipman

Lila Sewall Tyler Donnell

Sophia Ruland Emma Runte

Olivia Linehan Jessie Paquet

Pari Kim

Teacher: Mrs. Nancy Lindbom, Social Studies Teacher, Puma Team

Names of people who made the video: The whole group!

Thoughts about this experience:

"I learned that if you help a problem in the community now you would probably remember it when you grow up and you could do it through your lifetime."-Tyler Donnell

"I learned it doesn't take that many people to make a difference. We were a group of 15 and we are working toward helping animals in the Kennebunk Animal Welfare Society" -Betsy Greene

"I learned that if there is a problem in your community, you need to take charge and not just stand by and watch bad things happen." -Hannah Newcombe

Samantha Smith Challenge

Messalonskee Middle School

Grade 7

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The Issue: Animal hunger and animal abuse

The Question: What if we didn't have animal hunger and animal abuse?

Community Partners and Stakeholders:

• Students at MMS
• Animal Control Officer: Patrick Faucher
• Waterville Humane Society

Facts Learned that Influenced Your Thinking:

• 64.5% of abuse cases in the US involved dogs
• 18% involved cats
• 25% (470) involved other animals

Plan of Action:

• Presentation to students on our team
• Place a box in the school to collect dog/cat food and toys
• Place coffee cans at local businesses to collect money to donate to the animal shelter
• Volunteer at the Waterville Humane Society

Students:

Khamren GodinChurchill

Josh Zinkovitch

Teacher: Martha Farnham

Comment about the Samantha Smith Challenge:

The students were passionate about their issue and seemed to enjoy researching and presenting on it. -- Martha Farnham, Teacher

Messalonskee Middle School

Team Pemaquid

Grades 7 and 8

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The Issue: Hunger

The Question: How can we help prevent hunger in our school and community?

Community Partners and Stakeholders:

• School Lunch Program- William D. Hamilton MS, RD, SNS, Nutrition Director RSU No. 18
• Farm to School Committee- Clair Heffernan chair
• Community Raised Bed Co-ordinator Tom Pullen
• Summer School Free Lunch Program
• Faculty and Students from the Maine Academy of Natural Sciences
• Bonnie Sammons- master gardener

Facts (and Resources) Learned that Influenced Your Thinking:

• One out of five kids= 16 million struggle with hunger
• Childhood hunger is linked to developmental, behavioral and academic problems
• Video: A Place at the Table
• Data on GMOs and Fake Foods
• Fast Food Nation

Plan of Action:

• Research on an area dealing with hunger and nutrition
• Create informational projects for school population: bulletin board in hall, posters, websites, podcasts
• Build fairy houses on trail to inform the elementary students about issues around food
• Run taste tests on healthy food choices for breakfast and snacks
• Build a hoop house (greenhouse) and refresh community raised beds
• Plant seeds and grow seedlings to transplant into the raised beds
• Harvest vegetables to donate to summer school lunch program, community food bank, and team lunch and snack shack
• Apply for a larger greenhouse to increase harvest for the whole school

Results:

• Fairy houses built and places on trail with informational signage
• Ran taste tests that students enjoyed using fruits and vegetables
• Informational posters and bulletin boards up and read by many students
• Seedlings grown and waiting for planting outside
• Hoop house up and raised beds made/refreshed
• Seeds planted

Ongoing support needed:

• Students and community members to harvest, water, and weed garden beds over the summer
• Food service program to wash and prepare food for students
• Grant money to buy supplies to continue this work next year and/or expand our garden

Entire Team Pemaquid (84 students)

Focus crew:

Gabby Wood-McGuckin-8 Ryan Pullen-8

Hunter Smart-8 Julia Cooke-8

Noah Cummings-8 Magan Williams-8

Seth Main-8 Isaac Violette-7

Hannah DelGiudice-7 Eli Ross-7

Parker Brunelle-8 Leighara McDaniel-7

Teachers:

Kim Fish

Amanda Ripa

Linda Haskell

Names of people who made the video:

Kim Fish

Gabby Wood-McGuckin

Thoughts about this experience:

This unit has brought up conversations at home because it's a project that is very personal to me. - Julia Cooke

We wanted to get a hoop house and grow food because there are a lot of people in our community that don't have enough food or at least healthy food they can eat due to the expense. -Peyton Arbor

We realized a lot of people in our school have choices at lunch, but they don't always like the choices left by third lunch. If we can grow food, then we can provide more choices on the salad bar with fresh food from our garden, then the kids might actually like it. - Noah Cummings

This project has given the students a voice in the community and has made them feel that they can make a difference. Several students plant to try gardens at home as well. Many are eagerly awaiting the first harvest in the summer. They are very proud of their work.

Samantha Smith Challenge

Messalonskee Middle School

Grades 7 and 8

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The Issue: Bullying

The Question: "What is bullying and what can we do to stop it?

Community Partners and Stakeholders:

• We tried to contact the local newspaper (The Morning Sentinel) and television station (WABI TV 5), but did not get a response.
• Oakland Police Department and High School
• Resource Officer Tracy Frost
• Alfond Youth Center

Resources:

• stopbullying.gov
• childtrends.org
• stompoutbullying.org
• Middle school principal, the middle school resource officer, and students from different grade levels

Facts Learned that Influenced Your Thinking:

• Oakland PD and Human Resource Officer talked to us about bullying as it relates to adults and harassment, and how at early ages it can be prevented from getting to the criminal level with efforts such as ours to educate and prevent bullying.
• Suicide rates among 10-14 year olds have grown more than 50% over the last three decades.
• One in seven students in grades K-12 is either a bully or a victim.
• In 2011, 14% of children ages 2-17 experienced physical bullying, and 37% experienced teasing and emotional bullying.
• Some reasons for bullying include: lack of attention from a parent at home, neglect, divorced parents, drug/alcohol use in the home, domestic violence or conflicts at home, thinking badly of others, negative perceptions of life, difficulty following rules, viewing violence as a positive/effective way to respond to problems, having friends who bully others.
• Information learned from anonymous research used in the video in the form of statistics or verbal responses to students' own experiences with the issue of bullying.

Plan of Action:

• We created "STOP, WALK, TALK." as a slogan to promote our anti-bullying initiative.
• We assigned the following individual jobs: interviewing community stakeholders; iMovie making; researching bullying statistics; contacting stakeholders; library research.

Results:

• Tim Lecrone, program director at Alfond Youth Center in Waterville, Maine, agreed to show our "Stop, Walk, Talk" video at the youth center.
• Students have been engaging in the steps of "Stop, Walk, Talk" initiative based upon flyers posted around our school.
• School to community connections were made with local law enforcement officials.
• Students became aware of realistic statistics about the types, frequency, and effects of bullying in our schools and communities today.

Ongoing support needed:

• Technical support was needed from our technology teacher.
• School officials and students were consulted.
• One AWTT/Samantha Smith Challenge official visited to inquire about our progress.
• School support person, Lindsay Mahoney, provided onsite support to teachers/classrooms participating.
• Support to be able to send representative groups/students to the June1, 2015, events in Augusta related to this project.

