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Spring 2010 PeaceJam Peace Pages

Great Lakes PeaceJam is having a Smash-O-Rama event at the Mardi Gras Art Hop March 5th in the Park Trades Center on the 1st floor from 5pm-9pm. We are going to be selling dishes for guests to smash in the name of Peace!!

Historically plate smashing has many symbolic meanings such as “killing” a ceramic vessel to commemorate the dead, to drive away evil, and is even used as a symbol when lovers part in hopes that one day they can put their broken plate back together again. Plate smashing is also used as a symbolic act of violence to bring awareness to all types of violence. We found this fitting because this year’s programmatic theme is “Breaking the Cycle of Violence” in preparation for a visit from Nobel Peace Laureate Betty Williams, who organized marches to protest violence in Northern Ireland!

We are still collecting dishes for the event, so if you or anyone you know has a set of ceramic dishes (plates, cups, bowls, platters) they would like to donate we will gladly take them. We will also take random chipped or cracked dishes at our office located at 625 Harrison Street in Kalamazoo. However, we cannot accept any glass.

The fragments from the smashed objects will be given to Creative Awakenings and the Michigan Resource Center. These organizations work with persons living with developmental delays, and the left over broken fragments will be used for making mosaic art pieces.
Come down and see us on March 5th and bring a few friends for a smashing good time!

Welcome to the official website for Great Lakes PeaceJam!

Great Lakes PeaceJam (GLPJ) is a regional affiliate of the PeaceJam Foundation. We are located in Kalamazoo, Michigan and service the states of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio. We offer programming for students grades K-12, college students, and incarcerated youth.

• PeaceJam is an international education program built around Nobel Peace Prize winners who work personally with youth to pass on the spirit, skills, and wisdom they embody.
• The goal of PeaceJam is to inspire a new generation of peacemakers who will transform their local communities, themselves, and the world.
• Youth ages 5-25 study the lives and work of one or several Nobel Peace Laureates while going through a curriculum exploring violence, oppression, isms, peace and nonviolence, and the Nobel Peace Prize.
• The students work together to create a Global Call to Action service learning project to make their community and the world more peaceful and a better place in which to live.