UCF Students Create Quilt Squares

Last week, Anne Bubriski, a professor at the University of Central Florida in the Department of Women and Gender Studies, had her class read the book Fed Up: The High Costs of Cheap Foods.  The students then got to meet both the author of the book, Dale Slongwhite and community leader and former farmworker, Linda Lee, in a moving and powerful classroom session. 

Then, on March 21st, the class engaged in an activity expressing their reflections on what they learned in a workshop, led by Sarah Downs - co-creator of the Lake Apopka Farmworker Memorial Quilts - by making their own quilt squares.  Here is a reflection of the day by artist and leader, Sarah Downs: 

"The students gathered in the classroom and took seats at a table filled with supplies for making their own quilt squares. Professor Anne introduced me and I told the students a bit about my experience helping Linda gather stories from former muck farm workers. Then it was time for the students to make their own quilt squares. Had they been impressed with the information from the curriculum as well as from Dale and Linda’s presentations? Should I have explained more about the process of creating the quilts? Then I watched as these young folks dove into the materials and each created a unique, thoughtful, and often powerful image about farm workers. Wow-they got it! I need not have worried about them coming up with any individual, well thought out ideas and transferring them into succinct visual images on cloth. Job well done!"