Course Information
Participating Teachers
Teresa Ramirez - Adna Middle/High School
Exploring Our Places: Teresa's Narrative
My artifact: An Adna High School quilt sold by the Adna Booster Club.
My artifact is a tight knit quilt, much like the tightly knit community from which I work. I chose this artifact because it is a symbol of belonging to the community. Though these are rather expensive, it seems to be a priority to have a quilt. There are a group of older ladies, usually three of them, usually one of them is knitting, sitting at the entrance to ballgames. They sell the quilts and have a way of making you feel pressured and guilty if you don't buy the quilt. As a result, it only takes forgetting your quilt at one ballgame and sitting amongst the crowds of people all clutching their quilt to sear into your brain the idea that this is something you don't want to do again.
My teaching community is a community in the process of change. There are families that have lived here for a hundred years. In the past it has been a farming community, a logging community, and a mining community. In the last ten years though, Wal-mart moved in right across the river from some of the most fertile farm land in the valley. Recently, some of the farm land has become a preserve to offset (in part) the flooding that has grown increasingly more devastating. The logging camps have moved further and further away and the mine, Trans-Alta- closed leaving many in a state of flux. The students I teach are often children of manual laborers who have made their way in the world through these old industries. It is difficult to convince them that education and a different type of training might be necessary for them when they've witnessed their parents living another way.
Lastly, Adna has become an area where we're beginning to see housing developments built. This is bringing new community members in that are not necessarily receiving a warm welcome. The challenge I see is creating a new sense of place for all the newcomers and preserve the positive aspects of an old tight knit community at the same time.
