Women also expressed pride in their literacy work and in the achievement of learners. They were excited by students' participation, by feeling barriers fall and friendships form between staff and students. One woman expressed her love for the other women in her group. Another expressed admiration.

Kate Nonesuch listed and categorized the different documentations of feelings on flip chart paper around the halls of one small group meeting space.

Women's fear and their perception of the fear of others was very strongly stated. Some women talked about the fear of violence and the fear of talking about violence. Some women talked about the fear of being thought feminist, of being identified with woman-positive work. Women participating in activities were afraid of their male partners' response to their increasing independence. Women not participating in activities were afraid of their male partners' response to their desire for independence. Some women's fear came out of changes in their own lives, including participation in this research. Other women's fears centred on the harassment and violence experienced in their programs.

Related to that fear was anger-anger at the conditions of women's lives, at men's effort to control women's lives, at the prevalence of prejudice in society, in programs, at home. Some students and staff were angry at those who participated in the woman-positive activities. Some were angry at the way their lives were controlled by welfare.

Related to fear and anger was frustration. Women talked about their frustration at having to curtail their participation in this project because of the way their lives were continually interrupted by their own and others' problems. Poverty, lack of childcare, lack of resources, space, support services, materials - women were frustrated at the lack of attention paid to the realities of women's lives.

Women felt sad sometimes because of their own or others' isolation. They realized the lack of support for women around mothering. In the face of women's stories of poverty, abuse, and helplessness, sadness was sometimes the only response possible.