Newsletter July/August 2011
Our summertime campus deserves a new name: “Wiltin’ New Hampshire”. The thermometer actually broke daytime records, soaring past the 100 degree mark one sultry July afternoon. It marked the culmination of a tropical week during which a so-called “dome” of muggy heat hung over the entire East Coast. A few of our teacher education classes were shortened, some were relocated to be close to water –– the fire pond, the Souhegan River, the swimming pool. Others simply moved chairs to opened windows to take advantage of hot but refreshing winds wafting across the valley onto our hill from mountains to the west. A good number of classrooms––several more than last year––were upgraded with air conditioning units well before the heat wave arrived, thanks to the diligence of our administrator, Milan Daler. Temperature levels were not the only records broken this summer. Some others, having to do with our programs, are described below in the current midsummer issue of Center & Periphery, which brings you snapshots from our Summer 2011 album of Renewal Courses, Waldorf High School Teacher Education Program, Foundation Studies in Anthroposophy and the Arts, as well as the Waldorf teacher education program of our sister organization, Antioch University New England. In this issue we also cast a glance forward to the coming months –– and to cooler days! Douglas Gerwin, Director Center for Anthroposophy In this Issue Dateline Wilton NH: Congratulations to the Classes of 2011 Four different groups of Waldorf teachers graduated at the end of July from the combined programs of the Center for Anthroposophy and Antioch University New England. Douglas Gerwin, CfA Director, reports on the festivities. By the end of the commencement proceedings, some 140 people––a third of them graduating Waldorf teachers––were crowded onto the stage for the final choral presentation, a modern setting of “Amazing Grace”. In all, 47 practicing and prospective Waldorf teachers graduated in Wilton NH this summer: 11 from the CfA’s Waldorf High School Teacher Education Program and 36 from the Waldorf program at Antioch University New England. Most of the graduates in the high school group are already working in Waldorf schools stretching from California to Georgia and New Hampshire. Because all of them reside in an Eastern or Western seacoast state, they were compared as a group to the Morning and Evening Star (Venus) that rises or sets on both Atlantic and Pacific horizons –– but also because of their devotion to beauty and their sensitive care for others. The students graduating in three Antioch groups included 7 from the first “research masters” cohort, a fast-track M.Ed. program for experienced Waldorf teachers inaugurated at Antioch in the summer of 2010. In addition, 14 students from Antioch’s part-time “Summer Sequence” and 15 from the university’s year-round Waldorf program in Keene NH completed their studies this year. Each group offered a song or poem before each student was called one by one to receive certificate and stole. Joan Almon, a longtime Waldorf kindergarten teacher and founding director of the international Alliance for Childhood, was the Commencement speaker. She drew attention to places around the world where “new thinking” is chipping away at seemingly intractable “old problems” of illiteracy, poverty, and the neglect of children. A lifelong proponent of so-called “play-based education” in early childhood, Joan cited recent research (still largely ignored in the main stream) that demonstrates how play offers a more effective––and more hygienic––approach to learning and healthy development. Joan’s warm and genial remarks to the graduates preceded a musical offering of special significance to her as well as to others in the audience. Julia Emahiser, an accomplished cellist and Waldorf teacher who entered the Antioch program only this summer, joined her mother Martha Bartles for a performance of “The Wind”, a piece for cello and piano written by her husband Alfred H. Bartles –– who happened to be a cousin of Joan’s husband! The celebration, held in the auditorium of Pine Hill Waldorf School where many of the Antioch summer classes are housed, drew to a close with graduates and current students as well as faculty coming on stage to sing an a cappella setting of the traditional song “Amazing Grace” by the contemporary American composer Stephen Hatfield. A festive luncheon followed across the road on the campus of High Mowing School, where most of the classes in the high school program are conducted each summer. On the evening prior to graduation, all 9 groups of current and graduating students presented samples of their summertime studies––especially those related to the arts of music, speech, and eurythmy––to friends and family who had gathered for the commencement the following morning. A display of student work in other artistic media such as clay sculpture, watercolor painting, and woodwork, filled the foyer of the building. The evening ended with two uplifting performances by Cezary Ciaglo and Laura Radefeld––both teachers in the summertime programs––of eurythmy solos accompanied by Malcolm Hawkins at the piano. Dateline Wilton NH: Life without Georg For as long as we can remember, Georg Locher has been a regular feature of the summer programs offered by the Center for Anthroposophy. What was it like without him this year? For the past quarter century, Georg Locher has served as a senior faculty member of Wilton’s summer programs, first in the Waldorf teacher education program at Antioch University New England and more recently in CfA’s week-long offerings of Renewal Courses. From early morning assemblies––at which he would read the German version of Rudolf Steiner’s weekly Calendar of the Soul in his resonant baritone voice––to evening soirees (for which he was m/c and often “final act” with some soothing cello piece) and countless courses in between, Georg has helped to set the tone of our programs. During the two weeks of Renewal Courses––a program he was instrumental in launching more than a decade ago––Georg has offered the broadest possible range of courses, from sweeping introductory vistas of anthroposophy to deep explorations of the arts curriculum in the upper elementary years. During the three
Newsletter May/June 2011
