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Center & Periphery September 2024: Special Douglas Gerwin Appreciation Issue
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From the Editor’s Notepad
October 2024
Dear Friends,
Greetings, and thank you for reading our Center & Periphery newsletter. Please allow me to introduce myself: I am David Barham, and after having led the Waldorf High School Teacher Education Program (WHiSTEP) as Director these past few years, I am now also serving as the Center’s new Executive Director and the editor of this triannual newsletter.
Today’s special edition is dedicated to our dear friend, Douglas Gerwin, who after serving CfA so magnificently for so many years, recently stepped back from his work as the Executive Director and as the Editor of this publication.
On Tuesday, July 2, before a large and enthusiastic crowd of well-wishers, we gathered at the High Mowing School in Wilton, NH to celebrate Douglas with heartfelt talks, live music, spoken word eurythmy, a hilarious skit, and lots and lots of laughter, hugs, human warmth (and cakes and cookies!)
Please read on for glimpses from that special evening honoring that special man, our own “Captain Waldorf,” Douglas Gerwin. It truly takes a global village to honor Douglas’s lifetime of devotion to the Waldorf movement.
With warm regards,
David Barham
Executive Director
Center for Anthroposophy
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Introduction to the Evening from new Center for Anthroposophy Executive Director, David Barham
Good evening and welcome everyone. My name is David Barham and I will be your MC for tonight’s festivities, and I want to warmly welcome all of the Center for Anthroposophy and Antioch alums who are here with us tonight. While we have over 150 people on campus for our live week of Renewal and for the residency for our brand new Mentor Training program, it is a delight to have our alumni with us as well. It is always wonderful to have our alumni back on Abbot Hill to reconnect, catch up and share stories.
We are also delighted to welcome all of the friends and colleagues of Douglas Gerwin who have come this evening. And of course, it is especially wonderful to welcome Douglas and Connie back to Abbot Hill!
For tonight is an incredibly special event. Tonight we come together to honor our friend and colleague Douglas Gerwin. I’m only going to speak briefly here as we have an extraordinary group to honor Douglas in words, music, eurythmy and more. They will share and celebrate Douglas’s endless accomplishments and lifetime of service to Waldorf education, and especially Waldorf high school education. Whether it be CfA/Antioch, the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America, the Waldorf Research Institute, the Hague Circle/International Forum, or the Pedagogical Section Council, Douglas has given deeply of himself and deepened the impact of Waldorf education.
Everyone in the Waldorf movement, here in North America, and all over the Waldorf world, knows Douglas. Douglas created and served as the Director of the Waldorf High School Teacher Education until just a few years ago, and also led our entire organization as Executive Director. You will hear tonight of the incredibly combination of skills, insights, tireless energy, depth and profound human care and kindness Douglas brings to everything he does.
It is my honor to now serve as the Director of Center for Anthroposophy’s Waldorf High School Teacher Education Program. Beginning in August, I will also begin serving as CfA’s Executive Director. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine that I would hold these two positions that Douglas has been identified with for so long. Douglas’s shoes are big shoes to fill indeed- bigger than mine as you can see, and leave me with so much to grow into.
I could speak all night about my respect and admiration for Douglas, how he has mentored me and made it possible for me to step into this work. I will let the others do so. But there is one thing I need to do here, in front of Douglas, and you all: I want to state my intention publicly to serve Center for Anthroposophy, the high school program and Waldorf education as faithfully and with as much passion and devotion as Douglas did for all of those years, and give everything I have to be worthy of filling these big- and much fancier- shoes.
Thank you for all Douglas. For the hours of your time, your stories, your multi-part answers to my endless questions, your patience, your inspiration, and especially for your trust in me to carry on your legacy of work and care for this movement and our organization.
