Director's Accolade to 2019 Cohort

We are here now...in this place, a former dairy barn nested between rolling hills once traversed by Mahican people and animals and plants species we no longer see but who’s imprint touches us through memory, story, and the soil that nourishes our food. 

We are here now...in a time marked by Covid-19. A time when the world radically altered its movement, halting consumerism, travel, physical socialization, and education as we knew it. A moment that has us grappling with dis-ease and mortality. A time that has sprung forth mutual aid responses and illuminated fault lines of destructive economic systems built on extractive, unjust, and oppressive principles. A time of dying and of composting.

We are here now...to honor the commitment and the process of learning, unlearning, and being together that Place Corps has been, because ceremony is a sacred rite of passage from one place to another. Our ceremony today is one of gratitude, recognizing that gratitude is a pathway to Joy and Joy is the light that beckons our calling through the dark waters of the unknown. We are all leaving this time together stepping courageously into the unknown, in service of our calling—who’s light became clearer and brighter over the year—as fire becomes brighter with attendance and care.

Place Corps has been a place where courage, openness, and integrity were fostered through intentional design that was often unseen under the guise of being, where so much of the learning was shaped to happen in real time in real ways with real consequences. This learning appeared in lengthy house meetings, shopping lists, researching purveyors of local produce, creating guest policies and house accords, stewing chilli and plums, digging gardens, debating on designs or whether or not hydrangeas stayed or lawns were mowed, washing plastics and sorting packaging, where personal practices were crafted and feelings shared and held, and relationships were cared for; relationships to the self, other and the land.

Place Corps asked: How do we know, love, and serve? Reflecting on the year and how we progressed in answering these questions I think we spent the year remembering. We remembered skills we lost, we remembered the wisdom of our ancestors, we remembered our connection to all of life and we remembered ourselves as valuable whole and sentient beings. 

This incredible experiment was made possible by the tremendous efforts of our team of core educators who jumped valiantly into their roles holding the ballasts of our ship upright. They sailed us through skill development in Regen agriculture, communications, embodied mindfulness, and construction. They also stewarded the individual inquiries of each resident through supportive independent studies.

The learning expanded with wisdom and skills shared by guest educators and presenters who gave us design frameworks, herbal medicine, oral history training, Just Transition understanding and anti-racism training. The learning deepened with care-ful co-governance shaped and facilitated by our Experiential Learning and Design Fellow. The learning was integrated through the committed practice and engagement of every cohort member. 

We spent the year learning how to be in right relationship now and for a future we dream of. We did this together on this campus. When the pandemic hit, we made the decision to continue Place Corps but adapt to the circumstances. We courageously chose what was right for each of us without knowing where we were headed past two-weeks. At this point Gopal and Eleanor returned home, educators and administrators created offices in their bathrooms and porches frequented by kiddo’s, sweeties, cats, and dogs and we kept going. This adaptability is what we spoke about in the beginning of the year as an emergent strategy--recognizing that adaptability is necessary for thriving.

As we advanced forward, so did Covid and it became clear to both Eleanor and Gopal that the experience of Place Corps did not easily translate over the screen. They both determined to end their engagement with Place Corps. We honor and appreciate their time with us and what we learned with them and through them. Our Place Corps experiences were shaped with them and will always be. Likewise, we honor Luke today who left us early to go to Middlebury. We honor his presence, his contributions including his silly boyishness, his compassionate heart, his humility, and his determination to learn through doing--particularly with his Jiu Jitsu hands that so cleverly built fires.

Here we are now...as a small group of dedicated changemakers gathered to celebrate the completion of Place Corps inaugural year. 

Here we are now...we honor Hawthorne Valley for being our founding organization who provided the support to pilot this program. We honor Good Work Institute for initiating the inception of Place Corps and providing initial support. We honor the co-founders for dreaming Place Corps into being. I honor myself, for directing the program with creativity, love, and devoted labor. We honor Rebecca for supporting the storytelling and multifarious tasks inherent in administering Place Corps in beautiful ways.

Here we are now...to honor our Place Corps 2020 residents and Experiential Learning Fellow.

Without further ado:

We are here now to honor Sophia Hampton

We are here now to honor Lila Rimalovski

We are here now to honor Jordan Alexander

We are here now to honor Alessia Cutugno

We are here now to honor Martha Snow

Lastly, we are here now to honor the life that we share rooted in love.