First-year student Lori Fernald
brought a bit of peace to
South Africa
KRIS BELMONTE
staff writer
Compassion, equality, justice,
empathy, and peace... these are just
a few of the values that are in
grained in the Guilford attitude.
As a socially aware and service
oriented community, Guilford stu
dents have exercised their con
cerns repeatedly in order to create
a more fruitful and peaceful world.
It is no wonder that Lori Fernald,
a first-year student, chose Guil
ford.
This past April, Lori had the
unique opportunity and distinct
privilege to journey to South Af
rica where she and forty other stu
dents from around the globe
worked to bring some tranquility
to an ignored and destitute land.
She was a part of a group called
Peace Trees South Africa, a pro
gram sponsored by the Earth Stew
ards Network, based outside of
Seattle. The basic goal of the or
ganization is to join youth from all
over the world to help restore the
earth.
Peace Trees South Africa is
Lori's most recent endeavor, and
is now added to a long and impres
sive list of other peace initiatives
in which she has been involved. In
For Adrienne Owens, WORDS are the thing
BEN THORNE
staff writer
Maybe you will see her smok
ing on the side steps of Milner, re
laxing with her friends. Or perhaps
she'll be huddled over a book fran
tically reading an assignment. Ei
ther way, Lillian Adrienne Owens
is at heart the same person, a natu
ral artist.
Adrienne, called Age by her
friends, has already begun an im
pressive list of awards for her po
etry. Two of the more prestigious
have been an invitation to
Governor's School for the Arts and
a scholarship in the annual Scho
lastic Art and Writing competition.
This scholarship is awarded to
five people nationally each year.
Selection is based on a full portfo
lio. Two of her portfolio poems
were featured in the competition's
magazine. One of them appeared
in an honorary position on the in
side of the front cover.
September l, 1995 The Guilfordian
fact, Lori's trip to South Africa
came as result of her superior ef
forts in another program called
City of Peace.
City of Peace is a multicultural
organization that promotes peace
and cultural understanding through
the performing arts. Lori was one
of its two youth coordinators this
past year and had the responsibil
ity of running various workshops
on diversity.
Lynda Boozer, director of City
of Peace, recognized Lori as be
ing an instrumental figure in the
program and chose her to partici
pate in the peace mission to South
Africa.
"I had to do a lot of fund raising
in order to make this trip possible,
but by writing letters to family and
friends and holding an African fes
tival, I was able to raise over
S3,(XX) —which was more than
enough to get me there," Lori says.
When Lori arrived in Cape
Toton, she joined with 38 other
shining faces representing such
countries as Germany, England,
India, Kenya, Vietnam, and Tibet
Together, the group lived in a hos
tel, learning about one another and
desiring to create a perfect com
munity. Together they lived, and
together they built a peace park.
Along with the scholarship,
Adrienne read her poetry to her
fellow winners, educational ad
ministrators, competition sponsors
and the Scholastic board at the Li
brary of Congress.
All this recognition and she's
still only seventeen.
Adrienne was inspired to write
by a class that she took during her
junior year in high school. She then
went on to become editor of her
school's literary magazine.
Some of her favorite authors in
clude Adrienne Rich and Raymond
Carver.
"I like writing poetry because of
the way that you can play with
words. I feel like I'll have to write
for another ten years before I get
really good at it. Right now, I plan
to be a doctor, but I want to con
tinue writing, like William Carlos
Williams," says Adrienne.
Hopefully Guilford will provide
an environment that will foster this
nascent talent.
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Every morn
ing the group
would engage
in discussions
and participate
in workshops,
followed by a
visit to the park.
"Our main
goal was to
construct a safe
place for the
residents of the
black township
to go. We
planted over
300 trees,
painted a mural
on a wall that
once read
'Nothing can
be won on a ne
gotiation table
that cannot be
won on a battle
field,' and we
Fernald and Whitey Secana warming up after group-building at a ropes course
brought a ray of sunshine to an im
poverished land," said Lori.
"This experience made me real
ize how much I have and how for
tunate I am. I never had any con
cept of extreme poverty until I
went there. It is so sad."
Lori feels an intense connection
with the land she has already con
E.S. Moon (Printed on the inner cover or the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards publication)
1.
I know that 1 am not
a blackbird. I like warmth,
to choke on blankets in the
heat of sleep. All night
heavy birds swaggered
on dripping telephone
wires letting rain flood their beaks.
Even when I threw open the window,
to bring them fire
they just shook cold from their
feathers, and continued to drown,
dark eyes vacantly reflecting
the light from my room.
2.
E.S. Moon sits two rows
in front of me, black
hair lifted high off his head,
feathered and wild, like fighting
egrets. I see everything in
pieces through the hazy wilderness
of his matted webs, and I know
he hates perfection as much as I
tributed to in many ways. She is
hoping to return to South Africa at
some point in her life to continue
what she has started.
"I experienced living together
and working together with a team
for a common goal, and that is a
really powerful thing. I definitely
want to go back...l am just drawn
do. At night, he slumps in a comer,
scissors in hand, and cuts the eyes
out of magazine models. He says
prettiness is ordinary, easily
understood—by measuring the slight
slope of noses, whiteness of smiles.
This girl would be beautiful if she
were born without eyes.
3.
The old women that live
beside the school chop wood
each morning, wear blueberry
nightgowns beneath their coats.
They've lost all angles, all definition
and move against the weather with
boneless grace. Cold falling
down on the roads, freezing the rains,
/ drive, waiting to pass you somewhere
on the highway. You and I have
crooked noses. When winter comes,
we can hide in the dusty corners
of our bodies and sleep.
to the idea of helping others," says
Lori enthusiastically.
At Guilford, Lori intends to
major in sociology with a concen
tration in peace studies and inter
cultural relations or design her own
intercultural relations major. Her
experience abroad will certainly
add flavor to and enrich the col
lege community.
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