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A reflection from Tuesday, July 2, 2024 from Deborah Dornemann
On Tuesday, July 2, 2024, friends, family and alumni of Antioch and the Center for Anthroposophy gathered together for a farewell tribute to Dr. Douglas Gerwin, a renowned leader, researcher, writer, teacher and promoter of Waldorf education. A joyous mood filled the hall at High Mowing School in Wilton, New Hampshire. It was a reunion of like-minded souls, warmed with memories of shared endeavors, hopes, and years of collaboration. The evening featured music, eurythmy, skits and a heartfelt sentiment of gratitude. Oh, and there were props…many props, as well as fun with word play!
The event started with the image of Douglas’s shoes, which David Barham, the successor of Douglas with CfA, will undoubtedly try to fill with steadfastness and earnest striving. It was acknowledged that Douglas’s shoes are larger and fancier than Davids. It is also evident that both walk the same path of integrity and purpose.
David Sloan, a long-time colleague of Douglas, used many words to describe his friend: writer, educator, acclaimed speaker, Godfather, pastor, patron, counselor, regal eagle, fast care driver, treasured friend and, possible oxymoron, ‘Witty Anthroposophist’. David gave Douglas a cap that read, “Captain Waldorf: Wiltin’ in Wilton.”
After many deep belly laughs, the pendulum swung in another direction, and we were gifted with hearing the very talented pianist and composer, Matt Witherow perform Brahms, Intermezzo Op 118, a favorite of Douglas. It was a heartwarming and soul filling experience. Matt (piano) and Amy Sutherland (harp) also closed the evening with a beautiful original composition by Matt, Song of Summer.
Then, back to some more levity. A former student of Douglas, Sam Wasko, invited us into the world of the imagination and playful roasting, with a creative documentary, portraying a future incarnation of Douglas Gerwin!
Following the hilarious skit was a beautiful eurythmy performance by Laura Radefeld, Leonore Russell and Cezary Ciaglo with speech by Carla Comey. The words were taken from Adios, a poem by Naomi Shihab Nye. The last line was, “think of what you love best, what brings tears into your eyes.” There were many misty eyes in the room at that time. Our hearts were tender with appreciation for not only Douglas but for all of Waldorf education and the seeds planted by Rudolf Steiner that have flourished into beautiful creative forces, such as eurythmy.
Continuing with this flow of reverence and beauty, Karine’ Munk-Finser, presented Douglas with her beautiful painting of Archangel Michael. Her sweet words carried the depth and essence of true humanity. She referenced Steiner’s words “May the radiant being guide our spirit… with spiritual substance that unites us.” That substance is our strongest effort, our hearts courage. This is how we keep fear at bay. “What is that substance that gives meaning to life- it is love.”
Torin Finser brought four gifts (a four-fold approach) to express the complexity and enormity of the gratitude he has for Douglas. The first gift, representing Douglas’s talent as writer and editor, was a black box with an engraved fancy red pen inside. The second gift represented the playful nature of Douglas: edible chalk. The third gift represented the comradery that Torin and Douglas have shared over the years while drinking coffee, coffee…so much coffee. The fourth gift was a ball of yarn, symbolizing a karmic link between people, a thread that connects- a web that Douglas has woven with everyone. It is a “reminder that Douglas has played a vital role in connecting so many people!”
Then it was time for Douglas. He brought with him a bag of props, his wit, depth, warmth and levity. Douglas took advantage of the moment to teach one last lesson to us. He spoke of working in service to the genius of Waldorf education, the unique quality of developmental education and how radical that really is in today’s world. He compared it to a kind of unusual glove: it changes and forms itself around the hand and transforms itself as the wearer grows. A glove does three things: it protects you, supports you and traps warmth. The warmth comes from the vessel, the I force- from within, this soul warmth (innere Waerme) is what creates a lifelong love of learning. Douglas concluded that there are two times in which one needs to take off the gloves to foster human connection. One is to shake another hand and the second is to wave goodbye. With that, Douglas Gerwin took off the glove, packed up his props, put on his captain hat and bid farewell with a hearty “Shipmates Ahoy!”
With Douglas waving goodbye, the ship was set to sail, with all of us now at the helm. With gifts in our pockets, our imaginations in tow and hearts filled with gratitude for all those who have gone before us, we set sail.
