interesting:
Blake is directing, Brenna is our kitchen manager, Dev is our first aid/counseling aficionado, and I am the chore czar, making sure that the hostel stays clean and presentable over the course of the month.
director - ?
kitchen manager - feed
first aid/counseling - well
chore czar - clean
Every night we have a large group meeting in which we make sure everyone is alive and healthy. We check in about the upcoming schedule and any relevant announcements, and give time for appreciations and requests. We also have small group meetings in groups of six or seven in which we check in with each student, play games, share writing and get feedback.
Full completion or not, they are learning valuable lessons about self-directed learning and writing.
a poem from one of the girls in the group:
They’re all around me.
The voices of others.
Telling me what i should or shouldn’t do
branding me with their words
Cluttering my mind.
They cloud my view of the world.
All these people and all these lies.
But here i sit in the wild wilderness
and for the first time in days,
months,
maybe even years.
I can hear the sound of the universe.
I can feel the world on my skin and taste life on my tongue
And i can listen to the true thoughts.
The thoughts that linger in my mind when all is said and done.
The truths that i didn’t know i knew.
Pressing in to my heart.
The sound of trees loosen the silly words from wherever they hum and distract.
The warm breeze lifts them from my mind, like dandelion flowers.
They are gone from me.
Now i am alone with myself. But i am not alone.
I have the world listening and i am listening too.
I am listening and i can hear the sound of what is coming.
The echo that comes before the sound of thunder.
I can feel myself changing, growing older.
I can sense the waves of the world crashing onto a silent beach.
I can understand the complicated silence of all that is to come.
By Yael
very cool that Tessa is a part of this..
