Taking Off My Putney Goggles

Well, after three weeks of being around wonderful people at a wonderful place, my Winterim at the Putney School is over, and I have returned back to Toledo. Yesterday was terrible due to all the goodbyes, so the post that ought to have occurred then is coming now.

We woke up yesterday, and everything was sort of sad because it was my last barn, and my last breakfast, and my last everything else. The goodbyes had started with teachers and such the day before, but my friends not until Saturday. Since it was the last day of AM Barn for everyone, many people wound up skipping since they were over eager for break, putting us slightly behind schedule, but that's alright seeing as classes and breakfast are 15 minutes later than usual on Saturdays. I took my shower and put on the scarf I had finished yesterday, and walked down to the last breakfast. After eating, Existentialism was supposed to start even later than usual, so I went to go hang out in the Fiber Arts Studio until 9 when the class was supposed to start. In class, we had a presentation by the last group on Rosencratz and Gildenstern, a modern play about the two Hamlet characters, and ate Dunkin' Donuts donut holes that a day student brought in. American Studies was my last class, and in it we finished and discussed Angels in America, which was interesting because we hadn't discussed so much that far, and everyone had fairly interesting interpretations of the text. After class, I went to lunch, and that's when the real horror set in. There was a big bus leaving for New York City at 1, so many of my friends were leaving then, and also most of them were leaving throughout the day. I think it may have physically hurt to see everyone leave, and after no one but those leaving Sunday were left the school felt terribly empty. I said good bye to Kyla, Blair, Alonda, and Maddy along with some others at 1, and then Max didn't leave until 2, so we hung out until then. At 2, Max took off for Burlington, VT, where she lives, and I was left feeling terribly alone. I still had people there to hang out with, but none of the core group of friends I had been hanging out with. I said by to Katharine at 3, and then hung out with some people who were left for the rest of the day. We sort of bummed around and read and watched TV and movies until dinner, then went back to Huseby again and watched The Big Lebowski and then other Youtube clips. I went to bed after finishing packing and saying goodbye to everyone, and then woke up at 6 to get to the airport in Manchester and begin my journey home.

My experience at Putney was truly incredible, and I wouldn't trade the people I met and things I did for the world. The school is an incredible place with a wonderful atmosphere, and the people are absolutely lovely and intelligent. The independence and responsibility they have to their own schooling and actions is something that would be wonderful for anyone to have, and helps them to prepare for any work that is ahead of them. In terms of differences with MV, I would say that MV is certainly more academically profficient and oriented, but there are three aspects of Putney that MV is very different from in.

1. The Work Program: Everyone had responsibilities to their community and takes care of the place they live in. They keep track of work credits the same as academic credits, and are required to work in every area of it. Furthermore, students on the Work Committee hold the students accountable for their work, and so the entire program is student run though there are, obviously, adults involved.
2. The Arts Program: Though MV has a sizable number of arts classes, Putney puts it to shame. The have a blacksmithery, printmaking facilities, ceramics studio, a great number of looms, painting studios, and a black room, which allows basically any art project that a student is interested in to be feasible. One of my friends was interested in making an African drum for her project week (a shorter version of Winterim), and honestly the only thing holding her back was the time limitation. Though students necessarily experiment with many different forms, they also have the ability to specialize in anything they wish, and are supplied with any reasonable supplies they desire. For instance, there were ceramics students working with porcelain, and students interested, and advanced in, painting and drawing had their own studios to work in.
3. Standards: I realize that I've spoken of this before, but I truly think that the student input on enforcing rules is wonderful. Particularly since 5 of the 9 members are students, so that in voting students always have the final say and the faculty cannot simply override them.

Below, I have some pictures (finally) of my friends from Putney, and look forward to the memories of a wonderful 3 weeks of an adventure in Vermont.

And the Turkeys Came Marching In

Today, we both had shortened classes due to March of the Turkeys, and the perk of then getting to eat the food involved n the feast.