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The first time I met Douglas Gerwin was on a snowy evening in 1990. I’m sure he doesn’t remember. (Though with his heightened capacities for recall, I could be wrong!) Our oldest child was in Grade Eight at Monadnock Waldorf School, and we were in the midst of decision-making about her high school education. That’s how Bill and I found ourselves settling into our seats in the library of High Mowing School for an information evening where Douglas—then on the faculty—was the featured speaker.
Over the next hour Douglas shared the depth and breadth of a Waldorf high school education. Without use of a single note, he described the unfolding of the curriculum over each of the four high school grades, shared a moving and inspiring image of the teenager, expressed the wisdom and thoughtfulness of the Waldorf approach to meeting the soul needs of young people, and described how this kind of educational experience for a young person promises to be both formative and transformative.
Bill and I walked back to our car through the snowy evening deeply moved, inspired, and convinced. I remember asking ourselves: “Now that we have learned what a Waldorf education at High Mowing School has to offer, how could we choose anything else?”
Over thirty years have passed since then and it has been a precious life gift to grow to know Douglas Gerwin as a teacher, a colleague, and a friend. The same qualities and capacities we encountered that first snowy evening—sterling intellect, probing curiosity, humor, compassion, incisive analysis, interest, warmth, artistry—have shown up over and over again.
Have you experienced how Douglas can make you feel smarter, kinder, funnier, and more interesting? His wide-ranging knowledge of the sciences, music, literature, languages, history, and pedagogy are obvious but are always used to deepen relationships and encourage mutual understanding. He is just the kind of person you want in front of a group of teenagers, or teachers-in-training, or curious parents imagining their child’s next step into high school.
It is with deep gratitude that I wish Douglas Gerwin all the best in this next chapter of life. Thank you for years of inspiration, kindness, and colleagueship.
Lisa Mahar
President, Center for Anthroposophy Board of Trustees
When Matt and I were students at the high school training program, he began playing the piano during snack break. When he ran out of Debussy and Brahms, I asked him to make something up- and “Song of Summer” was born. During the summers of 2017 and 2018, he composed over a dozen pieces, most of them arriving with fully formed melodies, seemingly born out of the space in the big hall or arriving by spirit mail through the window. I started recording the songs on my phone and playing them back to him in the afternoon. Almost always he had no memory of the music, and would experience it as if for the first time.
After the summer, Matt worked on transposing a handful of these melodies for harp and piano; we have performed our music in concert in Wilton, NH and Durham, NC. There are more songs to be transcribed, and we hope to give a full-length concert this coming June. On behalf of our graduating class of Sharks, we want to express our gratitude to Douglas for all he has done in crafting the high school training program. For both of us, the experience was not only career-defining but life-changing.
Amy Sutherland/Emerson Waldorf School & Matt Witherow/Tara High School for the Performing Arts
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Karine Munk Finser offered her stunning painting of Saint Michael to Douglas. She began with an Invocation:
Holy Michael
Thou who guards the evolution of the earth in this time
when we are facing untold hindrances
and the soul must become an Altar
May Thy Radiant Being
guide our spirit birth in freedom and love along the paths of life
which receives its meaning only from that spiritual substance that unites us.
Karine’s words to Douglas:
Douglas, there is a little bit of each one of us in this painting as we have all striven together in our little constellation of people, of CfA colleagues. With you at the helm, holding us to our highest standards, because you held yourself that way, we were able to create some wonderful journeys together that allowed many to join us.
Guided by your warm Michaelic Light, we at the CfA, who worked so closely with you over decades, were held in our wholeness, and each one of us became more complete!
What a gift.
What is that substance that both brings about the strongest efforts and striving, the heart’s courage, and a sense that together we are well and can keep fear at bay? What is that substance that unites us all, again and again? It is love.
Thank you, Douglas
Laura Radefeld, Leonore Russell and Cezary Ciaglo performed the beautiful poem Adios by
Naomi Shihab Nye in eurythmy. Carla Comey spoke the poem as the eurythmists brought the words to life with beautiful movement.