Students:

Addison Littlefield 7 Alexis York 8

Amelia Bradfield 8 Bradley Condon 7

Brennen Francis 7 Caitlin Parks 8

Cameron Croft 7 Davis Moore 8

Dharani Singaram 7 Dylan Cunningham 7

Ella Nash 7 Ethan Gilles 8

Jake Perry 7 Kate Robertson 8

Katie Worcester 8 Lydia Bradfield 7

Pyper Birch 8 Steven Cude 8

Teacher: Erinn S. Michaud

Quotation from Student:

"At first it was hard to come up with ideas, but after we came up with ideas everything just fell into place. " -- Jake Perry, Grade 7

Samantha Smith Challenge

Messalonskee Middle School

Grade 8

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The Issue: The rate of child abuse in the state of Maine

The Question: How can we help children who have been abused reach out and receive help, to be able to live a life like any other child should be able to?

Community Partners and Stakeholders:

• Somerset County Family Enrichment Council (Somerset County)
• Families First (Kennebec County)

Facts Learned that Influenced Your Thinking:

• From 2011 to 2013, the rate of child abuse in Maine increases by 58%.
• Also in the United States, a report for child abuse is made every ten seconds. *More in video below.

Plan of Action:

Presentation to students on our team, Fundraisers, Volunteer, Create a Facebook Page

Students:

Kaiisha Pluard

Hailey Moore

Surae Dunn

Micheala Lamontagne

Teacher: Martha Farnham

Comment about the Samantha Smith Challenge:

"The students were passionate about their issue and seemed to enjoy researching and presenting on it." -- Martha Farnham, Teacher

Samantha Smith Challenge

J. A. Leonard Middle School

Fox Team – Grade 8

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The Issue: Poverty

The Question: What is it like to be in poverty and what can we do about it?

Community Partners and Stakeholders: Penquis CAP, Former Peace Corps Workers, Bangor Area Homeless Shelter, Manna Ministries, Seeds of Hope, Old Town Police Department, Crossroads Food Pantry

Facts Learned that Influenced Your Thinking:

People in poverty are

• the same as everyone else
• not to blame
• not more likely than the general population to be alcoholics, drug addicts, or criminals
• sometimes made villains and/or scapegoats.

Some people have way more than they need (especially the top1%) and it squeezes what's left for the rest of us.

People in poverty have a different perspective about food, education, entertainment—more survival than choice.

Poverty looks different internationally.

Plan of Action:

• Insulate a house in the community
• Sort, organize, and/or distribute food at Manna and Seeds of Hope
• Cook and serve lunch at Bangor Area Homeless Shelter
• Create a newspaper about poverty and other community issues
• Write letters to editors, legislators, and governor

Project Results:

• We completed all the above activities, which helped our community.
• Students gained a better understanding about poverty and became advocates for people in poverty.
• Students learned not to judge, especially without all the information.
• Students gained empathy for others.
• Students learned they can make a difference.

Ongoing support needed:

For next year, it would be great to have better video equipment, especially microphones.

Students:

Humam Al-Fdeilat Olivia Albert KyraArmitage

Danielle Baker Brian Barnaby Nick Baron

Abby Brackett Faith Bromiley Addy Chabe

Alex Chapman Ryan Chubbuck Dante Crenshaw

Kaitlyn Dunham Emily Dunlap James Emery

Isaac Epp Zach Fostun Ana Hamilton

Emma Hargreaves Zach Ireland Meaghan Kelley

Maura Kelly Abby Ketch Emily Ketch

Hunter Lee Logan Lilly Brittany Madden

Anna Muscatelle Nick Oechslie Demetrius Porter

Adam Regan Erin Snyder Brandi Swoboda

Hannah Talcove Kallie Thompson Libby Trefts

Levi Trefts Charlie Turner Destiny Webber

Teachers: Gert Nesin and Jay Meigs McDonald

Names of people who made the video:

Zach Fostun Ryan Chubbuck Abby Ketch

Emily Ketch Demetrius Porter Adam Regan

Libby Trefts Hannah Talcove Levi Trefts

Student quotations about poverty:

• "I learned how important it is to help people living in poverty, and how serious it is. Also, I learned that stereotypes needed to be broken, and how in my eyes they were broken."
• "Just by looking at someone, it doesn't say who they truly are."
• "Poverty isn't just one thing. Poverty has many faces, many causes, and many solutions."
• "Not only adults can help with poverty. Students can, too."
• "People in poverty are pretty much just like regular people, just without money."

Quotations about what students learned through doing this:

• "I can help people in poverty and that I can make a difference."
• "I am more caring than I thought."
• "I felt honored to be helping people and made me feel good as a person."
• "I learned that I care about people in poverty, and ending poverty a lot more than I thought."
• "How easy it is to make a difference in someone's life."
• "I learned to not judge anybody by how they look…and that I do judge people sometimes. But I need to stop because I don't know what they are going through or who they are."
• "I always have room to grow. I had thought about poverty as something very other than myself, something that didn't really affect me. Turns out it's not, and the kind of thinking I used to have was actually part of the problem because it prevented us from finding solutions."
• "It is okay to help people that need it, without thinking you're doing the right thing or being judged for wanting to help with people who need it."
• "I actually want to help people in poverty and that a lot of these people are like me."
• "These people are good people. That's the simple truth of it all."

Quotations about doing a service learning project, like the Samantha Smith Challenge:

• "It tugs at the heart strings…but is definitely something worth doing."
• "Make sure what you do is important to you, because you will learn more."
• "It is so worth it. It makes you feel good while also giving back to the community."
• "Every little thing makes a difference."
• "Don't go in with a certain mindset."
• "Classes need to interact with people, because everyone is different and that means they have different ways of dealing with issues. They need to talk to people because people are the ones who are affected and people are the ones who will solve the problems."
• "Getting involved is definitely worth it because you will learn a lot."

MORE DETAIL TO COME: In this video, the King Middle School Students continue their investigation of energy use, alternative energies, and what a sustainable future might look like.

Samantha Smith Challenge

King Middle School

Team York

Grade 8

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The Issue: Global Energy Crisis

The Questions: What energy source will most sustainably take us into the future? How can an individual's choice impact the environment?

Community Partners and Stakeholders:

• Matt Beach, Creative Director WPXT
• Kendall Hinckley and Tyler Frank, Composting Garbage to Garden
• Who Is Your Farmer?
• Craig LaPine, Cultivating Community
• Kai Smith, Buy Local and Buoy Local People Power
• Sarah Cushman, Bicycle Coalition of Maine
• Gail Rice, Turn Out the Lights, CMP
• Keep Maine Water Clean
• Meagan Sims, Maine Healthy Beaches

Renewable Energy:

• Jen Hatch, ReVision Energy
• Vegetarian Power
• Barbara Fiore, Board member for Humane Education
• University of Southern Maine - Portland Campus

Plan of Action:

• Verbal debates
• Local Issue PSAs

Results: Impact on public choices for conservation

Teachers:

• Catherine Paul
• Paul Clifford
• Ann Young
• Marina Penalver
• Gus Goodwin

GROUP SAYS:

We're not finished yet!

Samantha Smith Challenge

York Middle School

Team Puma, Group 1

Grade 7

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The Issue: Drug and Alcohol Abuse at York High School

The Question: How can we support the efforts of the substance abuse counselor and the members of the TIDALWAVSE group at York High School to promote awareness of the drug and alcohol problem at York High School?

The Solution: The group's goal is to raise money for the high school TIDALWAVSE program. TIDALWAVSE needs money to buy t-shirts, bring in guest speakers, and sponsor healthy social alternatives.

