As chair of the Hosting Committee, it was my responsibility to make travel, accommodation and speaking arrangements for the keynote speakers. The next morning, I walked with Jonathan Kozol, the American author and scholar, from the hotel to the Convention Centre. I did my best to answer his many questions about literacy work in Alberta, which he carefully related to his experiences in the United States. I left Jonathan alone at the breakfast table; he wanted to make last minute changes to his notes before his morning address. Outside in the foyer, I ran into ALICE BOWIE. She was beaming.

"What are you so happy about?" I asked her.

"I can hardly wait to hear Jonathan Kozol's talk," Alice said. "He is one of my favourite people. I took a course in Adult Education in Victoria where I read some of his work and did a paper on his book Illiterate America. I guess you could say he's one of my heroes."

When Jonathan Kozol stood at the podium and began to speak, I couldn't move; he was intense, passionate and mesmerizing. He talked about illiteracy being the result not of "error" or a system where children "slipped though the cracks" but of "poverty, oppression and injustice." I heard and felt Jonathan's words with every part of me. I felt all at once exhausted and exhilarated; full of despair and full of hope, and more determined than ever to keep on with the struggle.

I looked for Alice after Jonathan's address. His presentation had moved her too. "He calked about all the things I've been working so hard towards," she said looking pleased. "I try to make people aware of the lack of opportunities my students have had (and may never have) and deal with the questionable attitudes of the privileged people towards the whole issue of illiteracy. He really understands; he was everything I expected. He really is a wonderful man."

Nice is the coordinator of a "drop-in" literacy program in the downtown core of Edmonton and meets students every day who are the victims of the poverty and injustice about which Jonathan spoke. I was pleased when she extended an invitation to me to come in a couple of weeks to see her program and meet some of her students.

Later in the afternoon I found KAREN MANWEILLER taking a break by the windows of the Convention Centre overlooking the river valley. Karen had brought two students and a tutor with her to the Conference and was pleased with how much they were enjoying themselves.

"Yesterday, when I was driving and picking everybody up, I suddenly realized that one of the students had not been in a city very much. I had to drive on a country road to pick him up and as I was driving down the back road, I came to a sign that said, 'detour'. They were fixing a certain section of the road and there was just an arrow pointing in the other direction. I was thinking to myself, 'When this fellow gets to the city, he will probably feel what I'm feeling right now.' I couldn't remember how grid roads were laid out - Are they a mile long? Will there be signs to tell me where to go next? Will I remember which direction to keep heading? I thought, 'He's going to feel out of place in the city and I have to remember that.'"

"Well," Karen laughed, "he's doing just fine! Sometimes I don't think we give the students enough credit for what they can do. He's spending lots of time with his tutor and the other students and they're both having a great time."

By the second day of the Conference, people were starting to relax. The amount of information the Conference delegates were being exposed to was overwhelming and sometimes difficult to understand but most of the people I talked to were enjoying the stimulation and comradery and the break from their normal routines.