It is a good word, rolling off the tongue;
no matter what language you were born with
use it. Learn where it begins,
the small alphabet of departure,
how long it takes to think of it,
then say it, then be heard.
Marry it. More than any golden ring,
it shines, it shines.
Wear it on every finger
till your hands dance,
touching everything easily,
letting everything, easily, go.
Strap it to your back like wings.
Or a kite-tail. The stream of air behind a jet.
If you are known for anything,
let it be the way you rise out of sight
when your work is finished.
Think of things that linger: leaves,
cartons and napkins, the damp smell of mold.
Think of things that disappear.
Think of what you love best,
what brings tears into your eyes.
Something that said adios to you
before you knew what it meant
or how long it was for.
Explain little, the word explains itself.
Later perhaps. Lessons following lessons,
like silence following sound.
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Douglas Gerwin Tribute July 2, 2024
David Sloan
Good evening, everybody. I was sort of hoping to save some of these remarks for the memorial service, but at our respective ages, I guess it’s better to speak, while the body is still warm.
I’ve thought a lot over the past few weeks about how to properly celebrate Dr. Gerwin tonight, and I’ve concluded that the most useful role I could play would be to spend a few minutes separating truth from the myriad myths that have proliferated concerning Douglas Gerwin’s storied career. And by the way, have any of you in your wildest imaginings, ever considered calling Douglas “Doug?” I have known several other Douglases over the decades, all of whom quickly became Doug in my interactions with them, but although I’ve known him for over thirty years, it never crossed my mind that I should call Douglas Gerwin “Doug.” Of course, there’s a good reason for that; I’ll bet even Pope Francis’ closest friends don’t call him “Frank.” There’s a certain elegance and urbanity to Douglas’ manner that he has cultivated over the years, due in no small measure to that erudite-sounding British accent and impeccable James Bondian attire. The latter once prompted Ronald Koetzsch to announce at a national Waldorf teacher’s conference held that year in Honolulu that during the lunch break, Dr. Douglas Gerwin would be meeting with all those interested in learning to surf in a three-piece suit.
To properly sift fact from fiction, it would be helpful to go back to Doug’s school days at Garden City Waldorf School where, legend has it, though intensely reserved, he became very popular in seventh grade with the “mean girl” clique when they enlisted him to write nasty limericks about their many detractors. That reticence persisted into the high school, even though he played the domineering Mikado and the dashing Pirate King in two Gilbert and Sullivan productions. I have it from an unimpeachable source that Douglas was so shy in high school that if he ever went out with a girl, he wrote out questions in advance and put the paper in his pocket, to surreptitiously glance at if the conversation flagged.
His love affair with operettas, and with music in general, has continued throughout his life. Had Douglas not chosen to be an educator, he could have been a world-class orchestra conductor, as those of you who have attended the teacher training program know first-hand from those melodic daily warm-ups when Douglas led everyone in that catchy, symphonic tune “Morning Has Come.”
We need to spend a moment clarifying the origins of Douglas’ accent, Some people—perhaps even some in this very room, who shall go unnamed— have had the audacity to question its authenticity, but you should know that Douglas’ mother was of English extraction, and he did spend four years at the University of Sussex steeped in all things British. It should also come as no surprise that one of Douglas’ favorite stage musicals from his youth was My Fair Lady, so it makes perfect sense if you hear a hint of Rex Harrison’s Henry Higgins in Douglas’ delivery.
According to Patrick Stolfo, that inimitable accent led to a memorable case of mistaken identity many, many years ago, when a much younger Douglas was allegedly dining at a local restaurant. His server became so enchanted by his charisma, his charm, his luxuriant dark locks and, of course, that accent, that she sidled over to him and asked confidentially if he might be one of the Beatles. We have no record of whether Douglas began humming “Yesterday” or “Norwegian Wood” as he dug into his wallet to leave what I’m sure was a generous tip.
