Pilgrimage of Resistance: Maggie McBride & Katelyn Macrae
SCM’s Movement Blog will feature profiles of the young adults making the five day journey south on our spiritual activist road-trip from Nov 19-23. Check back regularly, and follow our trip on our Twitter feed !
by Maggie McBride (Camrose AB)
Pilgrim
I am excited, so excited that I was jumping around this morning just thinking about it. My name is Maggie McBride I am in my fourth year of Environmental Studies (outdoor ed. stream) at a branch of the University of Alberta in Camrose called Augustana. Originally I am from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.I am quite passionate about our lovely mother earth, food, politics, my spirituality and human rights. This will be my first time on the Pilgrimage and really first time in the United States. I am excited to meet new lovely people and to catch up with some old new friends. I am coming to re-imerse myself in the fellowship of rad-paradigm challenging individuals, to learn about first hand some wicked awesome communities of resistance and what they are doing, to try something new, to sing, to laugh, to dance and to have a jolly good time.
by Katelyn Macrae (New Haven CT, USA)
Pilgrim
My name is Katelyn Macrae and I’ll be meeting up with you in Philadelphia, PA late Thursday night. It’s hard to believe it’s only a week away!
Though originally from Maine (United States), I am now a second year Master’s of Divinity student at Yale Divinity School in New Haven, CT. As a div student, I am studying for ordained ministry in the United Church of Christ, but still determining what this really means. I’m also on the Steering Committee for the newly formed SCM-USA. My first SCM experience was the conference in San Francisco in January 2009. I also just got back from a Religions for Peace conference in Costa Rica, where I was representing SCM USA & SCM Canada. The conference launched a global youth campaign called Arms Down! The Campaign for Shared
Security.
The campaign calls for the abolishment of nuclear weapons, stopping the proliferation of small arms and landmines, reducing military spending, and redirecting this money towards meeting the Millenium Development Goals. While I’m still processing the conference, I’d love to tell y’all about it, and hopefully you might even want to help me circulate some petitions at
SOA.
This is my first SOA Pilgrimage and my first serious protest – in March I went to El Salvador and got to learn about Oscar Romero and the Civil War in El Salvador. Many of the military killing squads were trained by SOA, so I’m interested in making this full circle connection – I like to give and receive hugs – anti-oppression is a new word in my vocabulary.
Looking forward to meeting, protesting, learning, growing, and (insert verb)ing with y’all next week.
