#dubcpeace

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Lily Beane is an intern at the center this spring. Her focus is on creating a database of all social studies teachers in Clinton County as well as the surrounding counties. The goal for this database is to reach out to the local teachers and spread word of the digital archives on Nuclear Disarmament. #wilmingtoncollege #WeAreDubC #dubcpeace #wcpeaceresourcecenter peaceresourcecenter

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This is the recently updated conference room inside the center. This room is designed to be multifunctional. The desk can be separated into 4 smaller tables in order to work in groups. This space can be used by organizations on campus to hold meetings. It is also equipped with the proper technology for professors to hold their classes here! #wilmingtoncollege #WeAreDubC #dubcpeace #wcpeaceresourcecenter

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Student Responses to the Peace Resource Center’s 40th Anniversary Conference “Justice and Peace: A Call to Local and Global Community”

On September 11th of 2015 I had the opportunity to visit the Peace Resource Center for their fortieth anniversary and take a small tour of the building. Historical information, stories, and artifacts line the walls of the small home, reminding visitors of the historical bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Japan. Many students and members of the community came to tour the building, but more notable were the Japanese visitors who came to visit and see the history of the bombings which took place in their own country many years ago. I learned that this was one of very few times nuclear weapons were used in a war, and that it took so many more lives than I ever originally thought. It is such a privilege to have this large collection of history on such a small college campus like Wilmington’s. Overall, this was a very eye-opening reminder of the history of these tragic events. 

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Student Responses to the Peace Resource Center’s 40th Anniversary Conference “Justice and Peace: A Call to Local and Global Community”

The session I went to was called “Museums as Peacemakers: Harmonizing Institutional and Community Visions of Peace.” The speakers were Kazuyo Yamane, Ruth Brindle, and Jerry Leggett. They all spoke about their personal experiences with peace and the places they work. I really enjoyed this session and wish more people would have attended it.

Ruth Brindle spoke first about the many different exhibits that have been featured at the Quaker Heritage Center, including “Reflections and Mirrors”, which was about the war in Afghanistan, a World War I exhibit and one called “Sky Full of Cranes.” One thing that she said that really stood out to me was “It is really easy for us to negate people in other countries around the world because we don’t see or interact with them.” I believe this is a very true statement because it is hard for me to think of other people outside our immediate area as real people, with real lives, thoughts, opinions, and people that care about them.

Jerry Leggett was the second person to speak and he talked a lot about The Dayton International Peace Museum where he is the director. He also spoke about this thing called a “Peace Bubble” (which was actually one of those pop up camper things). All over the country, people were asked what a more peaceful world looks like to them. Out of those interviews, the definition he got for peace was “Peace is often more than we can imagine it to be, and sometimes less.”  

Kazuyo Yamane was the last person to speak.  She spoke a lot about the way that students are taught in the different countries about the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. In Japan they are taught Japan was only a victim and that they did nothing wrong, where here we are taught about all the other countries that Japan victimized and how it was necessary to do it. I was surprised about this and about the fact that some U.S. leaders at the time were against using them because this is something that I wasn’t aware of.  I was also surprised when she talked about an organization called the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission that did examinations on victims of the bombs, but they were not treated for their injuries.

This was a very informative session that I really enjoyed (surprisingly). I wish I would’ve know I was going to enjoy it so much so that I could’ve went to some of the sessions yesterday. I’m really glad that several of my professor recommended going. I hope that all of the students on campus had the opportunity to go and that there will be something like this in the future for those that did not.

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Student Responses to the Peace Resource Center’s 40th Anniversary Conference “Justice and Peace: A Call to Local and Global Community”

I recently attended a seminar during the 40th anniversary of the resource center where we defined justice and peace in our community. This seminar took place in the McCoy room in the Kelly center on Friday September 11th from 1:50-3:20. In this discussion we were given the backgrounds of each speaker which were Dean Fulmar, Mark Rivers, Bryon McGee, and Dr. Craig Strafford. Our speakers then gave their opinions on is there and issues in Wilmington. Most of these issues were focused on the economic and employment side of things like low pay and lack of jobs to support a family. We then got to listen to the speakers talk about some of the things that they would do or change if they were king of Wilmington. Discussion was deep and involved all seminar that we were only to talk about 2-3 topics.

One thing that interested me about this seminar is the idea of having two minimum wages. One wage for students just looking for some money to go out with friends and who are also not supporting a family. The second minimum wage would be higher than the first and this minimum wage is designed for people that are supporting a family and need more money to buy food, pay bills and health care. I believe if we adopted this type of minimum wage we would have a numerous amount of people not needing extra help from local organizations like the drug courts and hope house.

I came into the meeting expecting us to talk about issues in our community. Expecting there to be discussion about the good and bad that Wilmington has. That was exactly what was done. The downfalls of the community that were brought up were not a strong economy and lack of family supporting jobs. Some pluses of the community are the sense of togetherness Wilmington has and the positive programs like the drug courts and hope house.

One last final question that has arose for me during this seminar is what is being done to attract big businesses that the people in Wilmington are lacking. Big businesses that provide capable living wages for the people of Wilmington. Wilmington once had that while DHL was in town but since they left these livable wages are few and far between. Why isn’t there a place for people to make a comfortable living at?

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Student Responses to the Peace Resource Center’s 40th Anniversary Conference “Justice and Peace: A Call to Local and Global Community”

[wilmington-prc]

Student Responses to the Peace Resource Center’s 40th Anniversary Conference “Justice and Peace: A Call to Local and Global Community”

The Peace Resource Center is a small white house on the far side of campus, known to few and visited by fewer. The purpose of the house is to store the collection of stories and artifacts collected after the atomic bombings in Japan, they are the stories of the survivors that tell of more then just the physical impact of the bombings, it has to deal with the people and not only with there stories as victims, but what they had to deal with as survivors.  

I attended the tour of the house, it was interesting to hear them talk about how the collection came to be and the purpose behind it. How they spoke of the founder of the house, Barbara Reynolds and her mission of creating a world free of nuclear weapons.  

This center helps students and faculty in creating projects to collaborate on social and global issues to help find peaceful solutions, so that Wilmington College and local regions can become part of the community of peace.  

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Student Responses to the Peace Resource Center’s 40th Anniversary Conference “Justice and Peace: A Call to Local and Global Community”

The Peace Resource Center at Wilmington College is one of the Quaker related places on the Wilmington college campus. In the Peace Resource Center a person can find many historical books related to the World War Two bombings in Japan and also other historical literature. One can also find a quiet place to study, do research, and find a quiet place to just be. The Peace Resource Center also houses the Barbara Reynolds papers and archives.

The Peace Resource Center was founded back in 1975 by Barbara Reynolds who was a Quaker Peace activist. Barbara Reynolds founded the Peace Resource Center to raise awareness of the Quaker ways of peace and non-violence. The Center has also become a place where people from around the world can come and tell their stories concerning the atomic bombings.

During the tour of the Peace Resource Center, the tourists had the opportunity to hear some first-hand accounts of Barbara Reynolds experiences from her daughter who happened to be present for the tour. We also had the opportunity to hear some of the stories of some of the Japanese who were at the center for the conference and Peace Resource Center tour. These Japanese were from a similar center in Japan that Barbara Reynolds was also the founder of.

The students that went on the tour found out that the Peace Resource Center is a great place to go to do homework, do research on a topic related to the atomic bombings, and also go to just reflect on being peaceful and coming up with solutions to problems in a peaceful and non-violent manner.