When something serious came up, the woman with the problem received a lot of gentle support from the others. They also had generous amounts of fun. They cried with laughter at one woman's story about responding to a friend's call for company at midnight. She had to take an oven-prepared turkey with her because her husband would only let her go if she cooked it there. The women reminisced about teenage adventures with boyfriends. They talked a lot about their children and about women family members.

No agenda, no plan, no beginning, middle or end, no prescribed rules of conduct. Nobody ever said, "What should we be doing?" or "What is this for?" No one hogged the time: there seemed to be some kind of unspoken guideline of equal time being given to everybody. Perhaps this was the natural rhythm of casual conversation when there is no stress or particular time constraint. Why was there no stress? This needs to be looked at. And why did just talking about themselves in this instance feel so satisfying?

What was produced

The women's group produced an eight-page booklet with photographs, called Women Getting Together The booklet tells what happened when they started the women's group and is available from the Saint John Learning Exchange. As well, Marion wrote an article, "The politics of talking: Doing 'woman-positive' in a learner-centred literacy program." It is included in Women in literacy speak.

"This booklet tells what happened when we started a women's group. The women's group is a very positive thing for all of us involved.