Spring: a time for spring cleaning! During the height of this season, the Center for Anthroposophy submitted itself to an administrative review as part of a multi-phase assessment of its programs and core personnel. We are happy to report that this review yielded a strong endorsement of our programs and those who lead them. The review, ably led by Kay Hoffman and her colleagues at Adminservices, also pointed to areas where we could improve our offerings and make better use of modern technology. Our thanks to all who participated in this process. Based on this exercise of review and rejuvenation, we turn––as we do at this time of year––to the forthcoming summer and our latest line-up of programs. It promises to be a dynamic season, starting with Renewal Courses and the Waldorf High School Teacher Education Program in late June and early July and flowing into the new school year with a bumper crop of Foundation Studies around the country, starting in September. We devote this summer issue of Center & Periphery, then, to a sampling of our new offerings –– as well as to the review of several other new items. Read and rejuvenate! Douglas Gerwin, Director Center for Anthroposophy Double-click any bullet point below to jump to the article. In this Issue Dateline Wilton NH: Sampling of Renewal Courses for Summer 2011 Karine Munk Finser, Coordinator of CfA’s Renewal Courses, offers a few more detailed vignettes of new courses being offered this summer as part of her program. Dear Friends, I would like to highlight a few of our courses that are being offered this year as unique opportunities: In Week 1: June 26th-July 1st Encountering Evil: Explorations into the Task of Our Times: Douglas Sloan will address one of the more critical tasks facing human beings now and in the future: understanding, overcoming, and transforming evil. He will help us look at some of the spiritual resources that are available to us in this task of transformation. Drawing with Hand, Head, and Heart: Van James will help any teacher both from the grades or high school to develop confidence, skills, and techniques to building capacities in our students. Using crayons, colored pencils, and pastels, he will guide teachers and artists with landscape drawing, plant and animal drawing, still-life drawing, perspective drawing, portrait and figure drawing…and more. Creating Educational Projects for Children in the Grades: Elizabeth Auer will help home-schooling parents as well as classroom teachers develop crafts projects to augment young children’s learning about the world. Health-Bringing Aspects of the Waldorf Curriculum: Christof Wiechert returns to continue his advanced studies with experienced educators on healing aspects and the art of teaching. Music in the Light of Anthroposophy: Juliane Weeks and Monica Amstutz will guide music teachers, early childhood educators, home schooling parents, class teachers, and health practitioners seeking to enliven their relationship to music. Participants will take home a rich handout of songs and related materials. In Week 2: July 3rd- July 8th We are indeed fortunate to have Virginia Sease with us this year. Imagine spending five days under her wise guidance, exploring the Life and Work of Rudolf Steiner, the path into the New Mysteries and Modern Initiation. Ruskin Mills’ Aonghus Gordon and his Master Craftsmen are back this year. Come and learn a craft that may bring healing elements into your class or work with young adults. This course will change your life and outlook! Janene Ping will help her group produce a modern fairy tale: The Bee Man of Orn. This production-oriented course will culminate in a full stage set-up and performance with children and adults in the audience. Channa Seidenberg will provide unique and beautiful music. Other rich courses include Philip Thatcher’s work with Parzival and the Times of Michael; and a Math course for the upper elementary grades with Jamie York; and much more! Evening events are optional but always stimulating. There will be lectures by Van James on Rudolf Steiner’s Blackboard Drawings Christof Wiechert on the Hibernian Mysteries Virginia Sease on Waldorf Education Peter Snow on the Rosslyn Chapel. In addition we are sponsoring a full eurythmy performance dedicated to the 150th anniversary of Rudolf Steiner’s birth, performed by Eurythmy Spring Valley. In short, this is a big year for us with a wealth of unique opportunities that will not be repeated. Please join us! Dateline Wilton NH: Renewal Through Eurythmy Eurythmy Spring Valley troupe makes a special appearance at the summer Renewal Courses in Wilton, NH. Get a sneak preview here of their program. “Eurythmy Spring Valley” will perform in the Pine Hill Auditorium on the evening of July 5th, during the second week of our Renewal Courses. The special program, dedicated to Rudolf Steiner, will feature pieces of both tone and speech eurythmy. It is our intention to open our doors to share this artistic event with community members and friends. Tickets, at $12.00, can be purchased at the door or reserved by calling the CfA office at (603) 654- 2566. Date Wilton NH: The Bee Man of Orn The Bee Man of Orn will be performed at Pine Hill School, in the Auditorium, on July 7th, at 7p.m. Original music offered by Channa Seidenberg. This will be a beautiful silk marionette production not to be missed! Children and parents from the community are welcome! $2/child or $5/family Dateline Wilton NH: Curtain Rising on New Season in New Hampshire The Center for Anthroposophy once again is hosting two one-week sessions of Renewal Courses in June and July. Karine Munk Finser, Coordinator of Renewal Courses, describes the atmosphere and major offerings of the summer session. What is Renewal? It speaks to the urgency for people to come together to strengthen their lives by addressing their questions and needs. In the Renewal process they find joy, courage, and the building of capacities through one another. And they encounter many teachers and friends on the path! Renewal inspires life participation and courage in life by deepening work in Anthroposophy. For over
Newsletter March/April 2011
A question: Why do we celebrate birthdays? It was not always so. You don’t have to go far back in history to find that records of birth were kept far less reliably than records of death. In earlier centuries, if they marked it at all, people were more likely to celebrate not their day of birth but rather their day of baptism or some other religious or civic ceremony in their biography. As recently as the mid 1800s one still could have good reason to doubt the accuracy of one’s supposed birth date. For instance, Rudolf Steiner spent a good portion of his life, according to his friends, trying to establish the exact date of his birth. (A separate item in this newsletter offers details of that story.) In all likelihood, Steiner would not face such uncertainty were he alive in our present age of scrupulous––even exhaustive––record keeping. Indeed, without an accurate and certified record of his birth, he might have great difficulty today getting a job –– or even a driving license. So why did we not always record birthdays as carefully as death days, and why do we do so today? To be sure, there are practical considerations, but one can point to other reasons, too. First: consider the fact that, by and large, the moment of death coincides with the departure of consciousness, including most often our self-consciousness. Both