I presented for Existentialism with my group on the Rhinoceros by Ionesco, and I believe it went fairly well. The class was greatly abbreviated, but we managed to get it in. Also, in ceramics, I started the glazing f my elephant, which I then finished during conference block, along with helping the teacher to load the kiln. Evidently, Putney has a gas kiln, which is quite uncommon for high schools, and even colleges. The advantage of it, according to my teacher Naomi, is that you can sort of suffocate the fire inside, which somehow helps. I'm not entirely clear on the details. Out it was very cool to get to see all the finished pieces. It really never stops being incredible how amazingly talented everyone here is. There are some kids in ceramics who truly make gorgeous pieces, and are very dedicated to their work. It's truly amazing to see everything that they make. This was also my last class, which was terribly sad, and which kept on going throughout the day. It truly has been one of goodbyes, seeing as its the last full day I will have with many of my friends. I've been trying not to think about it, but it sort of looms. Anyways, we had about an hour between classes and dinner, so I went and listened to my friend Max practice violin, and take pictures of the barn animals in preparation for my departure.

At 2, we all went to the KDU (which I discovered stands for Kitchen Dining-room Unit) and sat down for a lovey Thanksgiving dinner. Students from the Celtic music class played fiddle and folk tunes as we were walking in and sitting down, then the freshmen served the fruit and nut course, which was very fun because they were all slightly awkward. After that, we listened to a clip from a March of the Turkeys in 1945 that has recently been discovered that was from the founder of the school's address so many years ago. It was very interesting in that it was directly after the war, and though she said that they were to be thankful for the end of the war, they still had a great responsibility to help the world. I was actually interesting because she said they had little else to be thankful for. Also, it was interesting because evidently 3 students died and 3 were injured. Anyways, the food and company was great, and afterwards it was a lazy afternoon. We played Rummy-O, a number game, after 4 until the 5 o'clock dorm cleanup, and then I went for a walk with some friends and returned at 7 to go to fiber arts. I finished my scarf in fiber arts, and I am wearing it as I type this, which is terribly exciting. It's something to treasure as a souvenir from this amazing experience forever. Even though I know that this is the last day and I'm leaving Sunday, though most leave n Saturday, it doesn't seem as if its real because my experience here has been so amazing, and though I want to go home I don't want to leave her either. Well, I'll try to put off the thought until I must face it tomorrow, and the I shall write a big sappy post about it all, until then, I think I prefer denial.

The Perks of Being an AM Cow Barn Worker

I realize today is no longer Thursday, but time sort of escaped me and I'm not entirely sure where it went, which seems to have been happening increasingly all week  a my departure looms. However, I shall now be writing two posts in order to cover this.

Well, yesterday, I went to AM barn and was welcomed by the pleasant prospect of getting to go to Dunkin' Donuts as an end of the trimester treat for the crew. We got all of the chores finished very quickly and managed to leave by 7 to drive into town, however, we didn't return until 8, leaving me with no time to shower and barely enough time to change and get to class on time. When I got to class, y first one was Existentialism and we heard about other's strange modern plays and the absurdity of them. After that, we had sing, my last one, which was as enthusiastic as ever, though some seniors boycotted it because the director and they had had a slight misunderstanding, and so did not come, cutting back on quite a bit of the enthusiasm. After that, I had ceramics, where I glazed some more pieces. I'm nervous about seeing how they'll turn out.... Friday is also the last  day for glazing. We also continued reading Angels in America, which is a fascinating play that is very well written and brings up controversial topics very well, but I think the teacher isn't doing as much with it as she could. Regardless, I'm enjoying it immensely. I had my presentation for poetry, and made it through despite some technical difficulties. Due to my computer's old age, is was unable to connect to the projector, and the version of office I have was not compatible with other's computers. As a result, we spent about half an hour working on it, and ended in a PDF file that we emailed to other students to look at on their computers. I managed to make my way through it with no further mishap, and I think the power point and presentation went across quite well.

During the afternoon there were no activities because of work job training for the next trimester, so I went to work in the ceramics studio. Since my elephant was not yet out of the bisque firing, I finished my other pieces and then did a bit of throwing, which didn't go too well but I think was an improvement from my first failure of an attempt. I'm going to miss working in ceramics every day.

Anyways, after dinner I had fiber arts, and finished weaving my scarf! It was extraordinarily exciting.  Milissa took it home with her in order to wash it, and I get it to keep on Friday. March of the Turkeys, Putney's version of thanksgiving, is tomorrow and I'm quite excited.

Wonderful Wednesdays

Today was my last day off of barn before I leave, and it really is marvelous to feel as if 7:30 is sleeping in. Although not exactly wonderful that that is the amount of sleep you then get...but anyways.

