R2W 2008 - DAY 1

Particpants arrived from all over the country today - Hawaii, Seattle, Minnesota, Long Beach, and right here in the Bay - to begin the first of 14 very intense, conscious, and faith-full days. A little nervous, anxious, and some shy, new participants flooded into the PANA house, awaiting... what? Critical Faith, especially your very first dose of it, is a little hard to capture in writing. Perhaps the participants, Tupi from SF, Fusi from Hawaii, Richard from Long Beach, Crystal C. from Washington State to name a few, didn't realize they had started their first steps of Critical Faith the moment they turned to someone in this new environment and said "Hi, my name is-." But at least from what I saw, this new crew already has some pretty deep DIALOGUE skills, and started to get to know each other right away.

After lunch, we headed up to the main gathering space, Mudd 100 classroom, and met at the Bus Terminal. Our bus was delayed, so we had to like, actually stop and talk to each other. This is metaphorical, there was no terminal or bus, we were in a classroom - but it's funny how some folks need circumstances like that to talk to one another. I think the individuals in that room were all deep enough to start conversations on their own, but the bus stop didn't hurt. I got to know David, from Long Beach, and heard a story about a neighborhood steeped in gang violence, a lack of options, and physical rumbles based on ethnicity. I heard a story about losing friends to the streets, friends that never even wanted to be a part of it. And David's story was just one of about thirty new ones shared. I'm excited to see their insights and trials into the PROBLEM POSING process - because these are the people that are genuinely curious about why things are the way they are, and this particular group - is real serious about it.

Then we broke bread (technically Chinese food) together, and got a little more orientation to the place and the behavior that would be most effective in getting the most one can out of the experience. Following that we had worship - and as a way to introduce you, reader, to this year's participants, I'll share with you some of the positions they've offered to take on with us over the next two weeks:

Great listeners (there were a lot of these, which is invaluable to r2w), artists, illustrators, creators, scholars, open hearts, open arms, dancers, laughers, supporters, good company, bald heads, storytellers, singers, writers, and many more.

And as a true OG - I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome the very first timers this year: Nofo, Ramo, David L., Eizen, Grillena, Joelle, Julius, Marika, Kaunaga, Michelle, Peka, Ravy, Richard, Sunia, Taulau, Tupi, Taya, Vera and Yesenia. It takes a lot of guts and spirits to say "I'm gonna do this" for two weeks, spill your stories, your issues and concerns about your community and your peers, but you've taken that step and done it. Thanks for joining us y'all, we're really glad you're here.

- Maikiko James, R2W 2008 Resource Teacher ("and an awesome actress, too - you should Google her" says Lauren, R2W Program Associate)