Welcome

The Writers In Electronic Residence (WiER) program was very pleased to host this special online conference for students who wanted to write about the feelings and thoughts they were having in response to the flooding that took place in Manitoba in 1997.

The project, which was open to all students in all grades, is described in more detail, below.

Joining Us

Maple Leaf Elementary, a school in Winnipeg that was participating in WiER at the time of the floods, offered their perspectives, while others joined in for this special conference.

Author RheaTregebov, who was raised in Winnipeg, moderated the conference. Rhea has participated in WiER before, and we were very pleased that she joined the project.

The Activity

Many thoughts and feelings occur to us all in times of great need. Some will be about the events in Manitoba. Others will be about how we all understand those events. Are there times, for instance, when people joined together in your own community to face a crisis?

Certainly, we all have seen and responded to feelings of great courage as well as fear, and great humanity as well as loss. How do you deal with your own thoughts about the flood, and the people affected most direclty by it? We would like to ask students to consider their feelings about the flood and to respond in writing (e.g., poetry, short prose, journal entries.)