events happen at about the same time. That is to say, death means departure of our ‘I’ from residence in the physical body. One cannot say the same for the moment of birth. Our self-consciousness takes quite some time to light up following the arrival of our physical body on earth. In other words, the birth of our ‘I’ happens at a considerable remove from the birth of our living and sentient physical body. To the degree, then, that we attend primarily to our spiritual––rather than to our physical––passage on earth, we will be less likely to bother recording, or preserving, the details of our physical birth, though we may well keep precise records of our death. A second consideration: What happens when as a culture we start to identify our being, our consciousness––and by extension our self-consciousness––with the existence of our physical body? I would suggest we then begin to keep more accurate records of our physical arrival on earth. Further, we may even begin to ignore those developmental signposts of becoming more fully self-conscious as we become older –– a process that modern brain research suggests lasts well into our 20s. We do well to celebrate the safe arrival on earth of a new infant, for this day represents a remarkable achievement of all who have participated in that mysterious process. We may ask, however, what accomplishment––and what promise––are we celebrating when we gather round the birthday child and light a candle or two or three or . . . . This year, around the globe, we are celebrating the 150th birthday of Rudolf Steiner. In this issue of our newsletter Center & Periphery, we report on some of those celebrations, as well as other festivals and milestones connected with his work, and with our own. We invite you to celebrate with us in the reports––and the months––that follow. Douglas Gerwin, Director Center for Anthroposophy Double-click any bullet point below to jump to the article. In this Issue Dateline Wilton, NH: Celebrating 150 Years of Rudolf Steiner—early! The Center for Anthroposophy stole a march on Rudolf Steiner’s birthday by staging a day of festivities three days before the 150th anniversary of his actual date of birth. Douglas Gerwin reports on how it went and why it happened so early. What better way to mark the birthday of Rudolf Steiner than to host a day filled with stories, art, and social encounters topped off by Kaffee und Kuchen. The day––Thursday 24 February 2011––began with a series of informal readings and reminiscences of Rudolf Steiner, both in his own words and in the words of those who knew him. About 30 people crowded into the bookstore portion of the Color Shop & More, the store on Main Street Wilton owned by the Center for Anthroposophy, to hear four presenters offer vignettes of Steiner’s life, starting with his childhood in the Austro-Hungarian village of Kraljevec. Torin Finser, Chair of the Education Department at Antioch University New England, read from Steiner’s autobiography and passed around photos and maps depicting Steiner’s life, especially during his early years as the son of a railway station master in Southern Austria and later as a university student in the cultural hub of Vienna. Alice Groh, a familiar name in Waldorf and anthroposophical circles, picked up the story with Steiner’s early adult years as writer, editor, and artist first in Weimar then in Berlin, which in the late 19th century was a throbbing capital of radical new ideas in politics, philosophy, art, literature, drama, and music. Alice pointed out that at this stage in his life, Steiner was engaged primarily in reaching out and mingling with the most avant garde movements of his time. Only later would he begin to offer his own contributions in these fields. It fell to Milan Daler, Administrator of the Center, to orient the story to Steiner’s more philosophic and religious pursuits, including his response to a circle of young German Lutheran ministers that resulted in a renewal of religious practice now known around the world as the Christian Community. In the field of curative education, Milan recounted how Karl Koenig, one of the founding physicians of the international Camphill Movement for handicapped children, came within a few blocks of the stock exchange building in Vienna, where Steiner was giving an important series of lectures. For some reason, Koenig turned back and so never got to hear or meet Steiner –– a decision he regretted lifelong. Finally, Margaret Chambers, who with Alice has been active for years in the anthroposophical studies in Wilton and around the country, steered the conversation
Newsletter January/February 2011
Birthdays are a time for taking stock and for looking ahead along the path. Coincident with the 150th birthday of Rudolf Steiner in late February, several recent and forthcoming events are serving as moments of retrospection but also of envisioning. A sampling of these moments is offered in this issue of Center & Periphery. At a watershed gathering on the West Coast during the first weekend of this calendar year, a colloquium of experienced Waldorf teacher educators took a slow and honest look at the needs and expectations of teacher training on this continent. We report on their deliberations and some initiatives for the future. Up and down the East Coast, students in our clusters of Foundation Studies in Anthroposophy and the Arts look back on their experience and how it prepares them to become better teachers and parents. A veteran teacher in one such cluster recalls 50 years of studying and teaching anthroposophy in the Southeast. Closer to home, we follow the trials of Waldorf teachers struggling and growing through the experience of preparing a performance of the medieval Paradise Play –– a timeless drama depicting the archetype of all birthdays. On the home front, the Center inaugurates a new governance structure with the formation of a Pedagogical Advisory Council and an expanded Board of Trustees. The affiliated Waldorf Program at Antioch University New England experiments with a new approach to its 10-year cycle of state certification. And, in addition to reporting on some other programs and professional appointments, we preview a day of celebrations in downtown Wilton to mark the 150th anniversary of Rudolf Steiner’s birth on 25 February 1861. Join us –– you are invited! Douglas Gerwin, Director Center for Anthroposophy In this Issue Dateline Wilton, NH: When Councilors Become Advisors and Trustees At its annual meeting in February 2011, the governing body of the Center for Anthroposophy reconfigured itself into two new bodies: a Pedagogical Advisory Council (PAC) and Board of Trustees (BoT). Herewith an outline of how this new governance model came to be. The Center for Anthroposophy came of age during the first weekend in February 2011 with the formation of a new Board of Trustees and a Pedagogical Advisory Council. Notwithstanding