I'm surruptitiously looking over my shoulder, waiting for someone at Goucher to discover that a.) I've been on this computer kiosk in the dining hall way too long, and b.) I'm not a student checking e-mail (shh...). So like most of my posts on this trip, this will probably be short. I feel like (to use an analogy my peace-loving friends won't care for) a war correspondant sneaking out reports between the action. Between the extensive road mileage is more like it.

Last night I visited a Presbyterian all-women's college, Wilson College in Chambersburg, PA. Like Hood, Wilson is also struggling with identity and the challenges of remaining viable as an all-women's college in a co-ed world. There are parallels between the struggle of such institutions and the state of the church at large-- groups like Presbyterian Women are also questioning their identity right now. The reason? Most of such organizations and institutions were born in the days when women were shut out of the male-dominated avenues of power. Women-only institutions were the only places where our foremothers could find their voice and claim autonomy in the larger society. Today, however, women can attend the best colleges in the land, colleges that used to be exclusively for men. Women have been serving the church as elders for 76 years now, ministers of Word and Sacrament for 50. In such a world, where women's struggles have now moved directly into the traditionally male dominated hierarchies, what purpose do women's organizations and schools serve?

(Sidenote: The boys [and I do mean boys] sitting at the table next to me are having a foodfight. One just fell sideways out of his chair. Ah, there are days when I definitely do not miss college life.)

In spite of all these questions, I still firmly believe that women's organizations have a vital place in our contemporary context. We are not a truly equal society, not a truly integrated society. Women have become part of traditionally male-dominated structures, but those structures still show the influences of centuries, if not millenia, of male perspectives in the way they're organized and run. A women's organization can serve as a training ground-- a place where women can find their voice, find alternative ways of doing things, and carry that to the world at large. From that light, perhaps women's organizations, women's colleges, are more vital than ever.

The boys just hit me with the food, so I think it is time for me to log off. I fly out this afternoon, so I'll summarize the tour tomorrow. Until then, safe travels for me!!

Kelsey