Student Fellows Explore Passions

Nora Graham received a summer peacemaking fellowship from the Center for Peacemaking to explore their interest in community organizing. This was partially inspired by their parents, both of whom are involved with Omaha Together One Community (OTOC), a broad-based coalition of faith-based groups committed to addressing community issues in Omaha, Nebraska. Nora is interested in becoming a community organizer and saw the fellowship as an opportunity to learn more about the field before pursuing a career in it.

The fellowship allowed Nora to explore different models of community organizing through a mix of self-study and informational interviews with 12 organizers representing organizations in both Omaha and Milwaukee. The organizers Nora interviewed focused on topics ranging from racial justice, abolition, the formerly incarcerated, worker’s rights, immigrant rights, civil rights, public policy, and community development. In addition to conducting interviews, Nora read several books to gain insight into established models and principles of community organizing and transformative justice.

Through the interviews and readings, Nora discovered that community organizing is powerful practice of nonviolent peacemaking. Three of the most important insights Nora gained were: 1) listening to what the community needs and building campaigns around those issues, 2) giving people the tools to speak and act on issues that affect them, and 3) maintaining a healthy workplace culture.

The skills Nora developed through the fellowship have already impacted their co-curricular pursuits as a Peace Studies major and student employee at the Center for Community Service. Furthermore, Nora is more excited than ever about the possibility of pursuing a career as a community organizer who values leadership development through one-on-one conversations, focusing on community needs, and a commitment to accountability.

Paige Stoeffler has long enjoyed exploring her creative and artistic talents. Last summer she received a peacemaking fellowship to explore ways to combine her artistic talents, academic interests, and social passions.

The idea for her fellowship project came to her while taking a course titled Women and Theology Across Cultures — a course which counted towards both her peace studies major and religion and theology minor. In this class, Paige became interested in voices that are often overlooked and the ways art can bring these voices back to the forefront. From this, Paige derived the idea for her project: to make more prominent the marginalized voices of women in scripture, especially those whose stories relate to themes of racism, sexism, violence against women.

Paige arranged two mentors — an art mentor and a research mentor — she could go to for guidance. During the research portion of her project, Paige identified five stories she wanted to document through her art. She then got to work imagining the pieces, collecting supplies, and creating them.

The first piece she created portrayed the biblical figure, Dinah. Paige explained that in scripture, Dinah was victimized by another individual and sexually assaulted. However, her voice and feelings were not acknowledged. The text instead focused on her brother’s reaction. Paige’s depiction prioritized Dinah’s emotions and victimization.

The second piece was of Tamar, the widow. Paige shared Tamar’s story. She was promised by Judah to be married to his oldest son. However, Judah’s oldest son died, and shortly after his second son, also promised to Tamar, died as well. After promising his third son to Tamar, Judah decided it was her fault his sons were dying and decided not to fulfil his promise, which put Tamar’s security at risk. She took matters into her own hands by dressing up as a prostitute to get pregnant by Judah himself, an act which secured her financial wellbeing. Paige’s portrayal of this represents Tamar’s complicated empowerment.

The third piece focused on Hagar, who, Paige explained, was Sarah’s slave and used as a surrogate when Sarah could not get pregnant again after having her first son, Isaac. When Hagar’s son, Ishmael, was deemed a threat to Isaac’s inheritance, they were exiled. In a moment of despair, God reaches out to Hagar and emphasizes that she is still in his care. Paige’s representation captures how Hagar still found hope and provision despite what society took from her.

The fourth piece focused on the story of the bleeding woman, who, as Paige explained, had been bleeding for 12 years. This was thought to be a mark of impurity which resulted in her being ostracized from society. When the woman heard Jesus was passing through, she ignored the social conventions and went into the village to meet him. Her faith was rewarded because, when she touched Jesus’ cloak, she was immediately healed. Paige’s interpretation demonstrates the significance of the bleeding woman taking back the power and autonomy that was stripped from her.

The final piece focused on the idea of God as a Woman. Her conception of this was based on a story that she read in the Women and Theologies Across Cultures class. Creating this piece challenged her to go beyond the historically limited ability to comprehend and portray God in more diverse ways.

Overall, Paige noted that the fellowship helped her realize the role of art as a tool for peacemaking and social change. The experience exposed her to beauty and diversity in scripture, provided her the confidence to interpret teachings and narratives, and showed her the power of imagery, voice, and representation. She discovered a tangible way to use her talents for good.

Lexi Harwick (Arts & Sciences, ’22) completed a summer fellowship with the New Horizons Shelter and Outreach Centers based in La Crosse and Trempealeau counties. As a student at Marquette, she had already learned about strategies to address domestic violence in urban settings. The Center for Peacemaking fellowship provided Lexi the opportunity to examine how shelters and outreach centers respond to domestic violence and sexual assault in non-urban areas, such as where she grew up in a more rural part of Wisconsin.

New Horizons focuses on providing safety and services to those who have experienced abuse so that they can make decisions about their lives in a supportive, non-judgmental and empowering atmosphere. Lexi’s internship consisted of three main components: completing 40 hours of advocacy training, interviewing service providers in the region, and a hybrid of legal advocacy and community outreach.

Through interviewing various service providers and advocates, she quickly learned about some of the ways it is more challenging to serve rural communities. First and foremost, interviewees expressed limitations with how much funding is available for these programs. Related to the funding crunch, there aren’t as many partnering programs in rural communities, which limits options for necessities like housing and transportation. Another challenge she learned about was that the small size of the towns could lead to issues such as there being less confidentiality for visitors.

The legal advocacy and community outreach portion of Lexi’s internship helped her understand how her academic interests (Social Welfare & Justice and Psychology majors and Peace Studies and Law & Society minors) connected with her professional and career aspirations. She guided clients through the process of applying for restraining orders or other legal documents to get out of an abusive situation, as well as seeking solutions to enforce protection for survivors where there were already court agreements in place.

Lexi also assisted clients during restraining order hearings. She found that holding these via Zoom during the pandemic were sometimes better for the survivor, as they do not have to be in the same physical place as their abuser and can use technology so that they do not have to listen to their abuser. These experiences showed her a real-life situation where instances of direct and structural violence became intertwined. By working directly with clients, Lexi developed skills in trauma-informed advocacy and motivational interviewing, all the while deepening her understanding of the barriers to accessing services like those provided by New Horizons.

At the end of her fellowship, Lexi found that her idea of her home community had been reshaped. Furthermore, it provided her clarity around her interests and a conviction in her desire to pursue work that untangles and addresses direct and structural violence in our communities.

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