Place Corps Friday Digest: Openness
Place Corps at Hannah Arendt Conference on Racism & Anti-Semitism, Bard College
We noticed more leaves scattered around than on trees, stacks of butternut squash and bagfuls of greens courtesy of friends, and we found ourselves reaching for sweaters and wooly socks as temperatures drop. The full hunter's moon is around the corner, a sign to begin preparations for winter.
This past week was full of comings and goings. We traveled north to Soul Fire Farm and south to Bard College for a conference at the Hannah Arendt Center. We put communication skills into practice in and out of the classroom; look how far we've come! Back on campus, we're kicking into high gear for welcoming Friends and Family this weekend. The classroom has doors, the apple press is in place, and the tables are ready for gathering. The weekend program is beautiful and we can't wait!
Next week, we are looking forward to staying in place after so much movement. Dawn will be workshopping the Place Story Project, Spring Service Practicums, and Self-Teach in anticipation of Place Corps moving into our Love and Serve Term. We'll be taking a collective breath before a week of workshops such as Knife Making, Natural Dye, and the much anticipated Seminar with Suzanne Snider.
Our word for the week is OPENNESS, one of the Place Corps values. Thinking critically is an action, a practice, and a skill. What do we know and how do we know it? What don't we know? How do we examine, unravel, or critique while remaining open to complexity? How can we approach authors, speakers, performers, and educators in all their humanity and the contradictions that arise? How can we move forward with multidirectional memory and intersectional frameworks? As Lewis Gordon said in his talk at the Racism and Anti-Semitism conference, "How do we stand for our ancestors and our descendants?"
"I speak of unpopular facts"-Hannah Arendt
“The moment we choose to love we begin to move towards freedom, to act in ways that liberate ourselves and others. That action is the testimony of love as the practice of freedom.”
― bell hooks