a brisk snowstorm, which forced the inaugural meeting to be postponed for a day, the new group met for the first time in the newly renovated reading room of the Cadmus anthroposophical lending library, which is located in the walkout basement of the building purchased by the Center in 2008. To understand the context of this new configuration, one has to spool back to the very beginnings of Waldorf teacher training in New England when during the early 1980s the faculty at the Pine Hill Waldorf School in Wilton NH agreed to act as “ombudsman” to the newly formed Waldorf teacher education program at what was then called Antioch New England Graduate School in Keene NH. When Pine Hill suffered its second major fire in the late 1980s, the faculty felt it could no longer serve as ombudsman, and the call went out to Waldorf schools across New England to step into this role. Five Waldorf schools in New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, and Massachusetts banded together to form the New England Waldorf Teacher Training Council as an institution of support to the Waldorf program at Antioch. By the mid-1990s this fledgling institution, renamed the Center for Anthroposophy, had grown to include more schools and had begun to offer programs of its own, independent of what is now known as Antioch University New England. First came Foundation Studies in Anthroposophy and the Arts, then a teacher training program specifically for high school subject teachers, and finally at the turn of the millennium a unique fortnight of Renewal Courses for those engaged in Waldorf education. Through these many phases of growth and increasing complexity, the governing Council of the Center acted as both circle of advisors and as a legal entity of trustees. Eventually it became obvious that a single body could not do justice to both roles, and the Council was differentiated into two distinct yet closely related entities. The Pedagogical Advisory Council (PAC) is composed of 21 teachers and staff members from 15 Waldorf schools and teacher education programs. The 14-member Board of Trustees is drawn from the circle of Council members. At their inaugural meeting, members of the PAC devoted the bulk of their time to envisioning the future of Waldorf teacher education not only in terms of a new generation of teachers but also a new generations of parents and their children. To the needs of these changing generations must be added the impact of technology––especially the Internet––on the development of all of these groups. All the more important for teachers both young and seasoned in these turbulent times is the steady eye and hand of experienced mentors acting not, however, as ancient viziers but rather as working colleagues. In the final hour of the afternoon, the board took up matters of finance and administration, including the re-election of its officers: Signe Motter, President Arthur Auer, Chair Stephen Bloomquist, Treasurer Milan Daler, Secretary Dateline Fair Oaks, CA: The Four-tune of TEN At the invitation of the Teacher Education Network (TEN), Waldorf adult educators from across North America met in Fair Oaks to envision where Waldorf education is headed in the next decade. What was the outcome of their deliberations? Douglas Gerwin reports on the colloquium and the formation a newly mandated quartet to envision the future of TEN. Forty adult educators from fifteen AWSNA institutes across North America gathered for a colloquium––the first of its kind––at the invitation of the Association’s Teacher Education Network (TEN). The three-day colloquium, unprecedented in the history of the Waldorf movement on this continent¬¬, was held from January 7-9, 2011 on the campus of Rudolf Steiner College in Fair Oaks, California. During their long weekend together, teacher trainers became students themselves, practicing exercises in clay and eurythmy as part of a study of “morphological thinking”
Newsletter November/December 2010
What is it like to meditate while wearing headphones? This question is prompted by the story I recently read of a Black Hawk pilot who practices meditation on the battlefields of Iraq. Contemplative meditation, which he learned at West Point from a visiting professor of poetry, may be antithetical to the ethos of the war zone, he admits, even though it helps steady his composure in the face of death and suffering. He describes how he masks his meditation by sitting on his cot wearing headphones. His barrack buddies assume he is listening to music, “which is cool” –– but his headphones are turned off. In fact he is practicing “being in the moment”. This story appears in The Heart of Education: A Call to Renewal –– Transforming the Academy through Collegial Conversations by Arthur Zajonc, professor of physics at Amherst College, and the best selling author Parker Palmer (reviewed below). It makes clear that meditation is acceptable in certain contexts but by no means in all. Soldiers––or indeed any government employees––need not fear for their reputation if they are observed listening privately to electronic music, or indeed using any form of electronic media to calm their nerves or relax the mind. The same cannot be said if they are known to practice meditation, however privately. While public prayer is allowed––even required, for instance, in moments of national sorrow––the private practice of contemplative meditation may expose public servants to suspicion, perhaps even to loss of credibility. In a Waldorf community, the case may well be reversed. A teacher’s reputation will only be enhanced by an active meditative life, though few will openly talk about it. But woe betide the Waldorf teacher who is caught sitting in the school parking lot or relaxing in the faculty room with headphones on! What does this juxtaposition tell us about the way we perceive one another? It points to the pervasive and often semi-conscious perception of context. In Waldorf schools––as also in the approach to scientific enquiry advanced by Arthur Zajonc in his new book––we try to cultivate not only the capacity to see but the ability to see the way we see: that is, to become aware of the cognitive framework or context in which we place our perceptions as we assess, weigh, and, yes, judge them. “All seeing is seeing-as.” In this issue of our newsletter Center & Periphery, we offer you some examples of coming to consciousness of the “as” in our seeing, especially through the artistic media of eurythmy and film, as well as through changing approaches to higher education and our understanding of the brain’s plasticity. Read on and read-as! Douglas Gerwin, Director Center for Anthroposophy In this Issue Dateline Wilton, NH: A Physicist’s Perspective on Eurythmy After a eurythmy workshop at the Northeast Regional AWSNA Conference at High Mowing School in November 2010, Donald Griswold, physics teacher in the Lake Champlain Waldorf