Women's Week: Braided Streams

It has been over two weeks since the event and this is the first chance I have had to post on this event. As I said previously, I was a member of the panelists asked to speak. All of the panelists, including myself were students.

The entire event is hosted by Amelia Freedman's Intro to World Religions class. Freedman is a professor of philosophy focusing on religion. It was presented by Imogene Stulken, the Protestant Campus Minister at UMass Lowell. While it is done with Freedman's class, the event is open to the public. There were a few people who were not in Freedman's class who joined in the discussion.

At the beginning of the event Minister Stulken gave a brief introduction to the event. This was the 14th year that this event has been held. Women's Week celebrated their 16th year this year. Braided Streams is only two years younger than the entire Women's Week.

All of the panelists are as follows:

Melanie (myself) an English Writing undergrad discussing my experiences in Wicca.

Brooke an UML undergrad discussing her experiences in Judaism through a video.

Romesa Hannan a Nutritional Sciences undergrad discussing her experiences as a Muslim.

Shelagh Pinard a Biology undergrad discussing her experiences as a Roman Catholic.

Hayla AlTaweel a Biology undergrad discussing her experiences as an Orthodox Christian.

Ruchika a Nursing undergrad discussing her experiences in Hinduism.

We were given a series of questions to think about before hand. They are:

1. What symbol or object could illustrate some aspect of your faith journey?
2. What is it like to be a woman in your faith tradition? What has been a particular joy or struggle for you?
3. How has the faith of your childhood grown and developed? Where has your faith / spiritual journey taken you?
4. Who are the women who have been your inspiration / mentors / saints / supporters / role models / spiritual guides?

Each of these were asked to us in turn. Each panelist answered as truthfully as possible. After these questions were answered, the audience had a chance to ask questions of us. Many of the questions were directed to all of us. Very few were directed to individuals.

This was a very rewarding experience and I hope more of Lowell can attend this next year.

Faithful Intern,

Melanie