Center & Periphery

February 2024

Dear Friends,

Close to my home in Pioneer Valley of Central Massachusetts, a clustering of maple trees stands tall and naked against a grey winter sky. Beneath the dark and rough bark of these trees, delicately laced with a coating of frozen snow, immensely potent forces of new life are flowing. These will soon become evident as sap begins to trickle from small taps jutting from the trunks into little white pales belted around the trees. We are gearing up for a season of sweet maple syrup.

So it is also during this winter season at the Center for Anthroposophy (CfA), where the directors of our seven programs––a record number!––are forming new courses and line-ups of faculty in preparation for the spring and summer terms ahead. In this issue of Center & Periphery, CfA’s thrice-yearly newsletter, you can read about the latest selection of our in-person and online courses and services:

• Explorations Online begins a new year-long cycle next month
• Kairos Institute announces arts studios, workshops, and lectures for Spring, Summer, and beyond
• Waldorf Leadership Development, for Waldorf administrators and school leaders, begins a new low-residency course this spring
• Building Bridges, a preliminary teacher training program, launches its first-ever course in the Mid-Atlantic region
• Renewal Courses offer a record number of courses and some innovative “self-care” services in June/July 2024
• An entirely new Mentoring Program, launched at New Year, is training experienced educators to become skilled mentors of teachers in the classroom
• Waldorf High School Teacher Education Program (WHiSTEP) is inaugurating a revised and streamlined summer program for prospective and practicing high school teachers with specializations in the arts, humanities, math, and the sciences––as well as a fresh line-up of presenters  in our “Starlight Rays in Darkened Times,” a series of free-standing high school seminars

With this issue of Center & Periphery, I relinquish the reins of this online newsletter as I take the next step in my progressive retirement this year from the Center of Anthroposophy. You can expect future issues to have a new streamlined look and to appear with more frequent regularity. I greatly look forward to reading this publication in its revised format and wish its new editorial team a successful run of it. 

Douglas Gerwin
Executive Director
Center for Anthroposophy

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IN THIS ISSUE

Dateline Sacramento, CA: Alumni Spotlight –– Forging Connections, Wielding Gavels

Diana Tesni, head of the association for alumni of CfA and Waldorf Antioch programs, reports on an unusual passion practiced by one of its prominent graduates. Continue reading…

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Dateline Wilton, NH: Of Sankofa & the Faces of Janus

CfA’s long-standing Waldorf High School Teacher Education Program (WHiSTEP) is getting a double face-lift this year as part of a major redesign. WHiSTEP Director David Barham offers review and preview of this dynamic program. Continue reading…

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Dateline Sao Paolo, Brazil: Healthy Schools Need Healthy Leadership

Schools around the world are struggling to establish sound practices of leadership and administration. Torin Finser, Director of CfA’s one-year Waldorf Leadership Development program, outlines some practical approaches. Continue reading…

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Dateline Wilton, NH: “I Loved EVERY MINUTE!”

About to launch its seventh year, CfA’s introductory Explorations Program draws participants from around the world into a community of learning, artistic practice, and personal development. Bev Boyer, Director of this online program, previews the next year-round cycle starting in March 2024. Continue reading…

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Dateline Keene/Wilton, NH: “Trauma and Spirituality” Course at the Kairos Institute

Karine Munk Finser, Director of the Kairos Institute at Center for Anthroposophy, previews new online and in-person courses, scheduled for the coming spring and summer months. Continue reading…

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Dateline Baltimore, MD: Building Bridges across the Mid-Atlantic Region

Having wrapped up a cohort in Florida, CfA’s onsite Waldorf teacher education program rolls northward to a new hub in the Mid-Atlantic region, starting in March 2024. Torin Finser, Director of this peripatetic program, reports on the next group taking form in Baltimore, MD. Continue reading…

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Dateline Wilton, NH: Mentoring Waldorf Mentors

More than two years in the making, a new program has been inaugurated at CfA for experienced educators wishing to become mentors of elementary and high school teachers. Karen Atkinson, Director of this program, reports on its initial sessions. Continue reading…

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Dateline Wilton, NH: Renewal 2024 –– Food for the Spirit, Care for the Body

For the first time, CfA’s Renewal Courses will add restorative care options to its popular line-up of artistic practice, stimulating seminars, and practical guidance for teaching. Karen Atkinson, Director of Renewal Courses, explains how these one-week courses––offered both in person and online––will work this summer. Continue reading…

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Dateline Chapel Hill, NC: Before the Watch, the Watchmaker

In the run-up to an international youth conference on technology, Gareth Dicker peers beneath the dazzling distraction of digital devices to the creative human impulse that gave rise to them. Continue reading…

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Dateline Wilton, NH: Alumni Ahoy

CfA and Antioch graduates from across North America and beyond are being called together this summer to mark the retirement of one of their lead teachers. Bev Boyer, CfA’s faculty liaison to our alumni association, sounds the clarion call. Continue reading…

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Dateline Wilton, NH: CfA Calendar of Program Events (February-July 2024)

CfA has greatly expanded its summer season and beyond to include an array of courses spread throughout the year. In the coming half-year, we are offering a record seven distinct programs. Here are some highlights. Continue reading…

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To read the posts, click on the title or “Continue reading…” above.

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