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Classes
For several summers we have co-sponsored courses with the Iliff School
of Theology. These classes are taught Veterans whom we generally interview
during their visits to Denver and are often supplemented by public programs
and lectures that the veterans offer to larger audiences.
The courses we have co-sponsored include the following:
- "Poetry as a Spiritual Practice" taught by Sonia Sanchez.
This writing workshop focused on the practice of poetry as a form of
spiritual development and cultivation. Drawing on examples from Pablo
Neruda, Lucille Clifton, Mary Oliver and her own body of work, Prof.
Sanchez encouraged students to explore poetry and poetic sensibility
as points where spiritual faith, creative work and human compassion
can meet.
- "New Religions in the New Americas" taught by Davíd
Carrasco and Charles Long. Carrasco and Long are two of the country's
most respected and remarkable historians of religion. Carrasco, a professor
of religion at Harvard, is a leading scholar on MesoAmerican religious
traditions and Long, his mentor and professor emeritus of the University
of California at Santa Barbara, is an authority on African American
religious history. Focusing especially in the experience of Latinos
and people of African descent in the Americas, Long and Carrasco outlined
the development of "religions of the oppressed" in the Western
Hemisphere. They encouraged students to think broadly, deeply and critically
about the role of religion, colonialism and resistance in the meaning
of the modern world.
Workshops and Trainings
In addition to summer classes, the Veterans of Hope Project conducts
workshops throughout the year -- often at the invitation of local and
national organizations -- for teachers, organizers, religious leaders,
students and others interested in the conjunctions of spirituality, history,
healing and social change. Our workshops are especially designed to offer
models of compassionate leadership development from the experience of
nonviolent social justice movements and from the insights of the Veterans
interviewed for the Project.
A few of the workshops, trainings and presentations conducted by the
Veterans of Hope Project are:
- Leadership training workshops for Americorps volunteers and staff
in Denver, Colorado
- Curriculum development training for the Campbell School District
of Oakland, California
- Curriculum development training for urban teachers, "Breaking
out of the Civil Rights Box", at Georgia State University, Atlanta,
Georgia
- Workshop on Healing and Activism at the diocese of Duque de Caixias,
Baixada Fluminense, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Workshop on Healing and Forgiveness in Religions of the African Diaspora
for the Mennonite Health Assembly Annual Conference, Colorado Spring,
Colorado
- Workshop on compassionate activism for Catholic Worker volunteers
at the Catholic Worker House, Denver, Colorado
- Training workshops for administrators and teachers in the Freedom
Schools Program of the Children's Defense Fund, Clinton, Tennessee
- Workshop for all educators and activists participating in the "Education
for Transformation" conference as part of "Bob Moses Day"
activities at Lanier High School in Jackson, Mississippi
- Workshop in leadership development and social justice movement history
for Algebra Project trainers, Chicago, Illinois
- Workshops in social justice movement history and curriculum development
for teachers in the Cherry Hills School District, Denver, Colorado
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