Friends, romans and countrywomyn…

Just a quick note from YS….and then who knows?

We are rapidly approaching reunion and June 30th…don’t know what word works semantically best for me. Maybe hibernation or dormancy…and exile.

Yesterday evening there was an impromtu or serendipitous gathering or picnic on the back stoop of main building…facing the horsehoe.

Yesterday was originally faculty “eviction” day. Faculty were told to get everything out of their offices…or stuff would be thrown out.

So the picnic was planned as a moment for folks to be with each other. (The deadline has been extended to June 16th) Of course….we have had our first brief heat wave and on top of that it seems like something breaks down

in one building or another in rotation. Some more paranoid folks think this is also additional psychological warfare…but I think it is because we are virtually without staff already. For example, the library AC works about every other day or every other hour ..(ain’t working right now but folks are down there with duct tape and bandaids) .and McGregor’s had totally fried last October…so the second floor of that building

was brutal. I went over yesterday to help Hassan Nejad for a moment..and was soaked through within five minutes. Older faculty should stay hydrated so they don’t passout while they pack.

Yesterday it seemed like the breezes were coming straight from the equator…but by 5:30 there was some relief and in the shade you had it made.

Since I am a type A person I arrived at Main Building promptly at 5:30 with a casserole dish of organic carrot salad. (mmm,but with pineapple, raisins and miracle whip) . I bumped into Lori Askeland, a Wittenberg faculty and YS Council member who also must have been a type A..we said to each other “Well, where is everyone?”

Well , gradually folks gathered…with covered dishes, blankets, chairs.

we wound up using the concrete ledge of the back steps as a buffet table…..and eventually as folks arrived..the ledge filled up with all sorts of bean salads, tabbouleh, fruit, baked beans one one lonely tuna salad. (when I got home and told my other half…I was asked..”Where was the meat?” Well at most Antioch gatherings..the fare is sorta healthy.. although no one brought any tofu concoctions yesterday. Thank God!)

The back steps were shaded by a large oak…and the view under it was of an emerald green and clover- studded lawn….where kids played while the grown-ups chowed down and chatted…some sitting and some standing.

At 6:30 or so there was the start of a brief program (informal) of speakers. Each person spoke about ten minutes. First Lori Askeland spoke about the buildings and their historic legacies and how the entire campus was on the Historic register and much of YS as well. and how Lori was amazed at the College’s energy during the past year and how she made many new friends..young ones….and how to her the toxic culture theme was more myth than actuality. She stated that the village council should try to pass ordinances for preservation for the campus and the town historic district.

Then Scott Sanders spoke and gave the history behind the the origin of Main Building’s archictecture…and style……by going back to upstate NY well before 1852.

And then Glenn Harper..a member of the Ohio Preservation society talked about the histories of the various buildings but also what Antioch has meant to him…since he was himself..a 1985 graduate…of the non-tradtional sort…meaning as a student he was not part of the 18-22 age brackett.

He got involved in history at Antioch by studying its history and while he was a student studied with John Rury and managed to get published even as a student by writing an article with Rury about women at Antioch in the “day”.

The article: The trouble with Coeducation: Mann and Women at Antioch, 1853-1860, by John Rury and Glenn Harper. History of Education Quarterly, Vol. 26, No.4 , Winter 1986, pps.481-502.

after Glenn spoke….the three academic chairs of non-stop …Hassan Rahmanian, Chris Hill and Susan Ecklund-Leen spoke about how we may losing the venue…for an interval…but how a core of faculty, townsfolks and others with alumni support intend to continue and nurture the core values (sans venue) of the Antioch experience. Classes and Community Meetings will be held throughout the Community…in churches, the senior citizens center…with the town and others putting deeper meaning into community and experiential education. Since much of what is happening is outta the box….we are working with terms that seem crazy to many…..we all need a thesaurus, eh? so the dreadful temporary word executive collective for the three faculty is being used. The idea is that of sharing power and leadership. ..and is not intended to seem out there.

Indeed some courses sound scintillating. Dennie Eagleson and Don Wallis, for exampe, will be teaching a combined photogrtaphy and journalism course.

And I tease Don Wallis (former award winning YS news editor) about one of his books which was about a dirt poor black community in Indiana…entitled “All we had was each other”

I will tell him “all we had was Don Wallis”.

After the first set of speakers Beverly Rodgers, Prof of Anthropology went to the tree on campus that was planted in memory of her daughter…and then many of us went to all the trees and benches that have histories behind them. (including John Graham’s and Louis Filler’s) One tree was planted in memory of Nolan Miller, my freshman advisor..who pinched our butts long before you were mandated to aways be appropriate. BTW many folks have had their ashes strewn on campus..so it is in a way, hallowed ground. Just a hadnful of years ago,. for example,at reunion, Eleanor Drey, Deb Goodman and Peter Thomsen came with Larry Steger;s ashes and put them in places that Larry loved..including near the Art Building…and as some slightly irreverent but loving Antiochians…put a spoonful or so of Larry’s ashes in some ashtrays. Larry. it seemed, just loved to smoke.

By 8:30 the picnic was winding down…and the summer evening felt delicious with soft breezes and golden sun as thunder clouds built in the west to break the heat wave. The drive back to ole horrid Dayton was Okay….a quilt of corn and wheat…Ohio has some pretty moments.

And it was good to see an old friend…Harold Wright ’s (retired Professor of japanese) daughther Rose was visiting….she is also an eighties’ grad. I had not …seen her in 25 years…she had schlepped all the way from Hawaii.

Please excuse syntax and any typos…thunderstorms last night and stress kept me from getting a real night’s sleep. any old excuse, right?

Just a little local color for friends…..and a tidbit of nostalgia and history.

Much love to you all.

Of course….really no adminsitrative types came last night. I wish folks had enough fortitude to share our feelings. But I guess we are all human and some of this is sorta painful.

Duffy ‘77 and the decades since.

Matt and Flora and Catherine if you have time please pass this on. ……and hello to John Feinberg..wherever you are…….. back to grinding up 32 years of timeslips…some when I made 5.25 an hour and worked 95% time…would not trade any memories at all.

singing the old song that Fred and Ginger song “No, They can’t take that away from me”