by Sam Diener, Peacework Co-Editor

In the July-August 2007 issue of Peacework, 13 authors answered the question, "What work of poetry or fiction changed your life?"

Now it's your turn. Please respond in the comment box by commenting at the bottom of the page.

Please either comment on the works and perspectives presented in the articles linked to below (e.g. how did Whitman affect you?) OR

Please describe your experience of a work of fiction or poetry
which transformed your political/social consciousness or motivated
you to take action on an issue. Maybe it helped change your mind about something, or started you on a new path. Mabye it didn't shift your opinion, but it inspired you to act on your beliefs, or helps you sustain your activism. In any case, we'd like to hear from you. More below the fold... [1]

These are some additional questions I asked of the authors above (but also feel free to use this theme and go in a different
direction):

What was it about the work of literature which moved you? How did you
feel, and what was your thought process like, as you read it? How did
you internalize or process the experience afterwards? What did you do
with these feelings, insights, and new awareness? How has it informed
your work since? Have you read the work again and had a different
impression of it? Have you shared the work with others, and if so,
how? How have you and how might educator-activists incorporate this
work of literature into workshops, classes, or other forms of
consciousness-deepening dialogue?

You might want to describe the work in question
somewhat, particularly if it's not well known.

Works in this Activist Forum:

Woman-Loving Words [2]
by Judith Mahoney Pasternak [3] on feminist poetry

Struggling to Change Perspective [4]
by Karen Light [5] on Ani DiFranco

Let's Talk [6]
by Shaundra Cunningham [7] on India.Arie

Don't Read this Alone [8]
by Paul Lacey [9] on Crime and Punishment and War and Peace

Drums of... Peace? [10]
by Scott Taylor [11] on Walt Whitman

O then I Was Happy [12]
by Robert Dove [13] on Walt Whitman

Unhistoric Acts [14]
by David Nurenberg [15] on Middlemarch

That Radical School [16]
by Betsy H. Zisk [17] on Native Son

Learning to Read [18]
by Janine Schwab [19] on Erich Fried

Father Figure [20]
by Allison Budschalow [21] on To Kill a Mockingbird

Crafting Violence into Art [22]
by Debka Colson [23] on The Things They Carried

Violence is a Choice We Can Refuse [24]
by Fred Marchant [25] on Herzog

Siddhartha: Contradictions and Enlightenment [26]
by Joseph Gerson [27] on Siddhartha

Editorial: Summer Reading Issue [28]
by Sam Diener on A Door Into Ocean

Also, please see a sample of responses to a similar question about movies [29].