Community Partners and Stakeholders Consulted:

• York High School Guidance Counselor, Substance abuse counselor, Gina Brodsky
• York High School Resource Officer, Nick Piskopanis
• York Middle School Resource Officer, Jamie Rooney
• Choose to be Healthy Coalition, York Hospital
• TIDALWAVSE Organization-YHS

Resources that Influenced Your Thinking:

• Maine Office of Substance Abuse Information and Resource Center Maine statistics on use of heroin, electronic cigarettes, and marijuana
• Maine Data on Teenage Drinking
• Marijuana Facts-US Department of Health and Human Services

Plan of Action:

• Met with resource officers, high school substance abuse counselor, and TIDALWAVSE members
• Decided to support the YHS TIDALWAVSE program by fundraising
• Developed fundraising ideas

Results: Currently, the fundraiser ideas that have been presented to the administrators of the middle school have been rejected. The group is now planning the third fundraiser event and will be submitting for approval the week of April 27, 2015.

Ongoing support needed: Administration approval and fundraiser event

Students:

Cassie Reinertson Willis Rivers

Camden Cummings Lauren Woodward

Tyler Rivers Wil Masterson

Greg Goldberg Max Pickett

Kaneda Saravong Kya Talley

Reilly Long Catie Giffen

Amy Forester Jonathan Donovan

Cody Briggs

Teacher: Ms. Britni Rowe, LA Teacher, Puma Team

Names of people who made the video: The whole group.

Thoughts about this experience:

"I learned that I didn't give up after we had our first setback, and two more after that." -Kya Talley

"I learned that we cannot do this whole project without the help of others." -Amy Forester

"With enough people in a group you can make a difference." -Wil Masterson

Samantha Smith Challenge

York Middle School

Team Puma, Group 3

Grade 7

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The Issue: Marine and plastic bag pollution in the Gulf of Maine and on York beaches. Also, the number of single-use grocery bags used in our local grocery store.

The Question: How can we educate people about the negative impacts of marine pollution on the York beaches, and get rid of single-use plastic bags?

The Solution: The group will complete a beach clean-up, promote awareness of marine pollution througheducation, and promote awareness of the negative impacts of single-use plastic bags.

Community Partners and Stakeholders Consulted:

• York Hannaford (supermarket)
• York Parks and Recreation
• BYOB York-Bring Your Own Bag York-Working to Reduce Plastic Bag Use

Facts Learned that Influenced Your Thinking:

• 600 million-The number of single-use plastic bags used each year by Maine residents.
• 5-The percentage of single-use plastic bags that are recycled in Maine, leaving millions of bags to end up in landfills, incinerators and as litter in Maine's waterways and along roadways.
• 42 billion-The number of single-use plastic bags used world-wide per month.
• 12-The average number of minutes a single-use plastic bag gets used in the U.S.
• 500-The number of single-use bags the average American could avoid using each year by switching to reusable bags.
• Additional information on marine pollution, impacts on marine life, impacts on beaches

Plan of Action:

After researching the topic, the group decided to organize a beach clean-up day on Long Sands Beach in York, Maine. The group has also made informational flyers to hopefully place at Hannaford to educate the public on single-use bags.

Results:

The group plans on holding the beach clean-up on May 22, 2015. The group is waiting for approval to place flyers at Hannaford.

Ongoing support needed:

• During the beach clean-up
• To distribute informational flyers

Students:

Bryce Reagan Cindy Bellavance

Laura Wilson Will MacDonald

Sean Ranfos Rollan Lemieux

Max Cutler John Bychok

Cara Foggarty Maggie Prince

Tyler Humphrey Connor Remick

Abby Orso Jamie Filias

CJ Anderson

Teacher: Ms. Michelle York, Math Teacher, Puma Team

Names of people who made the video: The whole group!

Thoughts about this experience:

"I learned it is hard to make an impact on the community. It takes a lot of planning and teamwork. I also learned that you need to listen to everyone's ideas." –Maggie Prince

"I learned that helping out the community is a big part of citizenship. Just doing small things in York community can help a lot." -Will MacDonald

"People use too many plastic bags, and a lot of these plastic bags get into the ocean. So, if they don't use plastic bags, we won't have so much pollution." –Bryce Reagan

Samantha Smith Challenge

York Middle School

Team Snow Leopard, Group 3

Grade 7

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The Issue: Land Conservation in York, Maine

The Question: What are some issues/problems around land conservation in our town?

Community Partners and Stakeholders:

• York Land Trust
• York Parks and Recreation
• Town of York
• Community Members
• York Garden Club

Facts Learned that Influenced Your Thinking:

• Land conservation is a balance of different ideas, uses and needs for land.
• Stewardship is a need around land conservation in our town.
• We learned this in our discussions and phone interviews with members of York Land Trust and York Parks and Recreation.

Plan of Action:

The team's plan of action was to focus on one area that was accessible (within walking distance) and of interest to our community. The plan was to plan and implement a butterfly garden to provide habitat for wildlife and to entice more community members to use and enjoy the library pond. The team also decided to create a "Stewardship Club" in which members would be recruited to work once a month with York Land Trust on various stewardship needs.

Results:

The team held a bake sale to raise money for supplies, bought supplies and started the seeds for the garden, and walked to the area and chose the planting area. Later in the spring, with help from the York Garden Club, the team will plant and maintain their garden. They will also raise butterfly larvae to release.

Ongoing Support Needed:

Support from Garden Club and York Land Trust to coordinate efforts.

Students:

Noah Carmahalis Amelia Burley

Shyanne Goodwin Phoebe Keenan

Nathanial Chayer Garrett Ouelette

Dillon Brodsky Christopher Danos

Miranda Monz Justin Fernald

Teacher: Margot Simonds

Names of people who made the video: All of the students

Thoughts about this experience: The students loved the project and learning about land conservation. They all feel strongly that we need to take care of our land and natural surroundings and especially pay attention to animal needs and habitats. The students learned a lot about what people and groups are involved in land conservation and use, as well as the balance of needs that exist.

Samantha Smith Challenge

York Middle School

Team Puma, Group 2

Grade 7

Scroll down to see the video!

The Issue: Hunger in York, Maine

The Question: Although York is known as a wealthier town, there are still many hungry people. How can we help the people who rely on the local food pantries and other organizations?

The Solution: Our solution is to hold a can and donation drive around York. In addition, we will post flyers to create awareness of the problem. Finally, we will volunteer in one of the local soup kitchens to further feed the hungry.

Community Partners and Stakeholders Consulted:

• Table of Plenty, a community kitchen serving free weekly meals in the towns of York, Berwick, and Kittery, Maine.
• End 68 Hours of Hunger, York, Maine group
• York Food Pantry
• Local businesses to sponsor donation boxes

Resources that Influenced Your Thinking:

• Statistics from local agencies
• Statistics from Maine.gov
• Research on a variety of topics dealing with hunger issues

Plan of Action:

After researching the topic, the students were able to get local businesses to participate in their can and food drive. The students also were able to contact the Table of Plenty and are working together to find a time when the students can volunteer their time.

Ongoing support needed:

Students still need to place their donation boxes around town, and volunteer at the Table of Plenty.

Students:

Kate Nowell Tommy Coughlin

Jade Bellevance Bella Tidd

Connor Moore Cat Wright

Nina Howe Biz Desmarais

Aislinn Lewis Brianna Baker

Catey de la Pena Eli Hultstrom

Zoe Lafleur-Kief Jonathan Higgins

Adam Diment

Teacher: Mr. Scott Dorr, Science Teacher, Puma Team

Names of people who made the video: The whole group!

