"The book is especially important to me because I saw so many people really start to get excited about their learning when they saw their own words in print. That happened for me too when I first started to write; a whole new world opened up for me."

Helena shared one of her poems with me. It's about going back to school. At first I thought she was writing about her students but I realized it is also about her own experience of returning to school.

Oh, the yearning to learn and to know
How sharp the desire is honed!
But there are so many things handicapping:
        Labels that were undeserved,
        Other first languages learned,
        Cultures that did not fit in,
        Unasked for influence from others,
        Indifference and distance.

And then coming back gives a new hope
By taking one more big chance.
When it is begun these joys are discovered:
        Printed words that are understood,
        Books that enlighten and delight,
        Knowing which words can mean what,
        Seeing that math can be fun.

New ideas, new ways, new worlds are unfolding
And new stars are rising, just watch!

Later that evening Joanne and I went out for dinner. I had many questions for her and was pleased to have some time for just the two of us to talk.

Joanne told me about her beginnings in literacy. "I started out as a tutor monitor in Red Deer in a kind of apprenticeship under the supervision of Lynn Surgeoner, who was the first coordinator. After a year Lynn moved back to Ontario and I was asked to be the coordinator. I was working out of a broom closet at the Red Deer Public Library but it was one of the most exciting times of my life."

"Soon after I became the coordinator, the program moved to the Provincial Building in Red Deer where we had more space. One day a group of students came to me and asked if we could set up a classroom where they could spend more time learning. I was very excited by this because the students were speaking out for themselves and had recognized the benefits of working together in a group. They owned the program enough to come and ask if a class could be set up. I was very complimented by that and I knew then how much I wanted to stay involved in literacy."

"I managed to get additional funding to set up a classroom and the program grew marvellously. The dedication of the students and tutors and instructors and the community of Red Deer was incredible. The next year there was enough interest for the volunteer tutor program and three literacy classrooms. I hired three full-time teachers to work with students who were at all different levels. The students stayed involved and I think that was the key to the success of the program."

I remembered Joanne talking once about her work in literacy as being "a powerful instrument of change." I asked her if it was change that made her literacy work exciting. I was intrigued as I listened to her story.