Peace and Justice group to hold discussion forum

    PRESQUE ISLE – The Northern Maine Peace and Justice Center will hold a discussion forum on power and peace at the University of Maine at Presque Isle on Oct. 23 from 6:30 to 8 p.m.     The Tuesday evening forum, to be held in the Owl’s Nest at the Campus Center, will focus on “Writer’s Voices on Power and Peace,” and feature brief oral readings from Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace, Rachid’s Mind of a Terrorist, Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage and Robert Bly’s Call and Answer.
    Pastor Bob Grove-Markwood, one of the organizers for the event, said the series is meant to be a dialogue, not a debate. The point, he said, is to listen to several readings that center on conflict, violence and how people are drawn into and respond to such events, and then to have a discussion about what the writers were expressing.
    The theme for the evening is about why people choose war. Event organizer Alice Bolstridge said the group wanted to explore the motivations for war and to promote a better understanding of conflict in the world.
    The Northern Maine Peace and Justice Center hopes to host three more discussion forums on power and peace if it receives a positive community response from the first forum. Those events are tentatively scheduled to take place in November, February and March.
    The center, based in central Aroostook County, is an informal organization that strives to promote activities that encourage public reflection, discourse and action toward peace in a way that brings people together.
    This event is free and open to the public. The forum is being co-sponsored by the University’s Cultural Affairs office. For more information, contact Carol Ayoob at 768-9462.