Thoughts about this Experience:

"Citizens can help their community at any age. I'm only 12 years old and I am helping hungry people in York." -Bella Tidd

"I think the people need to become more aware about hunger not just in York, but worldwide. This project helped me feel committed and more aware, after I found out how many people die from hunger." -Kate Nowell

"I learned that a few citizens helping can make a difference." – Jonathan Higgins

Samantha Smith Challenge

York Middle School

Team Snow Leopard, Group 2

Grade 7

Scroll down to see the video!

The Issue: Carbon Footprint

The Question: What can we do to reduce our carbon footprint?

Community Partners and Stakeholders:

• Town of York Board of Selectmen
• Victoria Simon
• Zak Harding
• Maine Green Alliance
• YMS Community

Facts Learned that Influenced Your Thinking:

Students began with looking into what is the difference between basic necessities and extreme desires for 'things' that make up our lives; comparing different cultures. We watched an episode of 'Cosmos: A Space Time Odyssey' to fully understand the impact humans have on the world. Students chose to break into three groups:Recycling, Factories, and Crude Energy. Each group was responsible for creating their own list of questions they had about their topic to use as their guide for research. As they researched, they contacted companies, organizations, spoke to the town on this very important issue.

Plan of Action:

Factory group wrote letters to factories asking them if they knew how much is wasted and what policies do they have in place for future movements toward being greener. They, also, participated in Earth Hour (an hour without power) to reflect on their own personal use.

Recycling group spoke to the Board of Selectmen on the issue ofhaving a bag ordinance in the town of York (and will continue to be involved with this issue), reducing the amount of grocery bags being given out at local stores. This group also, picked up 250 pieces of trash in thirty minutes around their school and was able to address this concern to their peers.

Crude Energy group were able to assess what energy is most useful and what the best practices are for energy use are. They had in-depth research and conducted interviews with people in the energy field. They wanted people to be more aware of how much of an impact cars have on the environment and that a few degrees cooler in your home can pay off more for the environment than people realize.

Results:

All students are walking away with a sense of personal impact. They are all more conscience of their carbon footprint and to reuse rather recycle: Reduce-Reuse-Repurpose!

Students: Tyson Matthews, Jakob Eneman, Timothy Perkins, Josh Pease, Haley Smith, Luca Danos, Kara Donovan, Molly Roher, Mary Kovec, Anna Donnelly, Jillian Dorazio, Sarah McSherry

Teacher: Liz Schambach

Names of people who made the video:

Crude Energy :Tyson Matthews, Jakob Eneman, Timothy Perkins, Josh Pease

Factories: Haley Smith, Luca Danos, Kara Donovan, Molly Roher

Recycling: Mary Kovec, Anna Donnelly, Jillian Dorazio, Sarah McSherry

Thoughts about this experience:

Students felt a sense of purpose and engagement because it all came from them. They chose their topics which made it more personal and accountable. While doing this challenge, students felt a sense of confidence, poise and drive to make an impact on their community and world. They have an idea that even though they are only one person, they still can make an impact as they continue to spread the word of the importance of the reducing the Carbon Footprint.

Quotations from students:

• "I work better in a group now."
• "It was a nice learning experience to learn new things from what you thought you knew."
• "It was nice to know that you can make a difference."
• "With normal research projects, there seems to be no outcome, but with this challenge, you got to do something."
• "Public speaking skills got better and more confident."
• "It was cool to go deeper into a specific topic."

Grace Lee Boggs has been interviewed numerous times on Democracy Now! Watch the interviews on Youtube. In one interview, Boggs said, "I think it's very difficult for someone who doesn't live in Detroit to say you can look at a vacant lot and, instead of seeing devastation, see hope ... see the opportunity to grow your own food, see an opportunity to give young people a sense of process, that's very difficult in the city, that the vacant lot represents the possibilities for a cultural revolution."

In the following video, Grace Lee Boggs discusses her book, The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism in the 21st Century.

The website for the documentary, Voices Across the Divide, offers a wide range of resources for anyone -- teachers and students especially -- interested in exploring issues related to the Israel - Palestine conflict. The purpose of the film, as explained by its directors, is to open a space for honest dialogue:

The Israeli/Palestinian conflict is one of the most prominent, hot button debates in the US today. There is often little space for compassionate listening or deepening awareness. Access to information about the conflict is shaped by powerful forces and organizations. We believe a better future is possible based on mutual respect and knowledge.

We hope Voices Across the Divide will contribute to an open dialogue grounded in mutual respect, understanding, and political activism that leads to justice for all people in the region. Narrated by Alice Rothchild, an American Jew raised on the tragedies of the Holocaust and the dream of a Jewish homeland in Israel, Voices Across the Divide follows her personal journey as she begins to understand the Palestinian narrative, while exploring the Palestinian experience of loss, occupation, statelessness, and immigration to the US.

Resources include a Study Guide, interesting and revealing clips of the interviewees talking, resources for digging deeper into the history and the issues, a press kit and much more.

This brief video about a 1933 conspiracy against the US Government and President Franklin D. Roosevelt, offers a rare glimpse of Major General Smedley Butler talking on film. Butler was, apparently, invited to help lead a coup against the US president. He declined and denounced the conspiracy.

From the Democracy Now! website: At a ceremony unveiling a statue in her honor last month, President Obama called Rosa Parks' refusal to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, city bus a "singular act of disobedience." But nine months before Parks' historic action, a 15-year-old teenager named Claudette Colvin did the very same thing. She was arrested and her case led to the U.S. Supreme Court's order for the desegregation of Alabama's bus system. Now 73, Claudette Colvin joins us for a rare interview along with Brooklyn College Professor Jeanne Theoharis, author of the "The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks." Theoharis says Parks' act of defiance may not have happened if not for Colvin's nine months before. Colvin says learning about African-American history in school inspired her act. "I could not move because history had me glued to the seat," she recalls telling the bus driver and the police officer who came to arrest her. "It felt like Sojourner Truth's hands were pushing down on one shoulder, and Harriet Tubman's hand pushing down on another shoulder."

This program, produced by the History Channel, tells the story of both Frank Serpico, the whistleblowing police officer, and Peter Maas, a journalist who wrote the Serpico's biography. Both have the chance to speak of their experiences in their own words.

"Serpico" (1973) is the film adaptation of Peter Maas' biography of Frank Serpico. It was directed by Sidney Lumet, and it starred Al Pacino.

"Iron Jawed Angels" is a 2004 film by Katja von Garnier on the Woman's Suffrage Movement, with a focus on Alice Paul and Lucy Burns of the Congressional Union of Woman Suffrage. The film stars Hillary Swank, Anjelica Huston, Julia Ormond, Frances O'Connor, and Molly Parker.

"Who Was Alice Paul?" is a video (shown in three parts on YouTube) on the life of Alice Paul. The video was presented by the Morris County (New Jersey) National Organization for Women, and filmed at the Paulsdale, the birthplace of Alice Paul. See the first video below.

Lyn Goldfarb's award-winning documentary, We Have a Plan, tells the story of the Upton Sinclair's EPIC Campaign for governor of California. Scroll down to watch the film.

From the Lyn Goldfarb Website:

THE GREAT DEPRESSION SERIES

Somehow, in the hardest of times, with America slipping away, our parents and grandparents found the courage to fight their way out, and in the process, create a new America. The Great Depression, an unprecedented seven hour public television series, tells the untold story of how Americans responded to the greatest crisis to confront them in this century.

