| If you could return to Franconia College...
Wednesday, 30-Aug-00 14:25:53 After meeting all the great folks from the many "eras" of the place...if you could go back in time to Franconia College, would you go back to your own time there, or...to a different time there? What do you wish you could have experienced? I would have liked to have arrived at least two years before I did.....or
even been part of the early, early days.
Re: If you could return to Franconia College...
I rather liked the time I was there, during Tempis Botsteinus. However,
I feel I really missed something, having missed the Great Bust which by
then was legend. How many of you from the Ancien Regime were busted whilst
tripping?
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While a friend and I were driving down Bethlehem Road he asked me to
keep an eye out for his stash from the night of the bust. Another had carefully
secreted his in a can inside a can at a dump. There weren't many full day
attendees the next day. Everyone was out walking around.
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I heard the wonderful music and singing in the small room at the end
of the dock at the New Main Building and it brought the mid 60's right
into the present. I also hung with Abner and Susan and some of the 70's
folks around the late night fire at McKenzie. The music was different,
but the feelings the same. I'm glad I was there in the Ruopp years. CORE
was great and before the crisis we had a remarkable faculty, but we all
had friends and a beautiful place in the mountains and the educational
experience we chose.
Re: back in time
i don't think i would change anything. what happened to me was very important. all the bad things i pushed down inside and kept them hidden for years. i believed the myth where every thing is wonderful and happy and free. i am now learning to love all the "bad things" they have become my teachers. i have learned not to walk down the same path that gives me trouble. i have learned to look for new paths. i have learned that when i feel bad about something to open my mouth and open my heart to understanding. that takes work and communication. when my father died there were all these people around me who felt that grieving and feeling sadness was wrong. they worked very hard to stop my feelings. feelings are something that need to be worked through they need to be honored. in this world people are too busy wanting everything perfect and happy, it becomes numb. i had to grieve the loss of my college. i had to allow myself the sadness in order to heal it. i do not want to be a numb person with stuffed down feelings that travel deep in my soul. if it needs to be healed i bring to the surface where it can find the sunlight. i learned many things at franconia. i had many a good time, i have found
long lost friends and new ones. i danced in a room of people who were reunited
for the first time in my years. i opened my heart to the mountian range
and thank it for it's love. i let the fog come into my soul. and now i
can give back more.
Re: Re: back in time
Morgan....I will third your emotions! I wouldn't change one nanosecond
of my time at Franconia. And I wouldn't mind reliving it in some time warp
fashion again several times in a row. It could be like "Ground Hog's Day"
only never need to change from one time to the next. I could just learn
to do more of what you're talking about each time I felt like I didn't
speak out, or that I was pushing my emotions, talents or love out of reach
due to fear of someone else's response. I love you Morgan, even though
I don't really know you. Sometimes love can be like that too.
mary anna
Re: If you could return to Franconia College...
The absolutely only thing I would change is perhaps my first semester....Ended
up going before the Academics Standards Committee - what a tough bunch
they were....but bottom line - they were trying to get me back on track
and they did - I had been drinking far too much Jack Daniels and dancing
the nights away anywhere I could...I finally "Got It" - and got on track
and finally figured out what this experimental place was all about: you
could either discipline YOURSELF and get a great education or you could
just do nothing and blow it all to hell. It taught me alot about self pererverence
and how to enjoy my independence in a constructive way - I loved the time
I was there - Summer 73 - 77 - I made friends for a lifetime and they will
all be in my heart forever - AND I had the good fortune to have some of
the finest photographers in the country teaching me. Who could have asked
for anything more?
Time Machine
For me it really would have been helpful when I was in my early teens just to know of the existence of the school; maybe to go visit briefly. Between the ages of about 14 and 18 I was alienated from the whole college
scene because I thought it was at worst all boolah boolah frat boys and
beer and idiocy and at best, slavish devotion to jumping through hoops
in order to get yourself a job. If I'd known of a place like Franconia
I think it would have encouraged me to keep reading and studying and exploring
ideas, instead of having to rediscover these concepts years later.
If I could return to the college...
RL |