I only had two classes today since it's Wednesday, and in poetry I managed to finish my power point for my presentation tomorrow, and the rest of my afternoon was basically spent on writing the notes, albeit distractedly, which I shall now proceed to complete. It's getting pretty sad to think about leaving, especially since I have made friends with a lot of the people here. However, going on with the day, in ceramics I finished glazing the piece I had begun yesterday, and then glazed two more pieces. I'm excited to see how they'll all turn out since the glazes look entirely different before being fired. Tomorrow I should be able to finish the bowl I'm working on right now, along with the elephant mask, though I'll probably have to go in during my afternoon activity block, but that isn't a problem since all the other students have work job training tomorrow in preparation for their new jobs in the second semester when they return from Thanksgiving break. Today was slightly exciting due to the fact that there was no water until about 3 o'clock since Putney's water system has been being replaced for the first time in about 60 years, and today was the day when they switched off the old system to turn on the new. Unfortunately, everything has been muddy as a result of all the construction, but hopefully that will be fixed soon since they've already reseeded the grass.

After classes, I generally sat about with friends and hung out, very lazy as usual, though Max and I made it to the KDU to get some tea (they had Chai today, which was a treat) and bread for snack, and then the staff was very lovely and gave us some cake as well. I wound up not going to dinner at the KDU tonight either since one of my friends, Alonda, and her roommate had ordered Chinese food from Brattleborough and invited me to share it with them, so we had a little dinner party on the floor of their room. Tomorrow is the last full day of classes, since Friday is March of the Turkeys, and though I can't tell if we have classes Saturday, even if we do they're only in the morning anyways. Starting to take more pictures in order to keep the memories too!

The Last Tuesday

Well, today it has been really hitting me that I will be leaving on Sunday, which is both horrible and wonderful at the same time. However, I suppose I have the rest of the week so I had better make the best of it.

Anyways, today in poetry I finished revising my essay and outlined the presentation I will be giving on T. S. Eliot on Thursday, though the rest of the class has the honor of doing so after the break. Seeing as I shall not be here then, I think that would be fairly difficult, and so I am a bit more cramped for time than them. Ceramics was my second class, and since the masks are finished and everything is bisque fired, we were able to start glazing our pieces. It's very interesting to see all the glazes and how they combine, particularly since they look extremely different after being fired, often even entirely different colors, so it's a bit of a surprise to see how pieces come out. The surprise is lessened, of course, by the sample pieces that they have glazed in order to demonstrate how the glazes turn out, and then also a few little bowls that demonstrate how they react with each other when they're mixed. I started to glaze a bowl yesterday, but didn't have time to finish it or begin other pieces since the teacher, Naomi, had to demonstrate the technique for me and a couple of other newbies. Although the kiln won't be fired until after I leave Putney after Thanksgiving break, I think that I will be able to get a friend to package all of my pieces up and mail them to me if I give her the money to do so. Anyways, after lunch I had American Studies, where we began to read Angles in America, a play about the gay community in New York City during the Reagan administration. I have heard from some of the seniors that it's a wonderful play, so I'm interested in going forward with reading it. Well, after classes I had ballet, which was my last dance class here at Putney. I took a picture with the teachers and the other students for memories, but luckily I won't truly be saying goodbye to anyone for a while still. The rest of the afternoon was very lazy, but for evening activity I had Fiber Arts, and my scarf is very nearly finished. I actually had to stop early last night so that I will have enough room left to use some of the new colors that the teacher had ordered in time for today, but the shipment had been backlogged. Though the scarf is not exactly a work of art, I'm very excited to see how it will turn out in the end.

Well, it was another lovely day at Putney, only four left!

Another Lapse....

I'm terribly sorry about not posting last night. Last night was slightly insane and dramatic due to some of the actions of the students, and as a result The blogpost managed to completely slip my mind. Anyways, yesterday was, yet again, quite balmy. I think we're experiencing a bit if an Indian summer here in southern Vermont, and I both hope that it will end to bring in the snow, and that it'll continue so that we can enjoy the great outdoors.