High School, got into conversation with Barbara Richardson, the Center’s Coordinator of Foundation Studies and a practicing eurythmist. At Barbara’s prompting, Donald offered some written reflections on his experience. What did I see that helped me understand what eurythmy is about? I am a physicist and see the world made up of many physical systems operating in concert with many other physical systems governed by unseen natural laws. As an amateur astronomer, I know that the orbits of the planets in our solar system, the positions of the stars in the evening sky, and the many periods of time (day, months, years, seasons) are determined by the motion of these planetary motions ruled by underlying laws that are not obvious. As I watch the superbly choreographed flight of a flock of birds moving as one organism, I know there is something I cannot see that communicates to each bird the synchronized timing of the flock’s motion. Through our eurythmy exercises during the AWSNA workshop, I saw how different “organisms” attuned to a common voice, how they could come together in a seemingly random fashion to produce a more complex synchronized higher “organism” that was as attuned to that common voice as the individual “organisms”. In the same manner that a choir’s voices meld to produce overtones that no one voice could ever produce, I saw how the combination of many individual groups could combine into one group to form an “organism” that was more than the sum of its parts. Through this exercise I could see the “overtones” of choreographed dance, which are synchronized with an inner voice and in this way “see” that inner voice. Just as the wafting wheat field “shows” the wind, so eurythmy “shows” me the spirit and the laws guiding us. Dateline Amherst, MA: Reviewing The Heart of Higher Education(2010) Arthur Zajonc and Parker Palmer combine forces in a new book that issues a clarion “Call to Renewal” within the corridors of higher learning. A brief review of this inspiring collection of essays shows how a more spiritual practice of teaching and learning is changing college life across the country. Marilyn Nelson, professor and poet at the University of Connecticut, recounts her experience of teaching a course on poetry and meditation to West Point cadets who were later deployed to Iraq. Amidst the chaos and suffering of the battlefield, some of them later e-mailed Professor Nelson, describing how her course was helping them to keep their composure in the face of death and violence. One of them, a Black Hawk helicopter pilot, acknowledged that the contemplative life was in some ways the antithesis of life in the military. Nelson reports that the pilot would camouflage his practice of meditating in the barracks by sitting on his cot wearing headphones. “Everyone thought he was listening to music, which is cool. But his headphones were silent. He was being in the moment, thinking ‘here, now, here, now.’” This anecdote is told in an appendix to a new book entitled The Heart of Education: A Call to Renewal –– Transforming the Academy through Collegial
Newsletter September/October 2010
The blistering heat of July and August has speeded up the onset of autumn. Beyond the windows of my study, the woodland birches––sensitive as they are to the stresses of heat––have raced through the glory of their golden halo phase and already dropped most of their leaves. I cannot recall ever getting past autumn before Labor Day. An early fall season can only contribute to the general feeling that time is speeding up. To be sure, all of us feel this as we get older––can you recall the time, long ago, when your birthday stretched far beyond the horizon of your imagination. . . compared to now?––and yet, other influences in our present culture and lifestyle, perhaps less obvious and hence more insidious, make the pace of life feel more accellerando than a tempo. “Fast”, however, usually entails “less nourishing”. Think only of fast food, minute rice, instant spuds, hothouse tomatoes.This is true of other kinds of nourishment, too: soul food, spirit food. Race through a museum or art gallery and notice how soon the law of diminishing returns sets in. So, with this issue of Center & Periphery––the first of the fall season––we bring you some items to slow your day a little. Take a moment to savor our new website; sample a DVD on the life of a Waldorf teacher; browse in the new study space of the Cadmus Library; dream about some new retreats being offered by the Center and our sister program at Antioch University New England. In short, turn the tables on this very frenzied electronic medium, whose own tendency it is to exacerbate the accelleration of our day. Amble––rather than sprint––on the information highway. The Ancient Greeks called this kind of reversal a moment of enantiodromia, and they knew it to be a source of healing and of lasting strength. Be well! Douglas Gerwin, Director Center for Anthroposophy In this Issue Dateline East Coast: New Clusters of Foundation Studies Seven clusters of Foundation Studies in Anthroposophy and the Arts along the East Coast are opening or renewing their work this month. Barbara Richardson, the Center’s Coordinator of Foundation Studies, reports on what they are doing. This year the Center for Anthroposophy is offering clusters of Foundation Studies in Anthroposophy and the Arts at seven locations stretching along the East Coast from Southern Maine to North Carolina. Programs typically meet twice a month for two years. New first-year clusters are now enrolling at Linden Waldorf School in Nashville, TN Waldorf School of Lexington, MA Merriconeag Waldorf School in Freeport, ME Aurora Waldorf School near Buffalo, NY Programs in their second year are continuing at Asheville, NC Monadnock Waldorf School in Keene, NH Washington Waldorf School in Bethesda, MD The Center’s program in Asheville, NC, which began in the middle of the last school year, is still open for enrollment as it begins the second half of its first-year program this fall with a study of “Biodynamic Agriculture at Michaelmas”. Unlike the other clusters, the Asheville and Nashville groups meet once a month for double sessions starting on Friday evening and running all day Saturday. Friday night presentations are open to members of the wider community, and their donations help provide scholarship assistance to the full-time participants. During the first year, participants work with some of the concentration exercises that Rudolf Steiner recommended. In a lecture of 1904 Steiner describes how the first steps in inner development require finding moments of peace, practicing patience, looking at one’s karma, and developing reverence. Three qualities to be developed through these steps are self-confidence, self-control, and presence of mind. However, he cautions that these three need to be tempered: we should develop self-confidence with