The Eleanor Days
A Women's Leadership Retreat

Stone Cottage, Isle au Haut
Two sessions: Tuesday, June 17 - Saturday, June 21, 2008 and Monday, June 23 - Friday, June 27, 2008

“The Eleanor Days” is for women who lead and act in the world to create social change. This retreat is for women who want to create the space to rejuvenate, reflect and integrate new self-care skills and support networks into their lives. It’s for women who want to explore these types of issues within a small community of women in a natural setting on a beautiful island off the coast of Maine.

The vision, commitment and courage of Eleanor Roosevelt inspire this women’s leadership retreat, sponsored by the University of Maine Cooperative Extension Turn Beauty Inside Out project. Eleanor Roosevelt was a social activist, who during her White House years and beyond, was sustained and emboldened by the network of activist women friends and colleagues in her life.

The Work of the Retreat

To be potent social change agents, we must take time away from the work to which we are committed or our fires burn out. This retreat creates the space to discover new ways to nurture ourselves and recommit to what we know feeds our spirits. We invite each participant to come with her own intention for the retreat. By partnering with the other retreat participants and nature itself, we will explore how to sustain ourselves for the long-haul work of social change. Our classrooms for this learning are the island, our cottage and our community of women, the village and the national park.

The island becomes a container away from the endless demands of our mainland lives.  Participants form a group that meets daily. The group is a place for each woman to reflect on her retreat intentions, what choices she is making to nurture herself, and how to integrate those insights into her life. Just as Eleanor Roosevelt knew that she needed a group of competent and steadfast women friends, we will create the support to inform and sustain our social activism work in the world.

In addition to the group, nature is a ready and willing partner offering other avenues to explore our intentions. Each woman may decide if and how she wants to utilize nature and the outdoors, from sitting in a quiet place overlooking the harbor to taking a hike through the island landscape. Using nature as a metaphor, staff and participants will practice exploring in the outdoors and looking at how nature can inform our every day lives. We will consider such concepts as sustainability practices and self-care, the tides of the ocean and of our lives, and strategic and safety consciousness in leadership as well as in nature.

The Retreat Goals

• to take time away from our busy lives to relax, reflect, and rejuvenate;

• to continue to develop our power and potency in relation to the world;

• to nurture and challenge ourselves through the group process;

• to make space to experiment with play and physical activity;

• to be inspired by the beauty and solitude of the island;

• to increase our awareness of our connection to nature; and

• to create the support that informs and sustains our social activism work in the world.

The Foundation of Our Work: Theory and Inspiration

What we know, believe and value grounds our work. We have been inspired in our exploration of leadership, activism and sustainability by the work of many brilliant and strong women. In our work we draw on the theories, insights, research and experiences of Alexandra Merrill, Jean Baker Miller, Joanna Macy, Jean Illsley Clarke, Eleanor Roosevelt, Margaret Mead, Maya Angelou, Carol Gilligan, Mary Oliver and many others. We stand on the shoulders of these women and are grateful for their guidance.

We believe in the essential nature of collaboration. We do not wish to see women working in isolation. We believe we are all best served by active networks of support and connection that help all of us move forward. Given the cultural forces that often work to separate us from our most natural allies, each other, we need to have time with each other where we unpack the old internalized messages and find new ways to bring all of our brilliance to bear on the challenges we face in the world. To do this we also need self-care opportunities to rest and revitalize. We relish opportunities to be in nature, to be with each other and to just be.

The Setting

Isle au Haut is about seven miles off the coast from Stonington. The island is six miles long, three miles wide, has five mountains, one road, several harbors and rugged cliffs. Half of the Island is Acadia National Park and has miles of hiking trails.  Isle au Haut has about fifty year-round residents and approximately one hundred live on the island in the summer months. The village has a small grocery, tiny post office, one-room school house, town hall/library, church, softball field, wharf and fire station. There are no pharmacies or medical facilities on the island. Access is limited. Isle au Haut is accessible by mail boat three times a day from Stonington in June.

Our retreat site is called Stone Cottage, overlooking the thoroughfare between Isle au Haut and Kimball's Island, bordering the national park. Stone Cottage, a non-smoking building, has five bedrooms (doubles and triples), two bathrooms, kitchen, living room and dining room. It has electricity and a wood stove. There is no telephone, television or central heat. A telephone is located at the store, a five minute walk from the cottage.

Retreat Logistics and Format

Arrival and Departure from the island

Arrival Day: We will meet you at the Town Landing on Isle au Haut at 4:00 pm. This is the arrival time of the 3:15 pm boat from Stonington. Plan to be in Stonington by 2:45 pm.

Departure Day: Departure will be on the 12:30 pm boat which arrives back in Stonington at 1:15 pm.

Structured Time
The group will meet daily for 3-hours.

Day One: After settling in and dinner.
Topics: Introductions, our retreat intentions.

Day Two: Morning meeting.
Topics: How we do our leadership, who inspires us, nature as inspiration.

Day Three: Evening group meeting.
Topics: Self-care as leadership, sustaining ourselves. 

Day Four: Evening group meeting.
Topics: Seeing our brilliance, exploring competition and collaboration.

Day Five: Morning group meeting.
Topics: Reflections on our retreat intentions, and future commitments.

There will be plenty of open time when participants can share their own interests and practices with the rest of the group, explore the island, join others in meal preparation or spend time reading, resting, reflecting, or journaling.