The reason Patrick volunteered this possibly apocryphal anecdote is because I wrote a number of our colleagues who have been instructors in the summer teacher training program and asked them for any recollections or reflections about Douglas that I might share. Patrick responded that Douglas reminded him of an eagle, “criss-crossing the country, swooping down to make connections, snatching up students for the CFA training, perching himself at a dining room table dispensing wisdom, flying low to the ground distributing schedules, announcements, checks, all this with penetrating awareness and thinking that encompasses both the whole and the details.”
Jamie York sent back another recollection that puts a different spin on Patrick’s “flying low to the ground” description. As some of you may know, another characteristic Douglas shares with James Bond is a love of driving fast cars really fast. Jamie reported that when Douglas was visiting him in Boulder, “we were driving on Broadway and came to one of those speed limit signs that also detected your speed. Douglas was going well over the speed limit, and the sign didn’t even bother displaying our speed, but simply flashed in blaring red letters “Too Fast!! Slow Down!!” Douglas’s reaction to seeing the sign was to speed up, as he said to me: “Those signs just make me want to go faster!”
Michael Holdrege also waxed poetic about Douglas’ critical involvement in the Chicago Waldorf School’s first decade, calling him the high school’s
“Godfather, guardian angel, mentor, counselor, advisor, coach, patron, pastor…..” His favorite metaphor was to describe Douglas as a master gardener. “He could see the many levels of our young organism and knew many ways in which to nourish these. Were we a tulip, a dandelion, an aster? Douglas guided us through this explorative process time and again, and thereby helped our high school to grow and bear fruit year after year.” He alluded to the B-D Preparations that Bio-Dynamic farmers employ, then suggested that it might finally be time to create in Douglas’ name a Waldorf-Dynamic, or W-D, Gardener of the Year Award to honor his legacy and stimulate the growth of a new crop of W-D gardeners who would spread seeds of renewal throughout the movement.
I should add that during the 90’s and “Aughts,” Michael’s characterization of Douglas’ central role in developing North American Waldorf high schools extended to over 30 initiatives. Finally we were able to get on his dance card for our newly hatched venture in Maine, so I can also attest to Douglas’ mentoring wizardry. When Maine Coast Waldorf High School was just an infant and still called Merriconeag, with a mere 15 students in our first year, we turned to Douglas both for internal guidance and to drum up more enrollment by speaking to the wider community. He worked his magic in both capacities. When our bare bones high school faculty was trying to cram 12 courses into the year’s block sequence and a week-and-a-half’s worth of classes into our weekly schedule, he noted on one of his first visits something to the effect that it felt like we were exhausting ourselves and our students running around like rats, and even if we won the rat race, we’d still all be rats! His suggestion that we simplify our schedule immediately gave students and teachers alike more time and space to breathe.
As for helping with enrollment, Douglas came up with a title for his public talk that attracted a throng; only he could speak on the theme “Tango on a Tightrope” and connect it to teenagers’ path to freedom in his perfectly structured threefold presentation!
Another colleague, singing teacher Meg O’Dell, related a singular—or rather dual—aspect of Douglas’ character. She wrote “Douglas manifests a strikingly potent balance of profound gravitas and disarming levity. What’s particularly amazing is that he often manages to embody both polarities simultaneously! How can he be so silly and so dignified at the very same time?! How can he so seamlessly weave wit into his decisive and thought-provoking discourse?” She went on to remind me that it was Douglas’ love of wordplay that led him to utter the now oft-quoted quip, when asked to describe just how oppressive the July heat was during the summer program here, that we were “wiltin’ in Wilton.”
I should dispel other falsehoods that have circulated about Douglas over the years; for instance, it is NOT true that he wears a tie to bed, nor has he ever, to our knowledge, ever worn a hat at any time of any day or in any season. However, I will end by simply reiterating the myriad metaphorical hats that Douglas Gerwin has worn over the decades: in addition to editor, writer, educator, and acclaimed lecturer, we can add godfather, guardian angel, mentor, counselor, advisor, coach, patron, and pastor as well as Waldorf dynamic gardener, regal eagle, fifth Beatle—John, Paul, George, Ringo and DOUG—NASCAR racer, dignified jokester or, if you like—although this may be an oxymoron in our circles—witty anthroposophist. To that extensive list I would like to add treasured friend to many of us here tonight, and inspiration to legions of students, teachers, parents and anthroposophical colleagues around the world.