humility, self-control with gentleness, and presence of mind with steadfastness. I have found that practicing the arts and the basic exercises definitely help in developing humility! When we attend to our thinking, feeling, and willing, we begin to learn a lot about being positive and open-minded. Please join us in the current clusters or let us know if you would like to start a Foundation Studies cluster in your area. Dateline New England: Graduates Start Two New High Schools Two new Waldorf high schools were launched this month, both of them spearheaded by graduates of the Center’s Waldorf High School Teacher Education Program (WHiSTEP). Here are brief reports on both new initiatives. After a two-year lull, the growth of Waldorf high schools in North America is picking up again with the inauguration of two new ventures –– one at Monadnock Waldorf School in Keene, NH, the other at the Aurora Waldorf School in West Falls, NY. Karl Schurman, a history teacher who completed his course work at the Center’s Waldorf High School Teacher Education Program (WHiSTEP) in 2001, was hired in May by the Monadnock Waldorf School to put together a new high school starting this fall with grades 9 and 10. His efforts were aided by two major factors: a local philanthropic family helped to make a building available––a handsome “four square” brick and granite school edifice with a rich history––and Lisa Damian, an experienced Waldorf teacher, had in the previous year already launched a ninth grade as a one-year parent-run “bridge school”. Karl, a former teacher at Merriconeag Waldorf School and Green Meadow Waldorf School, pulled together a seasoned high school faculty from near and far––as near as neighboring Massachusetts and as far as Western Australia––plus a scattering of guest teachers. Along with a dedicated group of parents, the faculty spent a good portion of the summer renovating the building and preparing a warm welcome for an incoming group of 26 students, including some last-minute sign-ups who were drawn by the quality and enthusiasm of the teachers. After a festive opening, the school headed off on four days of community building through canoeing, whitewater rafting, rock-climbing, cooking, and service work. Read more about the Monadnock school. Meanwhile, Katie Andrews, fresh from her third and final summer in WHiSTEP, is one of a
Newsletter August 3, 2010
All love, lower and higher, is breath of the gods. – Rudolf Steiner, lecture of 22 November 1906 (Berlin) Through the same power with which the heavenly sank into or was drawn into matter and became earthly love . . . in an earthly way the intellect of man bound itself up with matter, and created the materialistic form of science. – Rudolf Steiner, lecture of 11 September 1916 (Dornach) Summertime . . . a time to kick back, swim, boat, ride, cook meals outside. Not exactly. While some schools and teachers may be experiencing the quiet days of summer vacation, the faculty and staff at the Center for Anthroposophy are engaged in our “high season” of summer courses and teacher education programs. In this issue of our new monthly newsletter, Center & Periphery, we bring you a few vignettes––as well as a few bursts of video––of activities occurring both at the hub of our summer campus on Abbot Hill in sunny southern New Hampshire and in the periphery of our activities. These include highlights of this year’s Renewal Courses featuring some of our new guest instructors including Christof Wiechert from the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland; Aonghus Gordon from Ruskin Mills in England; and Dennis Klocek from Fair Oaks in California. You can also follow the peregrinations of our own faculty –– from the annual teachers conference of the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA) in Atlanta GA to the world anthroposophical conference at the Goetheanum. We hope you enjoy these reports from corners of the world near and far. Douglas Gerwin, Director Center for Anthroposophy In this Issue Dateline Wilton: Record Enrollment in Summer Programs Between the fortnight of week-long Renewal Courses and the teacher education programs offered by the Center for Anthroposophy and Antioch University New England, summer enrollments broke all records this year. Here follow some vignettes from our busiest summer ever. They came from the furthest reaches of the continent––Alaska and Hawaii in the West, Maine and Florida in the East––to take part in programs sponsored by the Center for Anthroposophy and Antioch University New England this summer. In all we counted 475 participants, representing record enrollment in both our five-day Renewal Courses and the Waldorf teacher education programs for elementary/early childhood and high school levels. Under clear skies and refreshing breezes, the initial week of Renewal Courses featured a first visit to our program by Christof Wiechert, Leader of the Pedagogical Section at the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland. In addition to offering a highly praised workshop on “child study”, a subject he has carried around the world, Christof graced the week with an evening lecture on three levels of the human “I” and a performance on his beloved violin as part of a string ensemble. Other workshops were offered by new and returning faculty including Christopher Bamford, Georg Locher, Iris Sullivan, Glen Williamson, Darcy Drayton, Rachel Ross and Connie Helms, Lorey Johnson and Kati Manning. Click here for a glimpse of an arts studio course with Iris Sullivan. The second week of Renewal Courses was abuzz with a team of craftsmen from Ruskin Mills led by Aonghus Gordon, who despite blistering heat transformed a portion of the campus into a small outdoor village of industry in iron forging, green woodworking, soap making, and felting. As one participant noted, “It’s as though a thousand years of history fell away and we rediscovered the world of timeless technology.” Click here for some brief video scenes from this program. Dennis Klocek, a regular member of our summer teacher education faculty, gave his first Renewal course this year on the theme of a “cosmic look at climate”, as well as a vibrant evening lecture on observing natural phenomena at three levels of being. Other workshops were offered by faculty––some new to the program, many returning––among them Georg Locher, Leonore Russell and Torin Finser, Rudiger Janisch, Rena Osmer, and Elizabeth Auer. A third and final round of the AWSNA Mentoring Seminar for experienced Waldorf teachers was facilitated by Virginia McWilliam and Barbara Richardson. Click here for some vignettes of this program, which has been formed and led since its beginnings over a decade ago by Karine Munk Finser, the Center’s Coordinator for Renewal Courses. Evenings was a time for breathing out and enjoying the artistic talents of students and faculty. Click here for an excerpt of a cello and