Community Living and Meals

Our intent is to live in community with everyone sharing in providing, preparing and cleaning up after meals and other simple chores. Staff will provide the food for the dinner meals. The four breakfasts and four lunches will be potluck. We ask you to bring something to contribute to each of the breakfast and lunch meals as well as snacks.

Open Activity Time

While the group will meet each day, you will also have open time daily with many choices of both indoor and outdoor activities, or individual time for rest and reflection.  We invite you to share your talents during the non-group time.  In the past, women have led art, visualizations, discussions, yoga, knitting, music and writing activities. This is also a time when women have organized small groups for hiking in the park (however, this retreat will not include opportunities for solo hiking). These activities are optional.

Continuing Education Units (CEU’s) from The University of Maine will be available.

Cost of the Retreat

The fee for the retreat is $600 per person ($475 if fully paid by March 14). A limited number of partial scholarships are available.  Please call with inquiries. We welcome contributions to this scholarship fund.

The fee includes the workshop, cottage rental, four dinners and some materials. The fee does not include boat fare, parking in Stonington, or breakfast and lunch meals.

What to bring

• Your personal items including: clothes for all types of weather; hiking boots, water bottle, and other appropriate gear for outdoor activity choices (layers, fleece, rain gear, bug repellant, hat, sunscreen), as well as earplugs (if you’re a light sleeper) and flashlight.

• Your medications and other first aid items.

• Bed sheets and pillow cases, towel and additional blankets or sleeping bag, if you wish. Each bed has 2 blankets and pillows.

• Your contribution to the simple breakfast and lunch meals, and snacks to share.

• A journal to write in, books to read and share, other possibilities for retreat sharing such as art supplies. We will have a resource table with some of our favorite books to share. You are welcome to bring yours as well.

What NOT to bring

Please do not bring kayaks, bikes, electrical equipment such as hair dryers or laptops. We also ask you not to bring alcohol or other non prescription drugs.

Access to the Mainland: Communication and Emergencies

Your cell phone may or may not work on the island. We will ask that cell phones be used only for out-going calls and that ringers be turned off.

In case emergency medical attention is needed, there are two EMT’s on the island and a health center on the mainland in Stonington. The nearest pharmacy and hospital emergency room is in Blue Hill. Other hospitals are in Bangor. Participants need to have health insurance and/or be willing to pay all costs associated with obtaining emergency medical care while participating in the program. This includes transport off island. A health and safety plan will be reviewed as part of program orientation.

Travel

The Isle au Haut Passenger Ferry provides transportation from Stonington. The round trip fare is $32, which includes two parcels. Extra parcels are $3 each. (These 2007 rates may change.) For other information visit: www.isleauhaut.com. Parking is available outside at the ferry dock for $9 per day. There is usually alternative parking available at a lower rate in other locations in town.

To Register

Each session of this retreat is limited to 10 women. Spaces will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. First priority is given to women from Maine. Your deposit with the application will hold your space. If you need special accommodations or have special food needs, please let us know by May 2 and indicate this on the registration form.

Early Bird registration is $475: $275 at registration and balance of $200 by Friday, March 14. 
Regular registration is $600: $275 at registration and balance of $325 by Friday, May 16.

Registration balance must be paid by the deadline, unless other arrangements have been made.  If full Early Bird payment is not received by March 14, then the remainder of the full registration fee ($325) is due by May 16.

Cancellation Policy: Your payment minus $100 is refundable until the registration deadline (March 14 for Early Bird and May 16 for Regular). Between May 19 and May 30, this partial refund is available only if a replacement participant is registered.

REGISTRATION FORM

Retreat Leadership Team

The leadership team has worked together as colleagues and friends since 1988 in numerous forms.  They currently collaborate on a variety of aspects of Turn Beauty Inside Out, Maine, which is part of the University of Maine Cooperative Extension Gender Project. Turn Beauty Inside Out, Maine is a grassroots celebration of a new cultural definition of beauty as “good hearts, great works and activism” and focuses on issues of body image, empowerment, media literacy and leadership development in girls and women. The Eleanor Days grew out of the education, activism and social change vision of Turn Beauty Inside Out, Maine and was created to support women activists. 

Aileen Fortune, is a University of Maine Cooperative Extension educator, coordinator of Turn Beauty Inside Out, Maine, and creator of The Eleanor Days.  As an educator, activist and mother of both a son and daughter, Aileen is deeply committed to supporting all young people in growing up beyond limiting cultural messages about being male and female today. 

Eileen Conlon leads her own organization development consulting company working with for-profits and non-profits. She is excited about appreciative and traditional approaches to organization development. She has been leading women’s groups for many years and is particularly interested in how women’s own internalized sexism gets in the way of their taking on leadership and supporting other women’s leadership.

Deb Burwell is a grassroots organizer at heart who runs a facilitation business specializing in strategic planning with non-profits and small businesses. She is also a co-facilitator of Paddling the Rapids, a strategic forum for executive directors of non-profits and their boards. Deb is committed to exploring power dynamics and how women use their voices in service of what they care most fiercely about.

For more information, contact:
Aileen Fortune at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension York County office at 207-324-2814 or 1-800-287-1535 (in Maine) or by e-mail at afortune@umext.maine.edu.

“I have only two remedies for weariness: one is change and the other is relaxation.”
-- Eleanor Roosevelt