by Will Riley, Guest Blogger

I am Will Riley, Chicago 8^th grader, political junky, and dreamer. Dreamer of a world in which peace is inevitable, in which it doesn’t matter if the President pronounces nuclear wrong, because it’s not in our vocabulary anyway, and, most of all, dreamer of a Department of Peace.

Entering the 2007 Peace Alliance Conference in the D.C. metro area, I had never been east of Cincinnati. When I arrived here, I felt a sense of energy, coming from the natural aura of the political framework that makes this city great, but also from the hopes of the nearly 700 people who showed up for this conference. We also had energy from the Student Peace Alliance, which is comprised of college, high school, and a couple (myself included) middle school students.

            On the first day, my mom and I flew from Chicago Midway to Baltimore with Karen Johnson, state coordinator for Illinois. It was the first time I had ever looked at the Sears Tower from the East in a plane, as I had taken a car to Cincinnati. We took a van to D.C., and I can assure you the metro area native that was in the van with us was rolling his eyes at my questions about which buildings were which, and my exuberance when I first saw the Washington Monument and the Capitol. To date, I still have not seen the White House or walked down the Mall, a testament to the hectic, all-day schedule of the conference.

            On the second day, we were scheduled to have a morning coffee with Illinois Senators Richard Durbin and Barack Obama, one of the reasons we flew to D.C. early. However, it was canceled. On the bright side, we were able to look around Washington a little bit, and, at 2:30 in the afternoon, we did meet with an aide to Richard Durbin at his office near the Capitol building, where we discussed Durbin’s interest in introducing the bill to the Senate. Because both Senators Mark Dayton of Minnesota and Jim Jeffords of Vermont retired at the 2006 elections, we did not have any Senator to re-introduce the bill.

            On Friday, the third day, I met with the Student Peace Alliance for the first time, as I had been doing work with Karen, the state coordinator, and other adult volunteers since I hopped on board the movement. Our first session dealt with information about the bill itself. As the day went on, we explored various issues relating to youth, such as school violence and campus club organization. Aaron Voldman, the director of the Student Peace Alliance, and Danielle and Julia, his team members, moderated all of this. While our meetings were going on, the state coordinators (adults) were having their own meeting.

            Today, the fourth day of my visit, the second day of the conference, and the day before the Super Bowl, we had the Student Peace Alliance and the state coordinators together for most of the day. The crowd was wowed by the eloquence and intelligence of Marianne Williamson, the keynote speaker. There was a special session on success stories, and I was fortunate enough to be able to talk, along with Karen, about our visit to Barack Obama’s office. The students and the adults did split up for a bit later in the day, and at this time I spoke to the students about City Council Resolutions and my experience in passing the Chicago City Council Resolution. After dinner, we convened again to listen to Deepak Copra, an author of 50 books and one of America’s leading thinkers.

            That is where we are now, and I feel so fortunate to be here, with so many people who share the same beliefs as me, who strive for the same things, but also embrace the differences. Day in and day out, we are a well-oiled, well-functioning team, and I am so happy to be a contributor, to be a member of the Illinois delegation, and, most of all, to be a member of the Peace Alliance.