WE HAVE A PLAN (Episode 4)

Hollywood glamour, political intrigue and socialism combine in one of the Great Depression decade's most fascinating campaign sagas. In California, world-famous author and socialist Upton Sinclair (best known for The Jungle) runs for governor as a Democrat, promising to "End Poverty in California" and tests the limits of the New Deal. When Sinclair overwhelmingly wins the Democratic primary, the most powerful forces in California join together to wage a campaign to defeat Upton Sinclair in the November elections, and in the process, invent the modern media campaign.

1993 National Primetime PBS Broadcast

Festivals & Awards

• Emmy Award

• DuPont-Columbia Award

• Time Magazine, 2nd Best Television Program, 1993

KRCB-TV's award-winning series, Natural Heroes, included an episode entitled Edward Abbey: A Voice in the Wilderness. Written and directed by Eric Temple, the 26 minute episode offers the voices of friends and family members as the remember the man often called the "Thoreau of the American West." To purchase a copy of the video contact Highway 89 Media.

Watch Bill Moyers' groundbreaking documentary, The Secret Government. Says Moyers, The Secret Government is an interlocking network of official functionaries, spies, mercenaries, ex-generals, profiteers and superpatriots, who, for a variety of motives, operate outside the legitimate institutions of government.

Watch Joan Gussow's talk at the Conservation League's 25th Anniversary on May 7 and 8, 2013. The Conference was titles, Prosperous Lowcountry, Prosperous Planet.

Listen to Thom Hartmann and Natalia Abrams discuss the Student Loan Debt in the United States and its impact on both the economy and the lives of young Americans.

Thom Hartmann's website is a good place to keep abreast of this issue.

Watch Robert Shetterly talk about why he painted Dr. Bob Moses at Miami University Ohio on October 14, 2014. This was a piece of Miami University's celebration of Freedom Summer. Volunteers for Freedom Summer were trained at Miami University in 1964, including Rob Shetterly's brother, Jay Shetterly.

Watch this dramatic clip from a PBS documentary, covering the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education.

In addition, go to this PBS page to find more information and links pertaining to the Brown v. Board of Education and other landmark Supreme Court decisions pertaining to Civil Rights.

On January 23rd, 2013 the Government Accountability Project hosted a portrait unveiling at Busboys & Poets in Washington DC. The portrait is of CIA/Torture whistleblower and GAP client John Kiriakou. Artist Robert Shetterly, who also spoke at the event, painted the portrait in honor of Kiriakou as part of his "Americans Who Tell The Truth" (AWTT) series. The music was composed and performed by AWTT collaborator Mary Anne Driscoll.

After engaging the Americans Who Tell the Truth portraits for a semester, middle school students at Reeds Brook Middle School in Hampden, Maine worked on projects to respond creatively to the portraits, stories, and history they had studied. Some responded with visual arts, others with theater skits, and some used writing to express what they had learned and felt. Nick Parker turned to music. Listen to the song he composed for Samantha Smith.

From the Ted Talks description:

Published on Apr 4, 2014

From the Ted Talks Director Channel on Youtube:

Published on Mar 18, 2014

In 2013, Ai-Jen Poo gave a presentation at TEDxMiddlebury entitled, "Building a Caring America." In it, she discusses her inspiration, her philosophy of organizing, and the work of the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA). Watch the presenation here.

In 2002, 60 Minutes ran an interview with Sibel Edmonds (see portrait here) entitled "Lost in Translation".

To watch Ed Bradley's conversation with Edmonds on the 60 Minutes site, click here.

As described by TEDxAustin: Robyn shares her personal story and how it inspired her current path as a "Real Food" evangelist. Grounded in a successful Wall Street career that was more interested in food as good business than good-for-you, this mother of four was shaken awake by the dangerous allergic reaction of one of her children to a "typical" breakfast. Her mission to unearth the cause revealed more about the food industry than she could stomach, and impelled her to share her findings with others. Informative and inspiring.

Robyn O'Brien's website.

About this speaker: Robyn authored "The Unhealthy Truth: How Our Food Is Making Us Sick and What We Can Do About It." A former Wall Street food industry analyst, Robyn brings insight, compassion and detailed analysis to her research into the impact that the global food system is having on the health of our children. She founded allergykidsfoundation.org and was named by Forbes as one of "20 Inspiring Women to Follow on Twitter." The New York Times has passionately described her as "Food's Erin Brockovich."

Listen to Jim Page´s powerful song about Rachel Corrie, "I´d Rather be Dancing - Rachel's Song."

The following text is from the Democracy Now! Youtube page. See the first video below the text. Part 2 is linked from the text.

American Fascism: Ralph Nader Decries How Big Business Has Taken Control of the U.S. Government

Describing the United States as an "advanced Third World country," longtime consumer advocate and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader calls for a new mass movement to challenge the power corporations have in Washington. "It is not too extreme to call our system of government now 'American Fascism.' It's the control of government by big business, which Franklin Delano Roosevelt defined in 1938 as fascism," Nader says.

Watch Part 2 of this interview: http://youtu.be/oIZtPsAG33U

Nader continues: "We have the lowest minimum wage in the Western world. We have the greatest amount of consumer debt. We have the highest child poverty, the highest adult poverty, huge underemployment, a crumbling public works -- but huge multi-billionaires and hugely profitable corporations. I say to the American people: what's your breaking point? When are you going to stop making excuses for yourself? When are you going to stop exaggerating these powers when you know you have the power in this country if you organize it?" Nader has just published a new book, "Told You So: The Big Book of Weekly Columns."

Democracy Now!, is an independent global news hour that airs weekdays on 1,100+ TV and radio stations Monday through Friday.

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Anthony Perry, a senior at St. Francis High School in Louisville, Kentucky organized a conference held at the Muhammad Ali Center on the school to prison pipeline. The conference, titled "A 360º View of the School to Prison Pipeline: Changing Policies, Changing Outcomes" was inspired, in part, by Michelle Alexander's, author of the book, The New Jim Crow.

The event was attended by more than 300 people from the Louisville community. Perry´s work was supported by the Ali Center, the ACLU of Kentucky, Michelle Alexander, St. Francis High School, the Jefferson Country Public Schools, Americans Who Tell the Truth and Louisville educator, Michele Hemenway. Joe Guttman a former prosecutor who teaches at Central High School in Louisville, Dr. Kathleen Cooter and Dr. Bernard Minnis from Bellarmine University also presented at the event.

Rob Shetterly's portrait of Michelle Alexander, part of the AWTT series, was unveiled at the event.

Watch the video below to get a sense of the breadth of community participation and the complexity and depth of the dialogue sparked by Perry's efforts and activism.

"How can an individual influence the path of a nation?" Tarrant High School (Tarrant, Alabama) social studies teacher Beth Sanders asked her 11th graders this essential question during the 2012-2013 school year. She then used the Americans Who Tell the Truth portraits and website to explore this question with her students.

Read more about Beth Sanders´ classroom here on the Institute for Democratic Action in America´s website.

Below, watch the classroom in action and a Google Hangout with Robert Shetterly.

At the "Here I Stand" gala honoring Dick Gregory, Amiri Baraka tells the story of Paul Robeson´s life in two parts. This event has held at the Lincoln Theater in Washington, D.C. and took place in 2006.

The first Part is below.

Click here to see Part 2 of Amiri Baraka´s talk.

Listen and watch Paul Robeson sing Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II´s famous song, "Ol´ Man River." This recording was made in 1936.

Jonathan Kozol gives a talk at Amherst College that will help anyone interested in Kozol get a sense of both the man, his ideas, and the state of education in America. The talk is divided into 6 parts on Youtube. Play Part 1 below. Links to the other 5 parts are provided.

