Joan Sakalas

Unfortunately I won't be able to attend the reunion.  There have been so many things I've done since leaving Earlham that sometimes I feel as though I've lived several lives already.

Some facts:  I married in 1965 and have two daughters - the eldest is a potter and the youngest the editor of the Communication Initiative. 

For about 18 years I was a secondary school teacher - mostly of Social Studies and Humanities.  I loved developing curriculum and only taught either gifted or special needs students.

After 21 years I left my teaching position in Camden, Maine and my husband and moved on to work on an M.A.at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, MA in Feminist Liberation Theology.  While there I worked at the Framingham Prison for Women facilitating groups for survivors of abuse and incest.

From EDS I moved to New York City where I worked on a Ph.D. in Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary.  While there I was Director of a feminist model of a recovery program at Bellevue Hospital Center for crack addicted, pregnant, homeless and abused women.  After two years at Bellevue I decided to found my own non-profit, Mothers Together - an entrepreneurial program for homeless women needed to develop skills for work. 

In 1999 I received my doctorate and continued to lead Mothers Together.  After 9/11 money for small non-profits became very scarce and I became weary of living in the atmosphere of fear-mongering I found in New York.  Consequently I moved to Bennington, Vermont to be nearer to my daughters.

Since I moved 4 years ago I have been the Executive Director of the Bennington County domestic and sexual violence agency - Project Against Violent Encounters (PAVE).  In addition I teach courses in Family Violence and Social Ethics at Johnson State College and a Humanities course at the Community College of Vermont in Bennington.

Two years ago I bought a little house on lots of land up a dirt road where I can be quiet in the morning and evening.  Life is good and I am enjoying myself.

I think of my Earlham College experience and know that in some profound way it molded me by opening up my mind and exposing me to some values that I am just beginning to grow into.

jsakalas@att.net