Catching up with Eliot C.

Catching up with Eliot C

By Eliot C.

After wandering through a number of universities, colleges and distant countries, I found myself at the PERC. Driven by my interests in social justice and community learning projects, I joined the PERCshop team. And along with three other team members, I acquired valuable knowledge and experience in organizing, designing and facilitating workshops for other PERC volunteers and members of the public. In preparing the workshops, I learned about non-violent communication, consensus decision-making in various group settings, some of the broader cycles that community organizations go through, and the more personal challenges that many volunteers face.

While helping organize the workshops, I was also doing a B.A. in political science and human rights. My studies focused on some of the larger social and political problems, and volunteering on the PERCshop team helped me connect those ideas to the many changes happening at the community level. How can we help people become more engaged in their communities? What kinds of organizational barriers do community groups and social movements come up against � and what can we do about it? These are the sorts of questions I had when I first joined the PERC. And while I may not have all the answers today, I�ve learned that it takes more than just a manual or textbook. Answers also require the experience of connecting with those around you, and getting to know the particular kinds of conditions that other people live in.

Since taking a leave from the PERC, I�ve completed an M.A. and am currently working on a doctorate. The techniques and skills learned while on the PERCshop team have become part of my everyday life and I now work on integrating that knowledge and experience into academic communities � while coordinating conferences, facilitating student discussions, or participating in other volunteer organizations. People need to not only express their views, but to also have their views heard. At the same time, organizations and social movements are always moving towards particular objectives � a process which has often been seen as marginalizing certain voices. Volunteering on the PERCshop team has provided me with a starting point for thinking critically about how these two ideas might be reconciled, and I continue to make this an important component of my academic research. Simple as it sounds, the PERCshops taught me that non-violent communication and consensus decision-making can only be learned through experience; that they are not only important in organizational settings, but also in everyday life; and that working towards those ideals is not something that we can ever say we�ve completely achieved. I think that Francesca Polletta was onto something when she said that: �freedom is an endless meeting.