piano duet featuring Georg Locher, a founding faculty member of the Renewal Courses. For the remainder of this month the adjacent campuses of Pine Hill Waldorf School and High Mowing School have been humming with the separate teacher education programs for high school and lower school/early childhood educators. New this year is a 32-credit “research” Masters degree in Waldorf education for experienced teachers being offered by Antioch University New England for the first time. Click here for details of this new Masters program. Dateline Honolulu: Daniel Stokes joins CfA/Antioch Summer Faculty Daniel Stokes, class teacher and trained speech artist working at the Honolulu Waldorf School, is the newest addition to the adjunct faculty of Waldorf teacher education programs at the Center for Anthroposophy and Antioch University New England. Here is a brief profile. Actor, storyteller, and speech artist, Daniel Stokes trained at three foreign centers of anthroposophical speech and drama––in London, England, Dornach, Switzerland, and Sydney, Australia––before returning to the United States to become a class teacher, first in Ashland, Oregon, then on Whidbey Island, Washington State, and most recently in Honolulu, Hawaii. During his years of class teaching, he also led courses and workshops in speech and drama at Waldorf teacher training institutes in Eugene, Oregon; Seattle, Washington; and Honolulu, Hawaii. This year, Daniel is teaching for the first time in the Waldorf High School Teacher Education Program of the Center for Anthroposophy and the Waldorf program at Antioch University New England. Even after only two days in these two programs, he has made his mark as a dynamic teacher full of dramatic energy, humor, and practical advice. Before becoming
Newsletter June 16, 2010
If the great majority of human beings pull nightcaps over their eyes in regard to what Spiritual Science has to offer, then one day, in a form unsuited to Western mentality, spiritual treasures will pour from Chinese culture, and this portion of humanity, in their amazement, will realize that the products of such culture cannot be grasped by the pedantic thought common in the West, but only by deeper insight into the Taoist culture which arose on the soil of the ancient Chinese civilization. – Rudolf Steiner, “Evidence of Bygone Ages”, in Earthly and Cosmic Man Take a moment to look about you and to register all the items in the scope of your view that have come from China. If you were to turn them upside down or pull out their tags, how many of them would say, “Made in China”? Indeed, how many parts of the computer you are viewing at this very moment came from that distant country? This is but one indication of the degree to which we are now linked to China, a nation that for many of us remains as mysterious as ever, even though a growing number of us have visited the far periphery of its distant shores. This issue of our newly launched newsletter––Center & Periphery––is focusing on the theme of China, partly because two of our faculty have recently visited that country, including fledgling Waldorf schools in Beijing, Chengdu, and Xian. Just as Chinese products are flowing with increasing volume to the West, so trickles of Waldorf education––and a steady stream of Waldorf visitors––are flowing into China. When I visited China over 20 years ago (in the year before the watershed protests of 1989 centered around Tiananmen Square), there was barely any Waldorf presence in China, though the Chinese were getting interested in Western forms of culture including education. I remember touring a Chinese musical conservatory for elementary-aged children and marveling at their command of Western music and musical instruments. They even appeared to be reading from Western musical scores, which are written with totally different symbols from Chinese musical notation. (This apparent display of sight-reading was for the benefit of Western visitors, we soon realized, since the scores set on music stands before the children bore no relation to the music they were playing –– by heart, as it turned out.) Today the scene is quite different, despite attempts since 1989 to stem Western cultural influences that continue to seep into Chinese life. Below we offer you a few vignettes from life in China, along with some other brief articles related to China and Waldorf education ––for instance, a glimpse into one U.S. Waldorf school that requires all of its high school students to take at least one year of Mandarin along with special art classes in calligraphy. We hope you enjoy this Journey to the East. Douglas Gerwin, Director Center for Anthroposophy Upcoming Events June 27, 2010 Week 1 of our 11th annual Renewal Courses begins July 4, 2010 Week 2 of our 11th annual Renewal Courses begins July 6, 2010 an evening of poetry and music with Patrice Pinette & Friends. Sponsored by the Renewal Courses Programof the Center for Anthroposophy July 4 – 30, 2010 Waldorf High School Teacher Education Program begins July 11 – 30, 2010 Antioch University Waldorf Program begins Dateline China: Jottings from the Notebooks of Torin Finser Torin Finser, Chair of the Education Department at Antioch University New England and founding director of the Center for Anthroposophy, spent a week in China this month working with Waldorf teachers in Chengdu, Sichaun Province. Here are some of his initial impressions. The People: Everywhere. 1.4 billion is no longer such an abstraction. The streets are filled with people on foot, on mopeds, on three-wheelers that putt-putt up the hills, in taxis and private cars. There are few traffic laws and fewer followers of these laws: my three-wheeler sometimes went against the oncoming traffic, and no one seemed to stop at red lights. For me, countless new sights and sounds –– outdoor vendors selling food, blacksmithing on the sidewalk, cooking in stalls, construction everywhere. The Chengdu Waldorf School: Set on a hillside on the outskirts of town, the school is bursting with growth and enthusiasm. They have 250 students in K-8 grades, with a waiting list of 300. They are putting up several new buildings, and even contemplating starting a high school. I was amazed when meeting with the faculty to see a circle of 50 chairs –– turns out each teacher has an assistant, most of whom are enrolled in teacher training. The children would run up to me and walk alongside for a while, just to experience what it was like to accompany “a really tall person”. (In fact, I was at least a foot taller than most adults there.) The Children: China’s “one child policy” is now two generations old, meaning that most young adults and almost all the children come from single-child homes. Teachers talk about the “little emperor” syndrome – children who are raised by up to six adults (parents plus two sets of grandparents) who dote on them from morning to eve. This has resulted in socialization issues in some of the classes, and teachers often find it hard to conduct group activities. There is also the issue of male preference, with rumors of many hundreds of thousands of girls officially “unaccounted for” –– i.e. not registered with local school districts or on the move from one town to another to avoid detection. Parents in the cities tend to be more liberal and have more girls, while the countryside is overwhelmingly populated by boys. (If parents want to have two children, they have to pay a fine equivalent to one year’s salary.) The Language: I learned a few Mandarin phrases and came to appreciate the particular nuances of sound found in that language. When I have traveled elsewhere, there has almost always been someone who speaks English, but that was