Douglas, I am delighted that you overcame your early bouts of shyness to assume the mantle of the one and only Captain Waldorf. And while I realize you’ll never ever wear it, I have for you a little token of our appreciation to commemorate this occasion and for all your years serving as CAPTAIN WALDORF. Thank you for becoming you!
Without a doubt, one of the greatest joys of my professional life has been the opportunity to join the circle of colleagues at the Center for Anthroposophy, with Douglas Gerwin at the helm. His leadership has been a true inspiration.
It is not easy to succinctly capture Douglas’ many gifts, but perhaps the image of a candle will help. But not just any candle! The imagination of a tall, robust pillar candle is what is called for here.
For many, Douglas has indeed been like a pillar in the world of Waldorf education. He has been a source of advice and good council for countless aspiring teachers as well as for entire school communities. For us at CfA, the light of his wisdom and the brilliance of his insight have illuminated everything we have done. This, coupled with his equanimity – and spiced up by his playfulness and good humor – has assured that even Zoom meetings with Douglas can be fun!
Further, like any candle that cheerfully lights up a room, Douglas always shares himself generously. As busy as he typically has been, he has never hesitated to lavishly offer his time to help his colleagues – to answer a question, to suggest a solution, or to simply offer advice and encouragement. The wonderful thing about a candle is that it can ignite others to the degree that all are illuminated. This is what Douglas Gerwin has done.
Bev Boyer
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Douglas was the first “professor” that I experienced as a graduate student in the Antioch teacher training program–summer 1998 at High Mowing. He truly was a professor, in his suit and tie amidst the July heat of Abbott Hill. While I had just entered the grades program, one Adolescence class with Douglas had me considering high school teaching. Some of the most moving and practical anthroposophical ideas I have experienced came from Douglas–in particular the idea that the “heart is not just a pump.” I had contemplated this notion for over 20 years, had heard Douglas share this idea during AWSNA conferences and various group studies, but not until I had the opportunity to teach the 10th grade Embryology block did the insight really have meaning. The spiritual reality of the human being just is, and we can find practical and meaningful ways to bring this reality to our students. Douglas has been an inspiration to me to bring the core ideas of anthroposophy into the foundation of my daily everyday work as an educator. Thank you Douglas.
Luke Goodwin, Pedagogical Director High Mowing School
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When Torin Finser’s Douglas’s long-time CfA colleague made his offering to Douglas, he spoke of four gifts, each overflowing with symbolic significance.
First: A pen – in recognition of Douglas’s many articles and years of editing CfA’s Center & Periphery and Research Bulletin
Second: Burlap bags of coffee, symbolizing years of conversations at coffee shops and collegial advice
Third: Edible chalk: Torin explained that Douglas had a foolproof method for recapturing a classroom of adolescents or an auditorium full of parents whose attention had begun to wander: Douglas would take a piece of (edible) chalk and begin to eat it in front of everyone! This never failed to recapture the attention of everyone in the room!
Finally: A ball of yarn – symbolizing a karmic link between people, a thread that connects- a web that Douglas has woven with everyone. Torin told everyone that this ball of yarn is a “reminder that Douglas has played a vital role in connecting so many people!”
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Finally, Douglas himself spoke to the gathered audience:
Douglas began by pulling out a ship captain’s cap from his briefcase, greeted the assembled audience with “Ahoy, shipmates!” He thanked David Sloan for his generous, skilled, and undeserving introduction.
