Finally, I talked about safety on the streets. I know that when I am walking out at night and I see a group of people coming towards me, I am apprehensive until I see that some of the group are women. Those straight women, in relation to these men, make me feel safer. The work that straight women do in relationship with some men makes them less dangerous to me. I wanted to let women know that I recognize that work. One of the other women in the group replied, "It's a dirty job, but somebody's got to do it."

Doing this monologue freed me up to work in the group. I felt that everyone knew who I was and where I was coming from. I had been feeling uncomfortable before I did it; afterwards, I felt great.

Although it was hard to do, I felt safe doing it in this group - I felt sure that everyone would accept my saying the things I said; while I didn't expect everyone to agree with me that it is wonderful to be a lesbian, I didn't expect anyone to treat me badly because of what I said.

We then watched the skit, laughing as we recognized ourselves arriving, talking with each other about our lives since we last met, and exclaiming about the surroundings. Two women had been given a room with a hot tub, a matter for much discussion. We were all invited to share this extravagance. As one woman stepped into the hot tub - dressed in her trench coat, with her briefcase in hand - another women apologized non-stop for even having a hot tub. She repeated again and again that we had not paid even a fraction of the regular rate to have our conference at the Inn. Really, we didn't want anyone to think we would take such good care of ourselves!

The Glenerin Inn setting became a symbol of how we do - or don't - take care of ourselves. (Photograph courtesy of the Glenerin Inn) .

Several women 'made presentations on some aspect of their programs. Karen Bergman-Illnik and Angeline Kablutsiak (Arctic College) talked about how the Women's Upgrading Program and the Moms and Tots literacy group complemented each other. Wanita Koczka (Pine Grove Correctional Centre) told us she was co-editing a special issue on women, violence, and learning for CCLOW's magazine - Women's Education des femmes. She encouraged all women to submit work from heir programs. We also looked at some of the artwork created by members of the Women's Committee at Beat the Street .