The talks were uploaded by the Media Education Foundation.

Part 2: Jonathan Kozol: Education in America

Part 3: Jonathan Kozol: Education in America

Part 4: Jonathan Kozol: Education in America

Part 5: Jonathan Kozol: Education in America

Part 6: Jonathan Kozol: Education in America

Jonathan Kozol gives a talk entitled, "The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America" at the First Babtist Church in Portland, Oregon on September 30, 2005. The talk was sponsored by Rethinking Schools and Powell´s Books and was organized to discuss Kozol´s 2005 book, The Shame of the Nation. This talk is directed, particularly, a teachers who work in our nation´s toughest schools.

The video was produced by pdxjustice Media Production.

Sir Michael Parkinson, who has been described as Britain´s greatest talk show host, interviews Muhammad Ali in 1974. The interview on the program called "Parkinson" lasts an hour and seven minutes. After he retired in 2007, Parkinson said that Muhammad Ali was the most remarkable man he ever interviewed. Says Ali in the interview, "I need people of wisdom such as myself to make me think to keep me going."

This 1996 film, which won the Oscar for Best Feature Documentary, deals not only with Muhammad Ali the boxer, but discussions with Spike Lee, Norman Mailer and George Plimpton place Ali in cultural and political context. The music -- James Brown, B.B. King, Celia Cruz and Miriam Makeba all performed leading up to the fight -- surrounding the event is also worth studying, as is the imaginative relationship between the Americans in the film and Africa.

The director of the film, Leon Gast, worked on it for 23 years.

Reviewing "When We Were Kings" in the San Francisco Chronicle, Edward Guthman wrote, "At the height of his stardom, Muhammad Ali was possibly the most famous man on earth... On a deeper level -- and this is where "When We Were Kings" exceeds its expectations and becomes a great film -- Gast examines African American pride. He records a time when Ali, loud and 'pretty,' became a worldwide symbol of black self-determination and gave his brothers a bolder, stronger image of themselves than they´d ever known."

Watch the trailer below.

In this interview with Mike McCormick, producer of the KEXP radio show, Mind Over Matters, Frances Moore Lappé discusses her book, Getting A Grip: Clarity, Creativity and Courage in a World Gone Mad.

Great sing along version of Woody Guthrie´s song "This Land is Your Land" performed by Pete Seeger, Bruce Springsteen, Tao Seeger and a youth chorus. They were perfoming at the Lincoln Monument for President Barack Obama´s inauguration on January 20, 2009.

Listen to Woody Guthrie sing "This Land is Your Land".

Read about the history of the cultural history of the lyrics (below) at the Zinn Education Project website.

This Land Is Your Land

Words and Music by Woody Guthrie

This land is your land This land is my land
From California to the New York island;
From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and Me.

As I was walking that ribbon of highway,
I saw above me that endless skyway:
I saw below me that golden valley:
This land was made for you and me.

I've roamed and rambled and I followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts;
And all around me a voice was sounding:
This land was made for you and me.

When the sun came shining, and I was strolling,
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling,
As the fog was lifting a voice was chanting:
This land was made for you and me.

As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said "No Trespassing."
But on the other side it didn't say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.

In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?

Nobody living can ever stop me,
As I go walking that freedom highway;
Nobody living can ever make me turn back
This land was made for you and me.

Kathy Kelly gives a talk in 2009 entitled "War Is Not a Game" about a trip to Gaza. The event was organized by the American Friends Service Committee, Brandywine Peace Community, Catholic Peace Fellowship, and House of Grace Catholic Worker.

The talk is divided into six parts on Youtube. Click here to see a menu of all six parts.

See Part 1 below.

As part of a February 2007 Voices of a People´s History of the United States event, Alfre Woodard reads Sojourner Truth´s famous, "Ain't I a Woman?" speech. Truth delivered extemporaneously in 1851 at the Ohio Women´s Rights Convention in Akron. Read more about the history of Truth´s speech here.

Read the full text of the speech here.

Find out more at the California Newsreel site about the documentary Zora Neale Hurston: Jump at the Sun, described by Newsday as, "An exhilirating portrait of an exhilirating woman, and a cut above the usual American Masters portrait." Also look at the PBS page, which includes a 1943 letter that Hurston wrote to Countee Cullen, in which she discusses lynching, segregation and liberals. Also on the PBS site are a timeline of Hurston´s life, interviews with the makers of the documentary, and outtakes and deleted scenes.

From the film description on the California Newsreel site:

Zora Neale Hurston: Jump at the Sun intersperses insights from leading scholars and rare footage of the rural South (some of it shot by Zora herself) with re-enactments of a revealing 1943 radio interview. Hurston biographer, Cheryl Wall, traces Zora's unique artistic vision back to her childhood in Eatonville, Florida, the first all-black incorporated town in the U.S. There Zora was surrounded by proud, self-sufficient, self-governing black people, deeply immersed in African American folk traditions. Her father, a Baptist preacher, carpenter and three times mayor, reminded Zora every Sunday morning that ordinary black people could be powerful poets. Her mother encouraged her to "jump at de' sun," never to let being black and a woman stand in the way of her dreams.

2012 was the 75th anniversary of the publication of Zora Neale Hurston´s beautiful novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. Here, Alice Walker reads from the book at an event from The Green Space, New York Public Radio´s open gathering place. The event took place on March 28, 2012.

From the description of the video:

After 75 years, Zora Neale Hurston's novel, "Their Eyes Were Watching God," still resonates in the hearts and minds of contemporary audiences, but it had particular significance for black women writers and artists who were working at the time of its rediscovery. The Greene Space convened three luminaries who are all intimately connected to the novel -- Alice Walker, Sonia Sanchez and Ruby Dee -- to share their stories and describe how they saw Janie and Zora's horizons on their own journeys. Zora Neale Hurston's niece Lucy Anne Hurston, author of Speak, So You Can Speak Again: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston, served as the evening's moderator.

Listen to Wendell Berry read from his masterful, Port William stories. Those interested in reading more about the community in Berry´s invented town, might look at his book, That Distant Land.

From the post on Youtube:

On Wednesday, November 9, in the College Chapel, Kentuckian Wendell Berry read from his famed Port William stories. For about an hour, a rapt audience listened to a great writer read the written word well crafted--no multimedia presentation, no PowerPoint, just flowing and often poetic prose by one of the masters.

Bill McKibben introduces Wendell Berry in 2009 at George Washington University. Scroll down to watch the video of Berry reading a poem about hope and place.

The text of the poem is below. For those interested in reading this poem and others from the same collection, see Berry´s book, Leavings.

It is hard to have hope. It is harder as you grow old,

For hope must not depend on feeling good
And there is the dream of loneliness at absolute midnight.
You also have withdrawn belief in the present reality
Of the future, which surely will surprise us,
…And hope is harder when it cannot come by prediction
Any more than by wishing. But stop dithering.
The young ask the old to hope. What will you tell them?
Tell them at least what you say to yourself.

Because we have not made our lives to fit
Our places, the forests are ruined, the fields eroded,
The streams polluted, the mountains overturned. Hope
Then to belong to your place by your own knowledge
Of what it is that no other place is, and by
Your caring for it as you care for no other place, this
Place that you belong to though it is not yours,
For it was from the beginning and will be to the end

Belong to your place by knowledge of the others who are
Your neighbors in it: the old man, sick and poor,
Who comes like a heron to fish in the creek,
And the fish in the creek, and the heron who manlike
Fishes for the fish in the creek, and the birds who sing
In the trees in the silence of the fisherman
And the heron, and the trees that keep the land
They stand upon as we too must keep it, or die.