The cows were lovely as ever yesterday, though there was some slight insubordination in the ranks as a result of a couple of students shirking their responsibilities. There is also a calf who seems to have decided that it is quite amusing to head butt me while I'm scraping out its stall, and the play became slightly annoying yesterday, but another student gave me the tip to whack them in the shins when they do that.....so I might be armed, even though that sounds awfully unpleasant. The explanation for this behavior is, I believe, that the way they get more milk to fall into their mother's pouch is by head butting it, and so the calves occasionally do that to humans as well when their hungry, though it doesn't exactly yield reinforcing results. My first class of the day was poetry, where we workshopped my rather horrible draft of an essay, and determined that I will be presenting my project on Thursday.....which I can't say that I feel horridly prepared for, but we'll see. After the first class we had assembly, which I don't think I have managed to mention on here before, but is much more formal than MV's assembly, and is more similar to our soapboxes because they generally have presentations along with announcements. I think they get around having announcements every day by having this mass email system called Community Comments that sends messages to the whole school . Anyways, these occur Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and there's an semblance where we all sing on Thursdays. But yesterday's presentation was by a foreign exchange student on Japan, and the also speeches made by students running for dorm head, which is a position that coordinates dorm life and weekend activities. After that, I had ceramics, where I presented my elephant head that I had made as an African mask, and got to see everyone else's masks and the story behind the culture and tribe that they had based it off of, which was very interesting to hear about. After lunch, I had existentialism, where we spoke about the play Tango in preparation for our own presentations of plays of modern theatre.

I spent the rest of my afternoon helping a friend to film her movie for her final film in her class, which was very fun, but required quite a bit of running around campus in order to find costumes for her rather specific artistic vision. Dinner was sit down, where the seniors acted as waiters, and was quite good. They served squash lasagna and pesto. The night was mildly insane due to some students getting in trouble, but I think it will all pan out alright. The kids are going to Standards to get their verdict today (the day after I ought to have written this post).

Two Days Are Better Than One

Well, it would appear that I didn't quite get around to writing a blog post last night, so today there's going to be double.

The excitement that led to the blog post remaining undone was, namely, the event of coffee house. Yesterday was Saturday, was we had classes in the morning (Existentialism and American Studies), but none in the afternoon. As a result, I spent the afternoon sort of floating around after being introduced to the wonders of Dogma, a movie, by one of my friends, and had a generally lazy afternoon. Then, after dinner, everyone got sort of dressed up for coffee house since the theme was "casino," and they're much more enthusiastic than we are in that regard. So I helped a girl to look like she was from the 50's, and then put on my own sequined top from the 80's, and we went down to play cards before the performing began. I managed to play BS, but seeing as I have not had too much experience with other gambling games, my interaction with those was woefully lacking. However, the performances themselves began soon, opening with a band of four boys playing a song by Rage Against the Machine extremely enthusiastically. The coffee house lasted about two hours, but the funny part was that it wasn't painful. Typically at talent shows or coffee houses are anything like that, you get at least one or two acts that are at least mildly painful to watch because, though the person ought to be given credit for having the courage to stand up and perform like they do, they don't have as much talent as they might. However, here at Putney, it doesn't seem like they have that problem. Oh, certainly there were some acts that were better than others, but overall everyone did extraordinarily well and performed admirably. My room mate sang in quite a few different acts, and many of my friends performed. There were the typical sort of joking acts that were put on to laugh at, though they were good regardless of their intention. But along with that there were the acts that people had put real work into and took very seriously, and none of them disappointed. Then, there were the ones in the middle that neither took themselves too seriously, but still displayed real talent, such as a cello and violin duet that ended with the cellist clogging while the violinist played. Anyways, it all only went to enforce my opinion that everyone at Putney is supremely talented, and the entire community is very supportive of their work.

Well, after my adventures of last night, I woke up to do barn this morning and it was downright balmy compared to how the weather has been lately. After barn, since brunch doesn't begin until 9 on Sundays, I went back to bed with the intention to take a little nap, and wound up sleeping all the way to 12 and missing brunch entirely. After that, I managed to grab some coffee so that the rest of my day wasn't miserable. I spent the day working on an essay about T. S. Eliot, and managed to get about half of it finished, which I intend to finish after writing this blog post. Other than that, today was very relaxed, and there was ice cream for dinner, which was a nice change, particularly after missing brunch.