Newsletter June 1, 2010
Welcome to the inaugural issue of our new electronic newsletter. As we head into another full summer of rich offerings, we are taking a moment to share with you some brief news items of activities connected with the work of the Center for Anthroposophy. We are looking forward to a star-studded summer, with guest faculty coming from England and Switzerland to the East, California and Hawaii to the West. For further details of our summer programs––Renewal Courses in June and July followed by the 15th summer session of the Waldorf High School Teacher Education Program––go to our website where you can also find first announcements concerning next year’s clusters of our Foundations Studies in Anthroposophy and the Arts. In addition, we invite you link up with the Center’s newly minted Facebook page. Please pass this newsletter along to those who might be interested –– and let us know your own news and commentary. We will be publishing this newsletter on a monthly basis and welcome your contributions. Cordially, Douglas Gerwin, Director Center for Anthroposophy In this Issue New Video About Waldorf Teachers Douglas Gerwin Keynote Speaker at AWSNA Annual Conference New Waldorf High Schools on the Horizon One more thing Upcoming Events June 27, 2010 Week 1 of our 11th annual Renewal Courses begins July 4, 2010 Week 2 of our 11th annual Renewal Courses begins July 11 – 30, 2010 Antioch University Waldorf Program and the Center’s Waldorf High School Teacher Education Program summer intensives. News from the Center for Anthroposophy New Video About Waldorf Teachers Want to know what it’s like to be a Waldorf teacher? Look for a new video filmed by Karl Schurman, a professional cinematographer and Waldorf high school history teacher who took part in the Center’s high school teacher education program between 1999 and 2001. Karl is currently putting finishing touches to his new film, in which he interviews Waldorf kindergarten, elementary, and high school educators about the joys and struggles of being teachers. The film––shot on the campuses of the Merriconeag Waldorf School in Freeport, Maine; the Green Meadow Waldorf School in Chestnut Ridge, New York; and the Waldorf School of Baltimore, Maryland––includes lively footage of children at work and at play, as well as teachers in their on and off duty moments. The 15-minute film, commissioned by the Teacher Education Network (TEN) of the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA), is due to be released in the next few months. It will be posted on the websites of the Association as well as the sites of the TEN members, which include the Center for Anthroposophy. Hint: if you are a graduate of the Center’s Waldorf High School Teacher Education Program (WHiSTEP), you may spot in this film one of your fellow students describing Waldorf teaching as “the best gig in town.” Stay tuned! Douglas Gerwin Keynote Speaker at AWSNA Annual Conference Douglas Gerwin, Director of the Center for Anthroposophy and Chair of its Waldorf High School Teacher Education Program (WHiSTEP), will be a keynote speaker at the forthcoming annual conference of North American Waldorf teachers to be held in Atlanta, Georgia. The conference, from 22-25 June 2010, is devoted to the transition from the elementary to high school years. In a talk entitled “Sword and Rose”, Douglas addresses two new creative capacities that arise in the burgeoning teenager –– sexuality and intellectuality. He explores what happens when these two potent powers lay siege to each other, and how teachers and other guides can help them become partners in healthy adolescent development. New Waldorf High Schools on the Horizon Starting in September the number of Waldorf high schools in North America will top 40 for the first time. New high schools are opening at the Monadnock Waldorf School (grades 9 and 10) in Keene, New Hampshire, and at the Aurora Waldorf School (grade 9) near Buffalo, New York. Both new ventures are being spearheaded by teachers who received their training at the Center’s Waldorf High School Teacher Education Program (WHiSTEP). Torin Finser’s recent presentation Torin Finser, the founding member of the Center, recently gave a presentation at the President’s Council at Antioch University on a topic of innovation. Following are two selected quotes from that presentation (citations are from the work of Peter Drucker): Innovation is the specific tool of entrepreneurs, the means by which they exploit change as an opportunity for a different business or a different service. It is capable of being presented as a discipline, capable of being learned, capable of being practiced. Entrepreneurs need to search purposefully for the sources of innovation, the changes and their symptoms that indicate opportunities for successful innovation. And they need to know and to apply the principles of successful innovation. How can we make the organization receptive to innovation, want innovation, reach for it, work for it? When innovation is perceived by the organization as something that goes against the grain, as swimming against the current, if not as a heroic achievement, there will be no innovation. Innovation must be part and parcel of the ordinary, the norm, if not routine. Practices, and measurements make possible entrepreneurship and innovation. They remove or reduce possible impediments. They create the proper attitude and provide the proper tools. But innovation is done by people. And people work within a structure, the entrepreneurial, the new, has to be organized separately from the old and existing. Whenever we have tried to make an existing unit the carrier of the entrepreneurial project…we have failed. Torin also led a discussion on how non-profits, schools and universities can create a culture of innovation. In these challenging times, no one can afford to simply do the same old, same old. Are we willing to test assumptions, try new ways of working, and remove organizational hindrances to innovation? What is the world asking of us today? Can we find the clarity of vision to perceive and the courage to act?