This knowledge cannot be taken from you by power
Or by wealth. It will stop your ears to the powerful
when they ask for your faith, and to the wealthy
when they ask for your land and your work.
Answer with knowledge of the others who are here
And how to be here with them. By this knowledge
Make the sense you need to make. By it stand
In the dignity of good sense, whatever may follow.
Speak to your fellow humans as your place
Has taught you to speak, as it has spoken to you.
Speak its dialect as your old compatriots spoke it
Before they had heard a radio. Speak
Publicly what cannot be taught or learned in public.

Listen privately, silently to the voices that rise up
From the pages of books and from your own heart.
Be still and listen to the voices that belong
To the streambanks and the trees and the open fields.
There are songs and sayings that belong to this place,
By which it speaks for itself and no other.

Found your hope, then, on the ground under your feet.
Your hope of Heaven, let it rest on the ground
Underfoot. Be it lighted by the light that falls
Freely upon it after the darkness of the nights
And the darkness of our ignorance and madness.
Let it be lighted also by the light that is within you,
Which is the light of imagination. By it you see
The likeness of people in other places to yourself
In your place. It lights invariably the need for care
Toward other people, other creatures, in other places
As you would ask them for care toward your place and you.

No place at last is better than the world. The world
Is no better than its places. Its places at last
Are no better than their people while their people
Continue in them. When the people make
Dark the light within them, the world darkens.

-Wendell Berry

Listen to Wendell Berry speak at Kentuckians for the Commonwealth´s "I Love Mountains Day" in 2008. It is a thoughtful and concise talk that lays out the relationships between politics, money, and environmental destruction and why activism is necessary to save our streams, forests and mountains.

Kentuckians For The Commonwealth is a statewide citizens' organization working for a new balance of power and a just society. As we work together we build our strength, individually and as a group, and we find solutions to real life problems. We use direct action to challenge – and change – unfair political, economic and social systems. Our membership is open to all people who are committed to equality, democracy and non-violent change.

Download and read the full text of W.E.B. Du Bois´s seminal book, The Souls of Black Folk for free from the Project Gutenberg.

It is in this book that Du Bois develops the concepts of "double consciousness" and "the veil" to describe the experience of being Black in America. This article, posted on the American Studies Department website at the University of Virginia, discusses the meaning of these terms, stating: "The implication and connotation of these words were far-reaching because not only did it succinctly describe the plight of being Black and American then, it rings true to the core and essence of what it means to still be Black and American today."

Below, visitors can listen to Torias Uncle read the The Forethought and Chapter 1 of The Souls of Black Folk.

From Democracy Now!: Doris Granny D Haddock, one of the leading fighters for campaign finance reform in the United States, died on Tuesday at the age of 100. In 1999, just shy of her ninetieth birthday, Granny D walked 3,200 miles across the country to promote campaign finance reform. She is widely credited for galvanizing the public support that helped pass the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Act in 2002. We replay an excerpt of a 2004 interview with Granny D in the midst of her campaign for the US Senate against New Hampshire incumbent Judd Gregg.

Read more about Doris Haddock, a.k.a., Granny D, here. As she gives this speech, she is 97 years old at the Fighting Bob Fest in Baraboo, Wisconsin.

Actor Danny Glover reads abolitionist Frederick Douglass' "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" (July 5, 1852) on October 5, 2005 in Los Angeles, California. It is part of a reading from Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove´s project, Voices of a People's History of the United States.

Read the full text of the speech here at teachingamericanhistory.org.

James Earl Jones reads excerpts from Frederick Douglass' speech "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" (July 5, 1852) as a part of Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove´s "Voices of People´s History" project. This was broadcast on Democracy Now!, July 5, 2004.

Q'Orianka Kilcher reads Chief Joseph's account of his 1879 trip to Washington, DC. Part of a reading of Voices of a People's History of the United States (Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove) at All Saints Church in Pasadena, CA on February 1, 2007.

This 53 minute documentary, Chicano!, offers a history of the Mexican American, Cesar Chavez, and the struggle for Civil Rights.

Part 2 of Randy Shaw´s talk about his book, Beyond the Fields: Cesar Chavez, the UFW, and the Struggle for Justice in the 21st Century.

About the book, from the Publisher (to purchase the book, click here or on the cover to the left):

Cesar Chavez is the most prominent Latino in United States history books, and much has been written about Chavez and the United Farm Worker's heyday in the 1960s and '70s. But left untold has been their ongoing impact on 21st century social justice movements. Beyond the Fields unearths this legacy, and describes how Chavez and the UFW's imprint can be found in the modern reshaping of the American labor movement, the building of Latino political power, the transformation of Los Angeles and California politics, the fight for environmental justice, and the burgeoning national movement for immigrant rights. Many of the ideas, tactics, and strategies that Chavez and the UFW initiated or revived--including the boycott, the fast, clergy-labor partnerships and door-to-door voter outreach--are now so commonplace that their roots in the farmworkers' movement is forgotten.

Part 1 of Randy Shaw´s talk about his book, Beyond the Fields: Cesar Chavez, the UFW, and the Struggle for Justice in the 21st Century.

About the book, from the Publisher (to purchase the book, click here or on the cover to the left):

Cesar Chavez is the most prominent Latino in United States history books, and much has been written about Chavez and the United Farm Worker's heyday in the 1960s and '70s. But left untold has been their ongoing impact on 21st century social justice movements. Beyond the Fields unearths this legacy, and describes how Chavez and the UFW's imprint can be found in the modern reshaping of the American labor movement, the building of Latino political power, the transformation of Los Angeles and California politics, the fight for environmental justice, and the burgeoning national movement for immigrant rights. Many of the ideas, tactics, and strategies that Chavez and the UFW initiated or revived--including the boycott, the fast, clergy-labor partnerships and door-to-door voter outreach--are now so commonplace that their roots in the farmworkers' movement is forgotten.

Watch Cesar Chavez being interviewed during the Delano Grape Strike. Strikers have been shot and Chavez wants to know who is behind it. The interview gets heated and strong language is used, showing viewers today how high the stakes were in the United Farm Workers´ fight for rights and dignity.

Watch and listen as Martin Luther King Jr. delivers what was to be his most famous speech, "I Have a Dream", at the March on Washington. The date was August 28, 1963. More than 200,000 people gathered to listen to his speech. American scholars voted it the greatest speech of the 20th century.

In a moment of profound national grief and pain, Robert F. Kennedy, who had lost his own brother only five years early and would be assassinated himself within months, announces the death of Martin Luther King Jr. and recommends that people choose love over hate. He quotes these lines from Aeschylus, his favorite poet:

And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget

Falls drop by drop upon the heart,

And in our own despite, against our will,

Comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God.

Three days after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, Nina Simone sang this song. It was performed on April 7, 1968 at the at the Westbury Music Fair and was written by Gene Taylor, Simone´s bass player.

At The River I Stand is a powerful film about Memphis Santitation Workers´Strike and Marting Luther King Jr. It was directed by David Appleby, Allison Graham and Steven Ross. It was released in 1993 and is 58 minutes long.

(Scroll down to watch the documentary trailer.) At The River I Stand skillfully reconstructs the two eventful months that transformed a local labor dispute into a national conflagration, and disentangles the complex historical forces that came together with the inevitability of tragedy at the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This 58-minute documentary brings into sharp relief issues that have only become more urgent in the intervening years: the connection between economic and civil rights, the debate over violent vs. nonviolent change, and the demand for full inclusion of African Americans in American life.

