Be a Happy Dog

This posting comes from guest blogger and faculty member Cynthia Durgan, who houseparents and lives in Thomas House with her poodle Paisley (Paisley doesn't houseparent, though).

Paisley has always been a sensible dog, and a contented dog, but she has not always been a very sociable dog. She was about eight months old when I got her, and had been kenneled up to that time. She never feared people but, apart from the individuals with whom she bonded, she hardly paid attention to people either; she didn't expect any good from people generally.

But at The Meeting School, Paisley has gotten used to notice and pats from every person she sees. She finds kind words and friendship from everyone in this little world. Now when we go out into the greater world, walking downtown in Keene or stopping in an unfamiliar town while traveling, she expects kindness. She approaches everyone assuming that they ought to be nice to dogs, and that she ought to notice them and be nice to them. People are charmed, and they respond. People are a source of joy to her now. Here she is, an old dog, and this community has taught her a new trick, a new world view.

The Meeting School is a place where everyone can do for one another exactly what everyone has done for my dog, because the way we treat one another is education. The way we treat one another issues a message, a lesson, an example, a good one or a bad one, about who we are and what the world is, and how much we can trust it and ourselves. We educate one another constantly. It is in every word, in every moment of noticing and caring.

I want students to go out from this school with the expectation that they are worthy of regard and love, and willing to offer it. I want every student to leave here with the confidence of kindness. I want every one of them to go into the world and be a happy dog.

Stopping by Junior Writing on a Spring Morning

"If Romeo and Juliet had made appointments to meet, in the moonlight-swept orchard, in all the peril and sweetness of conspiracy, and then more often than not failed to meet - one or the other lagging, or afraid, or busy elsewhere - there world have been no romance, no passion, none of the drama for which we remember and celebrate them. Writing a poem is not so different - it is a kind of possible love affair between something like the heart (that courageous but also shy factory of emotion) and the learned skills of the conscious mind." - Mary Oliver, A Poetry Handbook

During Monday's Junior Writing Class, students considered the meaning, rhyme scheme, and diction of one of Robert Frost's well-knows poems and played with some meaty vocabulary words like concatenation and sybaritic. Thankfully, the poem's interior didn't match the our spring-like climate - students were able to enjoy class outside, taking advantage of the early warm weather and the sunshine.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know,
His house is in the village though.
He will not see me stopping here,
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer,
To stop without a farmhouse near,
Between the woods and frozen lake,
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake,
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep,
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

- Robert Frost

Save Your What?

Last Thursday the Radical Witness class (a Social Studies elective) visited Save your Ass Rescue (www.saveyourassrescue.org) in South Acworth, and The Sustainability Project (www.emersonbrookforest.org) in Gilsum. The purpose of the field trip was to give students the opportunity to see examples of positive change and direct aid that people might not typically think of as "radical witness," a term that many associate with mass social movements or direct action focused on an institution or unjust cause.

At Save Your Ass Rescue, students had the opportunity to meet with Anne Firestone, the founder of the organization. They experienced a sense of her deep commitment to saving asses - and the day-in, day-out effort it takes to work and fight their behalf. (When TMS Blogger asked students about what cause they would fight for, they replied "peace activism," and "fair trade."

The class then went to visit with The Sustainability Project and met with Valerie Piedmont. The project is part of Emerson Forest, which was created in order to provide a piece of land where people can go learn about sustainability, including wildlife conservation and permaculture.


Students came away from the field trip more aware of the many different acts people are engaged in daily, both as individuals and as communities, to make the world a better place.

Weekend Wanderings

On Saturday, March 20, a group of TMS students stretched their activist legs and marched in the Keene peace demonstration that marked the 7th anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

This upcoming weekend we have a number of activities in the making - the Model UN course will be visiting High Mowing for a conference, and former faculty Karl Wilson will be bringing his tuba to campus to play some music and have some fun with students.

On Saturday, April 3, we will have Barbara Keshen, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), on campus to talk with students and faculty about the death penalty, which is the subject of significant debate in New Hampshire, which currently has the death penalty. There are now bills in the New Hampshire legislature to both expand the death penalty as well as put additional restrictions on it. New Hampshire has one person on death row - Michael Addison was sentenced in December 2008 for killing Manchester police officer Michael Briggs.

Who is Tom Bombadil?

Who is Tom Bombadil? This question was the centerpiece of Thursday's literature class on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. Tom Bombadil appears in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings as a secondary, quite mysterious being, in contrast to the exacting way used to describe the other characters of Middle-earth. Tom is portrayed as a somewhat provincial and joyous, and is the one character uncorrupted by the power of The Ring.

After considering student research, reading and examining a poem about Tom called The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, and listening to a podcast from a medieval scholar from Washington University on Mr. Bombadil, the class as a whole seemed to agree that he is likely a Maiar, which is like a lesser angel.

Tom Bombadil's character was considered within the larger themes of power, corruption and responsibility in Book I of The Lord of the Rings.

If you've seen the movie and have never heard of Mr. Bombadil, it's because filmmaker Peter Jackson omitted him from what would have been an even longer movie.