Catalyst

(Note: I wrote the following as the text for a musical piece commissioned to honor Thomas Edward Morgan of the Ars Nova Singers. In September 2016 Tom received a lifetime achievement award from the  Dairy Arts Center in Boulder, Colorado.)

Catalyst 

All too rarely one appears, so 
blessed by love and light to 
make connections, see possibilities 
the mass of us would miss    

drawing together divergent elements,
sparking reactions, birthing beauty 
from and for us all; freely giving over 
years without being consumed, like 
the sun warming, the rain showering 
a life-giving essence, like 
the bee pollinating far beyond 
intention and activity.

We thank the artist, this alchemist 
who creates for us a richer world
where we may live more 
deeply and more true.

haiku wind

a blustery day
gusts of wind arise, subside
remind me to breathe

Zazen Birds

leaving the zendo
above me, birds on wires
greeting the sunrise

To the Moon!

I am not beautiful—no, 
not myself—but to the extent
I’m open to life’s beauty
(naturepeoplecreation),
I can, like the moon, reflect
that light, give off an
enchanting, inspiring
glow. Then beauty may
fill me, a conduit of shared
connection.

The Shallot

I wrote these pieces a decade ago, which makes the Iraq story in particular very dated. Still, the following was an attempt to write in the style of The Onion; I hope you enjoy it.

Definitely Not America’s Finest News Source

Scientist: Woodchucks Would Chuck, If Only Given the Chance

MANKATO, MN – In a groundbreaking study published in the August edition of the journal Unnatural Acts, a team of scientists tackled one of the oldest zoological questions known to humankind: How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

“There were several problems with this project from the very beginning,” admitted team leader Dr. Adam Jacobsen of the Aphoristic Animal Institute in Mankato, Minnesota. “First, there was the conditional nature of the whole premise: “if” a woodchuck, you know. We had to determine not only whether such a feat is physically possible for the animal, but also whether they were the least bit inclined to chuck, period – that is, would a woodchuck even want to chuck wood? Or is it less a matter of woodchuck volition, and more a case of human interference with the woodchuck’s natural ability and desires: to rephrase the saying, ‘would the woodchuck chuck if only it were allowed to’?”

Semantics aside, the woodchuck’s decided lack of opposable thumbs, plus its inability to stand on its hind legs for extended periods of time, stymied researchers for months. Unsure how, or even whether, they could manage to get the creatures to launch any kind of wood product, the scientists came to the point where they were ready to “chuck the whole thing,” joked Jacobsen.

Eventually, an unnamed project scientist resorted in desperation to grinding pieces of wood into a pasty pulp, then feeding them to the woodchucks until they regurgitated – the aptly, if disturbingly, named “up-chuck” method. However, in addition to being scientifically and aesthetically unappealing, this practice was halted almost immediately by an injunction filed on behalf of the nauseous rodents by the animal activist group PETA.

PETA spokesperson Allison Yancey decried the study in general as a “travesty” and “a blatant exploitation of animals to satisfy some perverted sense of human curiosity.” Responded Jacobsen, “Well, that just goes to show you how hypocritical those so-called animal rights groups are, doesn’t it? After all, we’re the ones who set out to empower woodchucks; we were seeking to help them realize their full potential for chucking. You don’t see those ‘don’t wear fur’ types out there in the trenches. I mean, what if chucking wood turned out to be an inherent part of the woodchuck’s nature? Think of the implications!”

Previously, Jacobsen’s team had attempted a fourteen-week study of whether or not the early bird actually gets the worm. However, the results of this study were inconclusive, as it proved virtually impossible to establish a causal link between early-rising birds and early-eating birds. Said Jacobsen, “It appeared as though the birds that rose first were not necessarily hungry right away. Perhaps they were too groggy to think about procuring breakfast. Sadly, we may never know the answer: not only was our funding cut, but we had trouble finding scientists who were willing to get up as early as the birds.”

However, the woodchuck study proved more successful. Jacobsen and his partners resorted to a dual strategy, expanding the definition of “chucking” to include any sort of movement whatsoever. With one experimental group, the scientists tossed sticks and branches of various sizes at a number of woodchucks, and measured how far the limbs bounced off the animals.

The second group had it slightly easier: scientists merely placed various wood products next to the woodchucks and measured the extent to which each product was actually moved by the animal, if at all. “This, we felt,” reported Jacobsen, “best fit the original question, whether a woodchuck would have any interest in wood-chucking; and if so, would it know how to pursue that interest.”

Interestingly enough, some of them did. As reported in the article, nearly 25 percent of the woodchucks studied caused at least one piece of wood to move at least three centimeters. “As chucking goes, it’s not much,” acknowledged Jacobsen, “but we nevertheless feel that this is one small step for woodchucks, one giant leap for woodchuck-kind.”

