NHVSP 2011 Final Update

Digging the HOLE

We have settled back into Base Camp life. We have worked, just as hard as ever. Kroka’s new bathroom is founded in “the Hole”, if not finished. We have had an intellectual vacation at the Heartbeet Conference in Hardwick, VT. We have washed in the stream, swum in Gustin Pond, contra danced in Nelson. We are enjoying and sometimes not enjoying the warmth, and we are absolutely not enthralled the bugs, that are eating us piece by piece, though we wage our war with them as best as we can. We are preparing to leave. Bittersweet, this is the end. But even as I know how I will miss our community, we are all ready for new adventures. We are all bringing with us so much new when we now go home, and one of those things is seeing the opportunities in front of us. Thank you all who helped us come to this point, thank you all who enriched our experience – we are grateful.

NH-VERMONT SEMESTER 2011 – WE DIG HOLES!

Lu Neuse, Semester teacher

Nate Johnson, Semester teacher

Thank you Lu and Nate for sharing your love of life with these amazing young people:

Jon

 “5 months later, what have I gained? Clarity. Buckets and wheelbarrows and pack baskets full of clarity.”

- Jon

Tim

“Sweet awesome craziness! And food.”

- Tim

Mathilde

 

 





  “I see, I am opening up to all there is. I wouldn’t have expected this way that I have changed, am changing, but I am grateful. Our days here are getting few, but all days can be as beautifully long and short as the ones we have shared if I just get up in the morning.”

 - Mathilde

 





 

“I often felt dead to the world, lost in thoughts concerning only me. Now I feel alive, more aware of the world around me.”

 - Zane

  “I could list many things I’ve learned, the places I’ve now been, or talk endlessly about the people I now know and love. Or I could simply say that all of this has touched me in a much deeper way than anything has before. The semester has broken me down and reshaped me time and time again, and has strengthened me and formed me into the person I am now. Standing tall and proud with all my community beside me as we reach the closing of our journey.”

- Sam

Tobias

 “I like the woods, the woods are really cool, but not as cool as me. I like the trees, but not as much as me.”
 - Tobias


  









 “The semester has taught me to live freely and happily.”

- Julian

 






 “It is the end of this amazing experience, and the beginning of another.”

- Bridie

Jake 

“Nothing needs to be concrete, overwhelming or profound.”

- Jake

Nimrod

  “We had a strict schedule,  full of freedom.”

- Nimrod

Rosa

  “In 600 miles and 5 months we saw so much, learned so much, met so many amazing people. This semester has taught me that the world is full of beautiful possibilities, pathways and gateways.”

- Rosa

Serene

“Feeling lost in the busy world, coming to peace and understanding in the forest. Gaining truth and connection.”

- Serene

Last Poet’s Yurt: Mixed Collection

When some people hear

About letting go

They start thinking spiritually

About not doing

Things they should

When I hear “letting go”

I think of standing

At the top of

A great white mountain

And letting my skis go

And trusting my body

To know what to do

- Nimrod Sadeh

Always 120%, more pain more game

10% pleasure, 15% pain and 100% reason to remember the name

I will just go, go, go

Whether it’s healthy or not

Those who can stop I envy you

For that is something I cannot do

I may pull a muscle or stress a joint

But I will never disappoint

- Julian

Waking through Jetway tunnels

Industry involved in an

Epicenter of energy

Give us what we want

Mentos, fried chicken

Top shelf magazine rack, and 2000 miles

In under 10 hours.

Steady stream electrons

Exchange charge ‘til

Filament gives out

20000 lumen glow

So we can see three miles

In all directions

And every bit of our

Destruction, creation

Crescendos in

Three square miles

Of infrastructure, logistics, consumption

Sitting down in seat 19d

- Jake

They came with a

Strong presence and large vibrations

They come across the stream

Slithered over our tangled veins

Threw down their burdens and took all

Their work

They take from us

They change the scene, changing the sounds,

Changing the smells, smoke, food, socks,

The odors of a dozen or so unwashed

Teenagers

They change the vibrations

Slamming axes, dragging saws, moving feet

Now they are silent, lost in their thoughts

Them like us are growing

But them unlike us are going

This is only a stop on the map

A moment in a much larger scheme

Will they even remember taking our boughs?

And our wood? Probably not. Will they ever

Come back? Probably not. But for now they

Love us.

- Tobias

The water gurgles, chuckles through

The shrubby trees,

Although the mountain sides

Are still covered in a thick

Layer of snow, the river

Banks and wetlands are clear

And exposed.

Here and there a brave shoot pops

Through, a bud burst into the sunlight

The silence of heavy falling snow

Has changed to pitter patter of warm rain

Although it’s still cold, the birds sing

The sun shines strongly

Lifting the world up into a

New journey

- Rosa