Then, Douglas recounted his own story of having benefited, in the words of a recent ChatGPT biographic report of him, from “a solid walled-off education” — having attending Waldorf schools in England and North America, including the first Waldorf school in Canada (just a grade 1 in 1956 and a year later grade 2, held on the third floor of his parents’ home in Ottawa). Not only was it a one-room school but also a one-teacher school, with a single faculty member who served as class teacher, French and German teacher, arts and crafts teacher, eurythmist as well as piano accompanist to the eurythmy, and (not surprisingly) faculty chair. This was his mother, who had trained to be a Waldorf teacher at Michael Hall in Forest Row, England, long before there was Emerson College — though many of her teachers would become the leading lights at Emerson down the road from Michael Hall.
After a stint as a foreign correspondent for Reuters in Europe and as a university lecturer while completing his Ph.D. in Texas, Douglas re-entered Waldorf education, now as a teacher, at High Mowing in 1983 — which coincidentally happened to be the first year the Waldorf Program at Antioch conducted its inaugural summer training on Abbot Hill. During those early years forged a close relationship with David Mitchell, his first mentor on the Waldorf scene.
A decade later, Douglas teamed up with Torin Finser, newly appointed as Director of the Antioch Waldorf program, to envision a new training program specifically for Waldorf high school teachers, which was launched under the name “Waldorf High School Teacher Education Program” (WHiSTEP), in 1996. Douglas led this program for a quarter-century before handing it on to David Barham.
Douglas then paid tribute to faculty who shared in the carrying of this new program, including two founding faculty members present at the July 2 event — Patrick Stolfo and Leonore Russell, both of them still active in Waldorf adult education. He also recognized the 220 graduates of this high school program, several of them present in the hall that evening.
He went on to introduce a new analogy for Waldorf education — namely, a Protean glove: unusual because, like Proteus, it changes its shape as the wearer grows and matures . . . from an undifferentiated paw (K) to a mitt (gr 1-8) to a fully differentiated glove (high school and beyond) to an adult glovelette (with fully articulated and bared fingers and thumb).
Douglas observed that at each stage (to a lesser or greater extend) a glove does 3 things:
— it protects . . . from heat (if you work on a kitchen stove), from cold (if you work on the ski slopes of New England in winter), from slime (if you work in the wet-wormy soil of your garden), from infection (if you work in a hospital or grocery store in an age of Covid)
— it supports . . . by improving your grip or grasp, as in grappling up a mountainside, throwing the steering wheel of racing a car (or trying to beat a red light), for opening a tight screw-top bottle or jar
— (in most cases) it traps your own warmth. . . To be sure, a glove can provide protection against cold or heat, but it does not provide warmth. Rather it captures, contains, cocoons your own warmth so that it becomes accessible to you for your own use. For the most part, we do not receive our bodily warmth from without, like a lizard basking on a granite outcropping; we create it from with. As the Germans can say (and as we in English cannot without sounding weird), we “en-warm” ourselves (from the inside out, rather than from the outside on).
Waldorf education does the same 3 things for children as they grow and mature.
—— it protects children . . . especially during the pre-school years
—— it supports children . . by improving their grip (or, put differently, their grasp) of subject matter, materials, skills
—— it provides a containing environment in which children can gain access to what Rudolf Steiner calls their own “warmth forces”. These forces are active not only at the level of the body (in the process of physical incarnation) but also of the soul (through the practice of the arts) and the spirit (evidenced in a love of learning lifelong)
Douglas began to wrap up by noting that there are moments (two in particular) in Waldorf education—as in life, generally—when the gloves come off . . . in a literal––not pugilistic––sense:
— the handshake: marking the start of the school day; a gesture of greeting; an enclosing clasp of hands
— the wave of farewell (at least this is the practice in Switzerland, even in the depth of winter): marking the end of a day or visit; a gesture of leave-taking; an unfolding open-palm release
In an emotional ending, Douglas invoked the final words of Prospero at the end of The Tempest, when he offers these words ad spectatores to the audience as he is about to set out for Naples with his fellow travelers: “Gentle breath of yours my sails / Must fill, or else my project fails / Which was to please.”
In taking leave and setting sail, Captain Waldorf re-donned his ‘Captain’s cap and gathered up those present in his “grateful heart” with a parting invocation: “Shipmates, ahoy!”
