News

From the Editor’s Notepad Dear Friends of CfA: In steering through rough seas, it is important to focus one’s vision on the far horizon while simultaneously keeping sharp watch on the surges straight ahead. In this spirit, we would like to share with you how we at the Center for Anthroposophy are navigating the immediate as well as some of the longer-term implications of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic. To begin, our hearts go out to all of you who, in your own ways, are dealing with the imponderables that have descended upon us all. Your children, your extended family, your parents, jobs, possible quarantine, your personal health concerns — all of these considerations challenge us to the limit. We wish you courage and strength to weather these turbulent times. Through our website––as well as in e-mails to participants in our various programs––we will keep you posted concerning our plans for the remainder of this spring  and the forthcoming summer season. Please check in with us regularly. –– Douglas Gerwin, Executive Director Center for Anthroposophy   Inner Quiet Quiet I bear within me, I bear within myself Forces to make me strong. Now will I be imbued with their glowing warmth. Now will I fill myself With my own will’s resolve. And I will feel the quiet Pouring through all my being When by my steadfast striving I become strong To find within myself the source of strength The strength of inner quiet. ~Rudolf Steiner     Currently at CfA Recognizing that the worldwide situation is changing rapidly, here is where we stand as of this moment:   Our summertime programs of Renewal Courses and the Waldorf High School Teacher Education Program (WHiSTEP) will be offered. If you are planning to attend one or more Renewal Courses this summer, we encourage you to register so that we can gauge levels of interest in them. Confirmation of these courses, after all, is always contingent on sufficient interest and enrollment. If you are enrolled as a returning WHiSTEP student, you are already registered for the summer program of high school teacher training. We will contact you concerning options for your first-week Renewal Course later in the spring. If you have just been accepted as a new WHiSTEP student, you can proceed with further arrangements concerning food and lodging as previously instructed (see next bullet). For both Renewal Courses and WHiSTEP, participants can book room and board through our website. Rest assured that all payments will be refunded if personal or programmatic circumstances necessitate it. Students making private arrangements should negotiate terms with their hosts. We expect to send out confirmation of our summer plans by mid-May. All who have registered for one or more of our summer courses will be contacted via e-mail. Please let us know if you have not heard from us by mid-May. Those taking part in our current Explorations and Building Bridges programs have already been contacted about prospects for the remaining onsite and online sessions of these programs. Further updates will follow as they unfold. Those wishing to sign up for next year’s Explorations and Building Bridges are encouraged to do so on our website, since these programs (like all of our offerings) are contingent on sufficient registered enrollments. In the meantime, please feel free to reach out to us with questions or concerns. We are here to support you.    A Verse for Our Time We must eradicate from the soul All fear and terror of what comes towards us from out of the future. We must acquire serenity In all feelings and sensations about the future. We must look forward with absolute equanimity To everything that may come. And we must think only that whatever comes Is given to us by a world-directive full of wisdom. It is part of what we must learn in this age, namely, to live out of pure trust, Without any security in existence. Trust in the ever present help  Of the spiritual world. Truly, nothing else will do If our courage is not to fail us. And let us seek the awakening from within ourselves Every morning and every evening. ~Rudolf Steiner https://www.rudolfsteineranthroposophy.com/practice/inner-quiet/   COVID-19 and our existential crisis By Torin M. Finser Looking outside at 7:30 each morning, I no longer see the yellow school bus that has appeared regularly for years and years. All local gatherings are cancelled, and many local stores have sold out on basic products. Thanks to various news outlets, we see images of Rome, Madrid and other cities around the world totally deserted. More than a “news event”, this is an existential crisis that begs a larger question: what is going on? [ps2id id=’Torin’ target=”/] Waldorf high school students are taught to look beyond the presented information, and practice symptomatology. The human spirit yearns for understanding that goes beyond what is incessantly presented in the news; we are in search of meaning as never before. The Abyss of Nothingness Already over the past year, I have observed that many of the old supports are being taken away from us. Waldorf traditions are questioned as never before, finances are stretched to the breaking point in many schools, and basic social norms seem to be eroding. Now in our corona-crisis we see stark images of what has been creeping up on us for some time: an experience of nothingness. The past is being stripped away, and we stand alone as never before. This presents a new necessity: We are at a point in evolution where the “old” can no longer continue, and now everything will depend on our own efforts as single human beings. We now need to create out of Nothingness. That which I have been given is no longer sufficient; I need to create out of myself as never before. Social Justice and a New Order Last September, Waldorf Today published my article on The Future of Waldorf Education: Beyond 100. A major theme was the need for critical self-assessment of established practices and the need to change our ways in order to thrive in the years going forward. Waldorf […]

