Spring Break
Peace planter shares experiences
Kathy Kelly, Nobel Peace Prize nominee, wants peace, end to wars
Heather Holm/Activities Editor
Issue date: 3/12/09 Section: News
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Kelly presented a speech titled "There are No Good Wars: Women, Children and the Scars of War" at 7 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.
"We were 14 people called Missouri Peace Planting," Kelly said. "We were trying to say that land was meant to grow corn and wheat and not harbor weapons of mass destruction. We went onto nuclear bomb sites, which were located outside of Kansas City, Kansas, that were buried under the ground."
Kelly said she and the 14 others then went over the fences protecting the site and planted corn there.
She said her arresting officer was kind to her though, and offered her water.
"I will never forget the kindness of that man," she said.
During her year in jail, she learned that she never wanted to be a prison warden and has applied that to her past work as a teacher.
Kelly has taught religion and English at Saint Ignatius College Prep in San Francisco and Saint Augustine College in Charlotte, N.C. She also taught at Prologue High School in Chicago.
"In my teaching, I never wanted to treat students as a number," Kelly said. "Students already feel trapped anyway."
Kelly also spent time in Iraq and told of stories in her speech about a young boy who said he wanted to be a fighter pilot and how he wanted to be able to bomb the United States.
She also told another story about a young girl in Baghdad who wanted to know what the difference was between a 16-year-old in the United States and one in Baghdad.
Kelly said the girl wanted to know why people in Baghdad had to watch their families die.
"The girl said 'our emotions are frozen, we cannot feel' and I will never forget that," Kelly said.
She also mentioned the 422 children that have been killed from Iran and Gaza.
Kelly then had a question-and-answer session among the audience.
When asked about what she thought about the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, she said she was in Brooklyn, N.Y., and wondered what the reaction was of regular Iraqi citizens.
She said she did end up getting faxes from a number of these citizens wondering what was going to be done.
"I think she told her lecture as a collection of stories that were very personal and connected to the audience through these heart-wrenching stories," said Christopher Mitchell, professor of theater and women's studies. "You could tell she really held the audience."
Jeannie Ludlow, coordinator for the women's studies program, thinks her favorite part is the way that Kelly makes strangers human for people.
"I wouldn't think I would have anything in common with an 11-year-old boy in Iraq," Ludlow said.
Kelly ended her speech with a song called "O Finlandia" with the quote "We are not unafraid, but courage is the ability to control your fears."
Janell Wargo, a senior communications major, thought Kelly's speech was moving.
"I liked the main quote about courage," she said.
The committee for Women's History and Awareness Month helped bring Kelly to campus.
Heather Holm can be reached at 581-7942 or at haholm@eiu.edu.
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