Iraqi toy store scores profit with Plastic Bag^tm

BAGHDAD – The warning on the side may read “This is Not a Toy,” but don’t tell that to Iraqi consumers. Baghdad’s newest (and, currently, only) toy store began stocking its shelves last week with the wildly popular Plastic Bag^tm.

Roller Coaster

Toss your hands and shriek with delight,
Cringe and cower, shirk with fright,
Rage and resist with all your might —
The ride’s the same. Enjoy. Why fight?

Life Surfing

breathing balance into this
delirium of yearning doubt, I aspire
to ride the waves, not drown

Spring Triptych

I first wrote this eleven years ago, about this time of year…

I

Such a hard thing
(frightening, sad)
is turning off
the hot water
in the shower
    in the morning
        in Winter.
 
II

Spring is an unexpected snow storm,
a misty cold morning rush hour
halted by a procession of geese.
 
III

Against the window I survey
a shelf of cups and trays filled
with a moist, speckled brown
and see (imagine, hope?)
minute flecks of green
thrusting upward
through dense dirt;
yearning for sun
like sad spirits raised
from dead depression;
pushing on ‘gainst hope and reason
toward a future brighter.

Tell me, what creates the sprout—
who stoops so low as
to inspire, point out
what to do and where to go?
what voice calls, “Now! Rise!”

A child, a witness to Spring,
I’m humbled to the roots:
once again struck dumb with awe
by this miracle predictable and common;
moved to ecstatic, frightful worship
of the seed.

Partially Democratic? Wholly Pointless.

The following is a lightly edited version of an essay I published in the January 2009 edition of Unerzogen, a German unschooling magazine. I wonder, were I writing this today, whether I’d try to be less blunt and more diplomatic. Perhaps, though any strong argument is liable to be perceived as strident. Indeed, one of the central challenges of blogging is offering context and nuance in so limited a space: so if this piece brings up thoughts or a strong reaction for you, I hope you’ll add your voice to the comment thread below.

It may seem presumptuous, even harsh or dismissive, to say that partially democratizing schools is impossible. How can any effort to give students a greater voice in their education be a bad thing? The problem is, genuinely democratic education is not modular—it’s on or off, all or nothing. “Partially democratic” in this context makes about as much sense as “partially pregnant” or “partially dead.”

Conventional schooling emerged during the Industrial Revolution to promote not democracy but, on the contrary, a functional and tractable populace. John Taylor Gatto lays out ample evidence for this in his Underground History of American Education. John Holt adds in Freedom and Beyond that “universal compulsory schools are not and never were meant to be humane institutions” [author’s emphasis].

How can one realistically hope to democratize schools that are undemocratic at their very core? Sure, introducing a measure of democracy sounds nice; but the likelihood that it would lead to anything meaningful is remote. However lofty its rhetoric, no institution can permit reform to take it outside the confines of its historical and social mission. Such a move would constitute not reform but reconstruction, and institutional self-preservation will inevitably undermine it.

Yet cynicism alone can’t explain why partially democratizing schools is a misguided and doomed notion.

Write Livelihood?

Ah, just like old times: blogging on consecutive days. Seriously, though, after yesterday’s post I’m keen to keep at this question of what sorts of things I can do now—not later, now—that both I and my bank account would find fulfilling.

What I really want to do is spend my days reading, writing, networking and otherwise advocating for CASE. For years I’ve been longing for this to be the focus of my working life, not crammed into the odd margins of evenings and weekends. I want to build CASE into an active clearinghouse and catalyst, bringing people and ideas together to support the cause of Sudbury schooling.

As the executive director, I want to spend hours and hours each week cultivating CASE’s online presence: posting content (and moderating user-generated content), as well as seeking opportunities to comment on external sites. I want to secure funding, brainstorm new forms of collaboration, and pursue additional strategies for marketing the Sudbury model to an ever-growing audience. I want to see more people aware of, talking about, and working together to raise the profile of Sudbury schooling.

Yet the obstacle of startup funding remains. My intention has been to use the savings I accumulated over the past few years to lay the groundwork, put things in place to which I could refer potential donors. However, I’m currently overextended with staffing at Clearview, as well as choir and Zen activities. So there’s one problem. There are also the mysteries of how much infrastructure to create before seeking donors, and where to look for these people.

With my board members and collaborators very busy and geographically dispersed, the rate of CASE’s development remains much slower than I’d like. And my Sudbury colleagues and counterparts are unlikely to become less busy—indeed, one of my main motivations in launching CASE was the realization that Sudbury advocates are typically too busy to attend to all that could (and needs to) be done.

So I understand that CASE may not yet (or even soon) be in a position to support full-time, paid work. In general, the sort of work I find most engaging and worthwhile—passion-driven, world-changing, and all-around empowering—seems rather difficult to find, create, fund, and sustain. Given all this, I need to consider how I might supplement my CASE activities with non-Sudbury jobs that suit my talents, interests, and personality.