In the 1960s, Memphis' 1,300 sanitation workers formed the lowest caste of a deeply racist society, earning so little they qualified for welfare. In the film, retired workers recall their fear about taking on the entire white power structure when they struck for higher wages and union recognition.

But local civil rights leaders and the Black community soon realized the strike was part of the struggle for economic justice for all African Americans. Through stirring historical footage we see the community mobilizing behind the strikers, organizing mass demonstrations and an Easter boycott of downtown businesses. The national leadership of AFSCME put the international union's full resources behind the strike. One day, a placard appeared on the picket lines which in its radical simplicity summed up the meaning of the strike: "I am a man."

In March, Martin Luther King, Jr. came to Memphis as part of his Poor People's Campaign to expand the civil rights agenda to the economy. The film recreates the controversies between King's advisors, local leaders, and younger militants — debates that led to open conflict. When young hotheads turned King's protest march into a violent confrontation with the brutal Memphis policy, King left.

King and the nation realized his leadership and nonviolent strategy had been threatened. King felt obliged to return to Memphis to resume a nonviolent march despite the by-now feverish racial tensions. The film captures the deep sense of foreboding that pervaded King's final "I have been to the mountaintop" speech. The next day, April 4, 1968, he was assassinated.

Four days later, thousands from Memphis and around the country rallied to pull off King's nonviolent march. The city council crumbled and granted most of the strikers' demands. Those 1,300 sanitation workers had shown they could successfully challenge the entrenched economic structure of the South.

Endemic inner-city poverty along with the growing gap between the rich and the rest of us make clear that the issues Martin Luther King, Jr. raised in his last days have yet to be addressed. At the River I Standsucceeds in showing that the causes of (and possibly the solutions to) our present racial quandary may well be found in what happened in Memphis. Its riveting portrait of the grit and determination of ordinary people will inspire viewers to re-dedicate themselves to racial and economic justice.

Critical Acclaim:

"An excellent film on the movement which drew Martin Luther King to Memphis and his death. It reveals how the black and labor movements both win by struggling together!" Julian Bond, Chair, NAACP

"An eloquent and powerful work of history...offering new insight into the intersection of race and class." 1994 Erik Barnouw Award for Best Documentary, Organization of American Historians

From the producer of the documentary, Brother Outsider - The Life of Bayard Rustin: (Watch the trailer below.)

He was there at most of the important events of the Civil Rights Movement — but always in the background. Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin asks "Why?" It presents a vivid drama, intermingling the personal and the political, about one of the most enigmatic figures in 20th-century American history. One of the first "freedom riders," an adviser to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and A. Philip Randolph, organizer of the march on Washington, intelligent, gregarious and charismatic, Bayard Rustin was denied his place in the limelight for one reason — he was gay.

Rustin was born in 1912 into a Pennsylvania Quaker family steeped in ideas of social justice and non-violence. He moved to Harlem during the socially and culturally tumultuous 1930s and, after a brief flirtation with the Communist Party found a more congenial home in A.J. Muste's pacifist Fellowship of Reconciliation. While there, he served prison terms for resisting the draft during World War II and later for integrating interstate buses. When A. Philip Randolph, aging head of the Black labor movement, turned to the fellowship for tactical help, Rustin worked closely with him and developed a belief that the labor movement offered the best hope for Black advancement.

Then in 1953, Rustin was arrested during a casual homosexual encounter. A.J. Muste forced him out of the fellowship. When the Montgomery bus boycott was launched, he went to Alabama in 1956 and became a mentor in non-violence to the 26-year-old Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Though Rustin would advise the younger civil rights leader until his assassination in 1968, King broke publicly with Rustin in 1960, when Representative Adam Clayton Powell threatened King over the issue of Rustin's homosexuality.

But when the 1963 march on Washington was proposed, the civil rights leadership recognized there was only one man who could organize it — Bayard Rustin. After the march's overwhelming success Rustin forged the fragile alliance between the labor unions, the Civil Rights Movement and the Democratic Party which was responsible for much of the landmark civil rights legislation of the 1960′s.

Later on, Rustin angered former colleagues by not speaking out against the war in Vietnam, and by taking controversial stands against Black Nationalism and affirmative action. In the 1970s and 1980s, he returned to his early interest in international affairs and human rights, working on behalf of refugees around the world.

Listen to John Hunter´s acclaimed 2011 Ted Talk.

Frances Crowe discusses her involvement in the anti-war movement, bringing Democracy Now! to Northampton and other events in her life. It was made by John Fenstermaker and Jeremy Felson, who wrote about the film: This is a rough cut version of Frances Crowe's profile in Film about Friends a Division III Senior Thesis Film from Hampshire College. Please make comments about style, pacing and structure as this film is still being edited. Shot on 16mm color negative film with an Arri SR1 cinematography by: Joe Fenstermaker & Jeremy Felson

Listen to Sweet Honey in the Rock perform Bernice Johnson Reagon´s great "Ella´s Song" about the Civil Rights activist, Ella Baker.

You can read the lyrics to the song on Ms. Johnson Reagon´s website.

Russell Libby (read his BIO and see is AWTT Portrait here) planted his first garden after getting free seeds at the end of fourth grade. His involvement with MOFGA started at the first Common Ground Country Fair in 1977 where he saw a connection between local, organic food and a strong Maine economy. He began participating in the Consortium for Maine Food Self-Reliance in 1979, and joined the MOFGA Board of Directors in 1983. After a dozen years on the Board, including two years as President, Russell became Executive Director in 1995. He has led MOFGA's growth over the past decade as the organization moved to the new Common Ground Education Center in Unity, expanded the Agricultural Services and Education programs, and created a subsidiary to run the Certification program.

About TEDx, x = independently organized event

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. (Subject to certain rules and regulations.)

Listen to Michelle Alexander´s lecture at the Demos Organization from February 18, 2010.

Zoe Weil, whose portrait is included in the AWTT series, is the co-founder and president of the Institute for Humane Education (www.HumaneEducation.org) and is considered a pioneer in the comprehensive humane education movement, which provides people with the knowledge, tools, and motivation to be conscientious choicemakers and engaged changemakers for a better world. Zoe created the first Master of Education and Certificate Program in Humane Education in the U.S. covering the interconnected issues of human rights, environmental preservation, and animal protection.

About TEDx, x = independently organized event

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. (Subject to certain rules and regulations.)

Following an Operation Breaking Stereotypes exchange in 2007, Welcome to My World tells the story of two groups of teenagers from disparate walks of life and what happens when they come together. Initially worried that Maine holds nothing but trees, cows, and racists, the New York kids have much trepidation about leaving the city. Up north, the Maine students eagerly anticipate hosting these strangers, but fear the realities of drive-by shootings and other gang violence they may face when they later visit the big city.

Operation Breaking Stereotypes is an AWTT partner.

Operation Breaking Stereotypes is a non-profit organization working with schools to help students address ethnic, socio-economic, gender, and racial stereotypes through writing, reading, music, photography, and personal connections.

In January 2012, Robert Shetterly spent a week as an artist-in-residence at St. Edward´s University in Austin, Texas. He and the artist and activist, Lily Yeh, were there at the invitation of the Kozmetsky Center of Excellence in Global Finance. During that time, Robert and Lily had the chance to speak with the KLRU Collective, a program of Austin´s public television station, KLRU.