I’ve been to the mountain top…
admin October 10th, 2007
(Frances) And I have a photo to prove it. Last Sunday was a glorious Vermont autumn day, and the 15th anniversary of my falling in love with the state where I made my home during the 1990s. Lucky for me, I had been invited to speak at the Harvest and Courage Celebration, an annual celebration of the six-year old Center for Whole Communities in Waitsfield, Vermont.
I didn’t know what to expect. I just knew I’d loved the sound of it all when cofounder Helen Whybrow had called recently to fill me in. The Center holds 6-day training retreats on their mountainside farmstead for activists who are working to reconnect humanity with the earth.
Soon after 11 a.m. about 400 people began to gather. By noon the parade up the side of the mountain was underway to a spot with a glorious view of the Mad River Valley. Little kids, big kids, adults and elders—some with large animal masks and other colorful emblems—climbed.
Paraders settle in on mountainside, Harvest and Courage Celebration
Then we sat together on the hillside while Helen read a poem by the recently deceased Grace Paley.
Helen asked us each to reflect on those upon whose shoulders we feel we stand as we carry forth the work of creating “whole communities.” She invited us to call out names as they came to us. I heard Nelson Mandela, Barbara Kingsolver, Rumi, Muhammad Yunus, Vandana Shiva and dozens more. I called out Wangari Maathai but easily could have shouted a hundred others.
Then the food! In the spirit of giving at the heart of whole communities, the Celebration is free, with a delicious hot lunch prepared in the converted farmhouse kitchen there and served near the beautiful old barn.
As people entered the barn for my talk I realized I was speaking at the most beautiful podium I’d ever seen: hand-carved, with candle holders as part of the design. What joy I felt as I spoke, knowing that my message seemed to me aligned with the vision of this Center. I feel that they and we here at the Small Planet Institute are all trying to grow our hearts big enough to “hold it all”—all the horror of this moment on our planet and all the hope as well—hope in an awakening to a set of assumptions and a way of living I call living democracy and the folks here call whole communities.
Just the day before I’d spoken at three events in Washington, D.C, which are themselves signs of this emergence. One was the What’s the Economy for Anyway? Conference, also the Green Festival and, finally the Busboys and Poets bookstore. I welcome you to their websites.
Each is powerful source of learning and inspiration. Look for a Green Festival coming to your region, and the next time you visit D.C., drop in at Busboys and Poets—a thriving, energized bookstore/café committed to promoting democratic social change.
Speaking at Busboys and Poets–Washington, D.C.
Today I am on the train to New York City for the launch party for Getting a Grip. My dear friend Joshua Mailman, cofounder of Social Venture Network, is the host. Should be fun!
Thanks to all of you who are writing to us about your response to the new book.
Frankie
