I have often wondered if the fact that community-based literacy is predominantly staffed by women has affected the learning/teacher methodology we use (learner centered, non-formal). I think it has. We try to affirm the skills already present in the learners (and they are many and varied) and incorporate those skills into learning how to read and write. We do not use a set curriculum but rather encourage people to discover their own patterns of learning. We try to explore learning using different contexts such as social events, drawing, sewing, discussions about health, work, and family. We approach education as a holistic experience that hinges on a whole range of factors not usually present in the classroom, but underlying everyone's ability to take in and process new learning. The circular patterns of our lives, our unconscious worlds, informal, day-to-day communications with one another - all of these things are close to our female consciousness. Our non-traditional, alternative approach to education is informed by thousands of years of living in a patriarchal world but learning at the feet of our mothers and grandmothers.

According to Barbara G. Walker's The Women's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, Scotia (as in Nova Scotia) is the Latin form of the "Dark Aphrodite," a death goddess but also thought by some to be identical with Caillech, or Crone, who created the world. In my mind something is restlessly stirring. I look out onto the water, that symbol of birth and rebirth, of regeneration, creation, fertility and transformation. The experience of sitting with learners as they have found their voices, created new stories from old tales and transformed their lives, has opened up ways of learning for me, long ignored. As I make the connection between the water here before me and the learners back home, I have a renewed sense of conviction that our instincts about the informal learning methods we use are right.

We once spotted a whale in this beautiful Nova Scotian bay. The whale provoked a lot of excitement and awe: awe because it seems to be so totally at home in this turbulent, killing sea, its only fear is man. Unlike the whale, I am happy to stay in awe of the sea and to remain enticed by its ability to draw me out, shift my vision and realize my connectedness to the world and people. For now, I will say good-bye and look forward to sharing our thoughts about women and literacy.

Love Tracy