AREA UNIVERSITY STUDENTS PREPARE PEACE FESTIVAL
 
(Wheeling) Students from both West Virginia University and Wheeling
Jesuit University are hard at work preparing for the upcoming Peace
Festival to be held October 26-28 at Wheeling Jesuit University’s
McDonough Center.  Social work graduate students in the Wheeling MSW
Program of WVU, under the tutelage of Chatman Neely, MSW, ACSW, are
getting a hands-on experience of community organizing.
 
“This is an excellent real-life, real-time experience for the
graduate
students.  The Peace Festival is taking on timely issues of great
interest to young adults, and the more young people we can get
involved,
the more young people we will reach with the Peace Festival
message,”
says Neely.
 
The Peace Festival, co-sponsored by WJU, WVU, and Ohio Valley
P.E.A.C.E., is titled “Peace + Justice in Iraq & Appalachia.” 
Through
music, film, and art, the festival highlights the parallels of war in
Iraq and the exploitation of West Virginia’s natural resources,
particularly coal.
 
Keynote speaker and musician Si Kahn will connect the dots in a
lecture/performance Friday, October 26th, at 7 pm, followed by the
musical duo “Emma’s Revolution.”  Documentary films on both
mountaintop
removal and the Iraq war will be shown Friday evening and throughout
the
day Saturday with accompanying panel discussions.  An art show,
information tables, and “round table”discussions will run
throughout the
weekend.  All events are free and open to the public.
 
More information about the Peace Festival is available at
www.wju.edu/ai.