"The best example I can think of is a man who told me that he finally made the decision to come to our program because he heard Peter Gzowski on CBC's Morningside program talking to a man who had been illiterate. The man had gone back to school and Gzowski really applauded his efforts. That really impressed Howard (who is a real Peter Gzowski fan) and that's why he finally made up his mind to call me."

I told Marnee that I would be golfing in the Peter Gzowski Invitational Golf Tournament being held in Calgary in 2 weeks. Marnee's face lit up. "Oh, wouldn't Howard love to be part of something like that." Her mind racing with ideas, Marnee thought what a good idea it would be for Howard and his tutor to work on writing a letter to Gzowski. I offered to hand-deliver the letter to Gzowski at the Tournament. Marnee thought Howard would be delighted with the idea and said she would call him right away to suggest it.

Marnee had perked up as we talked and I noted the enthusiasm that still shone through the fatigue she was rightfully feeling. She said that she would never have been able to survive the wear and tear of the job, if it weren't for the support available to her through the network of other literacy workers. "If I didn't have the network," Marnee admitted, "I'd still be here like I was on day one. I used to sit here and bounce ideas off the wall and they would come back and land on my desk and I'd be right back where I started. The network is truly invaluable. You've got to have access to what's going on out there, how things are changing, and what's new in the field. Sharing ideas is really important. Just like the idea to encourage Howard to write to Gzowski. This is definitely a field where two heads are better than one."

In the fall of 1985, BEY CHASE was hired as a monitor for the LEARN Program in the Bonnyville/Ft. Kent area. Four years later, her family moved to St. Albert. Almost immediately, Bev obtained a job as the literacy coordinator for the Spruce Grove Literacy Project, a half- hour drive away from where she lived. She recently left that position to take on the role of project coordinator for the newly established St. Albert STAR Literacy Project.

We sat and had tea in a little greenhouse-like alcove in the newly built St. Albert Place. I asked Bev why she had chosen to stay involved in literacy work. "I really enjoy the people," she said brightly. "I have made so many friends in this group. I've learned so much about how a group works and about the contributions I can make."

Bev's initiation into the literacy field was as it has been for many others - informal and immediate. She described one of the first training workshops she attended. "The workshop was in Edmonton. I drove 4 hours to the city with another lady who was hired in Cold Lake about the same time I was hired in Bonnyville. We had never met each other before. We stayed together in residence at the University of Alberta and slept on these tiny little cots. The room was so small that only one person could get out of bed at a time. It was really awkward but we sure had fun."

I commented to Bev how much I had learned about myself since I started working in literacy and how much "more of me" I was becoming, especially as a woman in the workplace. "I feel that way too," Bev said, gesturing with her hands as she spoke. "Starting my job in literacy brought me back from the brink. I felt I had been at home too long. I almost lost it completely. But, I really grew a lot as a result of the contact with people. Being part of the literacy network really helped to build my self-confidence. I really felt good about what I was doing and felt that I was good at it."