Fantastic Fridays

Today it was much warmer than yesterday, leaving us all rather bemused, but still nice because barn was quite a bit more pleasant. Anyways, the excitement of today was that one of the writers of The Laramie Project came for assembly and gave a talk. The Lramie Project is a play that Putney is putting on about the murder of  Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming, in October of 1998. The play itself is a series of interviews based off of actual interviews taken by the Tectonic Theatre in Laramie after the event. It addresses the social climate of the time and homophobia in the area, along with the reaction of the community to the event and how they were perceived as a result of it. It was a wonderful talk, and extremely interesting. He discussed the process of writing the play, which was fascinating in that he was an openly gay man who grew up through the same period of homophobia that produced the horrible murder, and how he went through recording the interviews and then writing the play with the troop from those. I think, perhaps, the most interesting thing was his description of how th ecommunity received the during the first Laramie Project, which was first reformed in 200, and the sort of epilogue play that they went back to do interviews for 10 years later. The first time, Laramie was very glad to have someone come in and talk to the community. The news  stations had come in, made a big deal, and then left, leaving the community in a shell shocked state and ready for Tectonic Theatre to rep in and interview them about the event. He said that once word got around that they were trustworthy and would listen, people would actually be eager to come and talk to them. They were dedicated to staying true to how the character of Laramie, Wyoming, and as a result, those who interviewed people were dedicated to portraying their subject as accurately as possible. In the end, it was a cathartic experience for the community, and all but one of the subjects net reviewed were very pleased with how accurately they were portrayed. However, when the team returned 10 years later, there was great resentment and hostility towards them for portraying Laramie as a homophobic town, and branding them as the place that Matthew Shepard was murdered. As a result of this, the underlying homophobia of the community that continued to exist payed a large role nt he second play. Along side this, for the second play, they were able to interview the two murderers and feature them in the play, which leant an interesting twist. I thought that the most striking thing, however, that he said, wasn't when people asked him whether or not it was their story to tell, you responded yes because, in away, it belonged to all of the gay community. Tough the murder and laramie's reaction were very personal, at that time, all openly gay people experienced discrimination, and so so this manifestation was their own display. The author himself and been beaten with a pipe on a sidewalkinNewYork for openly kissing his boyfriend, and other events like that led to the feeling of indignance and injustice that was addressed by the Laramie Project. I feel privileged to have been ale to attend his talk at the Putney School, and it was simply one more thing to make me realize what a wonderful place it is to exist due to its tolerance and love for its community and world.

Let It Snow Let It Snow Let It Snow

Today in barn I was positively freezing, but thankfully we had our first snow of the year.  It came during Sing, which is the school wide singing session that faced a wall to windows, and when the first flakes began to fall everyone began to cheer. It was great, until we realized that it was more sleet than snow and it never stuck, and then everyone was fairly upset. Anyways, I'm upset about the lack of sow, it excited for this weekend because there will be a coffee house. It sounds as if it's much more elaborate than MV's, even has a theme, which is gambling. I'm excited for it because a lot of my friends will be performing in it, and since everyone here is rather horridly talented, the show ought to be pretty amazing.

But today I had Existentialism, where we chose a play to read and teach to the class form modern theatre, and I wound up in a group that's reading Rhinoceros by Ionesco, which seems to be every bit as confusing as Waiting for Godot at this point, we'll see. Then I had American Studies, which was interesting because it was our first class since the elections and we got to go through all the states and their results, which was fun. It's interesting to be from Ohio in Vermont during the elections because it's a swing state that gets much more attention than Vermont, which is very solidly democratic. After lunch I had poetry, and I'm now at the point where I shall be writing a rough draft of my essay over the weekend, which ought to be fun. I had jazz for my afternoon activity, and there was quite a bit of excitement due to the fact tat we've organized an exchange with the boy's soccer team so that we do their warmup and they take a bit of a class, which ought to turn out to be pretty amusing. W had sit down dinner tonight, which happens Mondays and Thursdays, where the seniors wait on the res to father school at dinner style meal rather than the buffet that we typically have. It's generally pretty fun, though the vegetarian option is never as good as with normal meals. Also, we got to eat the apple pie we peeled the apples for in American Studies on Tuesday, which added to the enjoyment. In fiber arts I can now see the end of my scarf, which is reassuring because it means I will almost certainly be able to actually finish it before I return home. Well, not much more to report, seeing as I am off to read my American Studies homework, which consists of reader Tinker vs. Des Moines and writing a case briefing for it. I ought to be jut tons of fun.

Wonderful Wednesday

Well, today I had the chance to go into Putney since we only have a half day on Wednesdays since we have Saturday classes as well. It was nice to be able to walk around in town and get a cup of decent coffee, along with the opportunity to just be outside a little bit. Putney seems like a nice town, very small, which seems typical of Vermont. The countryside is dotted with little towns about fifteen minutes apart, and in between on the hillsides are scattered houses. I always thought of the Northeast as quite full until I came to Vermont and saw the watch out for moose crossing signs and the vast expanses of open hillside. It all adds to the loveliness of the area, and the isolation that The Putney School feels in its own little world. Today is the halfway point in my stay here, and I'm not sure that I want to go home. Yes, i certainly do for all the people I miss and my friends and family, but at the same time I slid into this community much more easily than I ever thought I might of, and I sort of like where I am. It feels like I've been here for ages, not simply a week and a half. At this point, I know most everyone's names and the faces to put on them, the drama going on, who's in trouble, who ought to be, and much of the inner workings of the school.