  From the Editor’s Notepad The Romans named this the month of purification (februo = “purify through sacrifice”), signaling it was a time for cleansing and fresh beginnings. This year we get an extra day of this activity as we re-align the earth’s orbital relationship to the sun with the addition of February 29.  In this spirit, we preview some of the new beginnings in the offerings––and those who offer them––during the coming months. In addition, with this issue we are rolling out a new format. Tell us what you think of it!  –– Douglas Gerwin, Executive Director Center for Anthroposophy   [ps2id id=’RC’ target=”/] A New Look and a New Manager  With this issue, Center and Periphery, the online newsletter of the Center for Anthroposophy, gets a new look, thanks to the expertise of Rachel Cohen, the Center’s recently appointed Operations Manager. Here is a brief introduction to the latest member of our administrative team. Regular readers of our  online newsletter, Center & Periphery, will notice a different look to our thrice-yearly broadsheet as of the current issue. This is but one change wrought by Rachel Cohen, who was appointed last fall to the new position of Operations Manager at the Center for Anthroposophy (CfA). Rachel came across the advertisement for this position while working as a sales account executive at the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, a regional newspaper in Southern New Hampshire. It happened to be her task to place this ad in her newspaper and––as a Waldorf parent herself––she seized upon the opportunity to submit her own application. After a series of interviews, she was asked to join CfA’s administrative team as of 1 September 2019.  Rachel brings to this position a rich background in administration and graphic design. Before joining the Monadnock Ledger she worked as a real estate agent, graphics designer, technology trainer at  Keene State College (where she received her BA degree), and editor of a golf club newsletter in Flagstaff, AZ. She earned a MS in Management from Antioch New England Graduate School in 1999. In her previous newspaper job, she was known as “The Zen Master” for her serene disposition and ability to work quickly on multiple publication tasks without losing her center. What better testimonial for her new role as Operations Manager of our Center! We warmly welcome Rachel to our circle and hope our readers will too when they have occasion to speak with her. In the meanwhile, we extend heartfelt thanks to Anamyn Turowski of Waldorf Publications at the Research Institute for Waldorf Education, who from the inception of our newsletter skillfully handled its graphics and layout, as well as supplying the articles with a lively and sometimes humorous accompaniment of visual images. Thank you, Anamyn!    = = = = = = = = = [ps2id id=’alumni’ target=”/] Alumni Responding to the Call  Over the past year, participants in  CfA and Antioch programs have rallied to the call for the creation of a new alumni association. Torin Finser, who has spearheaded this initiative, offers a first work-in-progress. Thanks to the support of foundations and several individual donors, we have successfully launched a new project to connect with alumni who have participated in programs sponsored by the Center for Anthroposophy (CfA) and the Waldorf Program at Antioch University New England (AUNE).  In the first six months of this project, we have conducted an initial survey of alums to assess their wishes for an alumni association, and held five alumni gatherings: two in New England, one each in Tucson, Seattle, Kone, and Maui.  In each case alums expressed their gratitude for the opportunity to meet face to face and share valuable insights arising from their years in the classroom. We have designed and will soon send to our alumni a more comprehensive survey asking for a more in-depth review of their teacher training experience in light of subsequent years of teaching.  We will use the results of this second survey to evaluate the courses of our teacher education programs. In the meantime, we are collecting “stories of success” from our alums and others for a new book on “Waldorf Teacher Education – Best Practices Beyond 100”. Alumni of CfA and Antioch programs are invited to submit brief outlines of any story describing a moment of success they have had with a student in or outside the classroom.  If you are an Antioch or CfA High School Teacher alum please take part 2 of our Alumni survey here. = = = = =  [ps2id id=’Renewal’ target=”/] Preview of Renewal Courses for Summer 2020    Karine Munk Finser, Director of CfA’s popular Renewal Courses, offers a brief preview of common attractions this summer, including some new options of timely urgency.   Dear Friends, This year we have taken the big step of going paperless with our Renewal brochure, not simply to support the environment but also because we know that most of you find us and register online. A single flyer listing all of our courses has already been sent to many of you. We are delighted to share our new Renewal Brochure for 2020 here. The first week of courses––June 28th to July 3rd––will feature our grades-specific courses. New this year is that Christof Wiechert, in addition to offering his popular morning lectures, will visit all the grades once to share his rich insights into the art of the child study. David Newbatt will help teachers tackle blackboard drawings that enrich the curriculum and express the joy of creating fresh images in front of the students.  During the second week––July 5th to July 10th––we will address burning questions of our times. A five-day research symposium on financing Waldorf education and addressing diversity and equity in our schools is intended to stimulate a creative and solutions-based exchange. Leaders of our movement, including Linda Williams and John Bloom, will be on campus to help find solutions and create the language needed for their implementation. In this spirit, Bronya Evers and Melody Brinch will offer storytelling and  […]

You are cordially invited to attend this free info session with Dr. Finser on “Building Bridges to Waldorf Teacher Education”.

And here it is reviewed by her Antioch professor and mentor Torin M. Finser: It has been my pleasure to read an exciting new book from Waldorf Publications: Bare Hand Knitting by Aleshanee Akin and illustrated by Elizabeth Auer.  It is an incredible gem, an inspired guide to creativity and practical activities for young and old using our most precious tools: our hands! Aleshanee introduces the book with her personal story of healing with her daughter, and sets a context that goes far beyond schools and curriculum as it is usually taught.  Through a sequence of chapters that include braiding and knotting, finger knitting, whip-stitching, wet-felting and more, the author communicates step by step instructions that all can understand and use.  Enhancing the book immeasurably are the numerous illustrations done by Elizabeth with grace and accuracy.  Just looking at the drawings is a feast for the eyes!I highly recommend this book for all who care about humanity and reclaiming our social mandate through our hands.  I can see it used in homes, schools, prisons (where needles and other devices are usually banned), clinics, hospitals and community centers.  It is a festival of the spirit and gives us hope for the future. Torin M Finser   

 All CfA and Antioch alumni are warmly invited to two reunion gatherings during Renewal Courses: Thursday July 2 and Thursday July 9, 2020 at 5:15pm in the Big Room at High Mowing.  Conversations will be followed by dinner and evening events.All are welcome!