Pass the Peace Please

I'm back from Sunnyside, WA where I gave my first peace sermon at the Presbyterian Church pastored by the Reverend Kate Isabelle Haney on November 8. I was thankful for this bully-pulpit opportunity to urge active peacemaking through the butterfly quilt's symbolic presence and the sharing of a number of examples of children's visions of peace in the form of postcards already addressed to Oprah's PO Box. The quilt was displayed in the front of the sanctuary on Sunday morning where 11-year-old Max's card was clipped..."My vision of peace is to bring happiness to others..." Peace and joy are often inseparable, according to Max and to Jesus too.

Other card wordings were shared such as: "My vision of peace is to stop bullying at my school this year." Chris, age 11. "My vision of peace is that there be no more littering on the planet." Lana, age 11. "My vision of peace is that all seven continents will have smiles on their faces. Even penguins." Anajulia, age 12. "My vision of peace is for everyone to have a cat." Joe, age 6. "Accepting diversity promotes peace." Grandparent.

I talked about how my former Shasta Middle School students influenced over 1000 people to write peace postcards to Oprah last year...always wording their own thoughts and diverse ways of bringing joy to the earth.

I made the connection between the Gospel, the verse Matthew 5:9, and the students' collecting of 1,000,000 visions of peace postcards and its intrinsic value in influencing change. The sharing of adolescents' dreams of making the world a better world inspire others of all ages to think about and to act on justice and peace issues. The point is not to get on the talk show or even to fill out a card and mail it away; the point is to create the synergy that promotes small actions that change individuals that change more individuals that change many more individuals.

A 22-minute sermon and a reunion with long-time friends from long ago days at Northwoord Presbyterian Church (the Haneys, the Rolfes, the Kirkpatricks) made for a special time. (Also, the four women friends played one great game of pool. I think my partner and I won because I picked up the balls and put them in the pockets.)

Since the Peace Quilt's first appearance at Chico's, the quilt has been shared with 19 different configurations of people and groups. I will add all those stops and a few accompanying captions and photos on my developing map in the side panel. If you are planning to read about the peace quilt journey now and then, know that the template is due to change frequently. A rolling blog gathers no moss. I should probably give prizes to anyone who happens to catch what I've changed from entry to entry. The teacher in me can't help but scroll back to make "improvements"--add pictures, reword comments, add an interchange I forgot to mention, change spelling or word choice, delete B.S. and so on. I hope to switch the current set of maps to a g-map with the help of my friends, Jen Butler and Chuck Vanlue. It does take a village to help me become more bloggable.

Peace Quilt Launched at Chico's

Carol Vanlue (left) and Lura Pierce (right) hold the Butterfly Peace Quilt at Chico's style show. Tiny copper coils rest in the butterfly wings ready to hold new visions-of-peace postcards to be sent to Oprah Winfrey.

Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 Days provided a backdrop, a place mat for my teaching for seemingly "hundreds of years." But for one promised year, the butterfly peace quilt will become my pictorial frame for travels and storytalking and serendipitous confabs about kids' peacemaking visions. I am hoping that promises will beget promises. Cards will inspire cards...1,000,000 of them, in fact.

Why am I traveling for one year? A promise. Many reasons but here's another one for now. I decided to retire when my students actually believed that I was ancient. For years I had shared an exaggerated age of monumental proportions the first day of school and then chanted my funny opening line, "I want you to know that I'm the oldest living middle school teacher you'll ever have." Usually, kids reacted. I thought I was funny.

This year I made an appointment with a financial planner when 11-year-old Geoff matter-of- factly shared with another teacher that I was quite elderly. Tickled, Ms. Bradshaw gently tried to point out that I couldn't possibly be 412-years-old to which Geoff defiantly stated, "Dr. Pierce wouldn't lie."

Time to travel.

Back to Verne's saga and its connection to the next 365 days. Inevitably, students over the years acted out the fictional characters in a short comedic play of 19 scenes that were periodically filmed over the course of a year. Only on the last day of school was the travel film actually viewed. Meanwhile my attempt to keep the interest of adolescents while teaching geography and just about everything else steadily continued.

Teacher Quiz Questions with Student Answers

1. What is the International Date Line? Not sure.

2 How did it affect the novel's ending? Beats me.

3. Why is the Prime Meridian important to you? Can I get a drink of water?

Obviously, over the years there was always room for more learning about our world--for the OLD and the young. In the process, I at least became hooked on travel and the insatiable urge to learn more about other cultures. I can tell you Phileas Fogg and Passepartout's circuitous route by heart, and I even understand the International Date Line. I always claimed that when I retired, I'd retrace the fictional characters in their adventures.

I am doing that...sorta.

Logically (or illogically, for that matter), if I were going to go around the world as a merry retiree, I'd buy one of those $10,000 around-the-world airplane tickets. I'd plan my itinerary beginning and ending in London, buy one of Rick Steve's backpacks for my light load, talk my husband and friends into joining me on a leg or two of the trip, and take off in a balloon.

I've "taken off" on this world journey, for sure. It's just not quite how I envisioned it. Jules Verne is rolling over in his grave wondering where I'm going with all this too. Instead of London, the peace quilt began its journey at Chico's in Eugene on Coburg Road on July 15, 2009 instead of London in 1872.

After a bit of cajoling, two friends, Katie Stocks and Mary Pat Kersten, modeled for a benefit for the U.S. Nobel Peace Park Project at this higher-priced women's clothing store. The quilt was displayed (back and front) as the intro to the evening. My Shasta colleague, math and science teacher, Kristy McElravy, joined Carol Vanlue to hold the quilt for the audience to see. Her unwaivering support of kids and their peaceful efforts never waivered over the last two years. A kindred spirit. Over 25 polite friends and friends of friends listened to the stories of our adolescents' visions of peace and the connection to the developing peace park at Alton Baker nearby. They waited patiently in anticipation for the novice models' debuts...and wisecracks. "What has Lura gotten us into now?"

To sum it up, in the past two years of incorporating peace studies into the middle school integrated social studies/language arts curriculum through the study of the U.S. Nobel Peace Prize winners, my dream of a world trip changed. Peace and a Promise to kids to spread their visions of peace got in the way. I've begun my trip at home.