Anyways, today I had my day off from AM Barn, and so got to sleep in all the way to 7:15. My two classes were poetry and Ceramics, and I got most of the body of my mask finished. I'm making an elephant, and tomorrow I ought to be able to begin sculpting the face in preparation for painting on the slip (liquid clay that behaves as paint) in preparation for glazing. I'm still slugging through my poetry project, and it seems to be taking a lot more work than I anticipated, but it's still fascinating all the same.

One aspect of the school that I've been learning more about this week is their Standards committee, which has been in existence since the founding of the school in 1935, and is a student and teacher collaboration that discusses any transgressions of the students and hears their case before assigning them a punishment. Earlier this year, there had been some mishaps with the student members of Standards, and so the system was overhauled (for the first time since its founding), and elections were held for new student members. The philosophy behind the committee is very interesting, and also very Putney. Nearly everything here, from the care taking of the school to the hiring of new faculty members, relies heavily on student input and decision, and so the student body has a huge responsibility to their own lives and school environment. The idea that student leaders in the community decide on the punishments and ensure that any doled out are deemed fair and just to the crime is, to my mind, fantastic. Not only does it ensure that the students are not disgruntled and feel put upon by the administration, as may occur in other schools, but they also are invested in the process, and so do care that students are punished when they ought to be, which contributes to the school environment in a huge way. I think that the idea is marvelous, and, perhaps, one that could be implemented anywhere. This idea of student activity and student leadership is not limited to only enforcement of the rule, but to all areas of school life, leaving the school a better place because of it.

Election Day

(Us watching the election)

Well, as I write this post I am sitting in a large auditorium with about a fourth of the school, everyone cheering for Obama and booing Romney. Vermont has been established as an extremely liberal state, even if I didn't know it before. It's a lot of fun to be here for election da because everyone is very involved in politics and well informed, and I dare say that the experience of watching the election wil be one that I remember forever.

However, besides the obvious excitement about the impending fate of our nation, today was fairly normal. I did manage to miss barn again....which is fairly awkward, I set my alarm to pm instead of am, and hence did not wake up. Despite that, I didn't get in any major trouble, and have managed to make it through the day and will still have my day off tomorrow, so that's a plus. Anyways, my first class today was American Studies, and since our apple pie won the mock election n the school used to demonstrate the electoral college, we got to peel and chop apples for the pie we're having on Thursday. After that, I had poetry, in which we split up into groups in order to discuss our projects. After lunch I had ceramics, in which we are teaming up with the African History class to build tribal masks, and we began to gather ideas for designs today. In excited to begin actually building them tomorrow. For my afternoon activity I had ballet, and I thought it was pretty good. I feel like I'm getting a little out of shape though. For the most part, today's been fun, and I look forward to seeing Ohio turnips poll in on the election. Also, for my scarf to be finished in Fiber arts, seeing as I got a lot of it finished tonight.

Monday Monday Monday

Well, this morning I was greeted with the lovely sight and smell of rotten hay, courtesy of the dampness from Hurricane Sandy. Along with that, the weather has taken a turn for the quite brisk, and there's rumor of a Northeaster (snowstorm) coming up, so this ought t be fun. I adore snow, but when it's cold and snowy, the cows have to stay inside all night, leaving the barn ate a mess to clean.

Other than that, the only notable event of today was that all the students signed up for winter evening and afternoon activities, and that Huseby had its pride day, leading us all to walk around in pajamas all day. I also learned how to throw on the pottery wheel on the sly over the weekend, and the teacher wasn't upset with me, which was nice, since I was slightly afraid. I had jazz today and wore a Garrison Keillor shirt, and a girl recognized it, which made me glad. Other than that, we have a lot of projects in classes and we're reading modern theatre in Existentialism, which means that it's all rather absurd. Hopefully I might have something more interesting to report tomorrow! Ta ta for now

Lazy Sundays

So, I dare say that the only day that practically nothing happens at Putney is Sunday, which was a nice change, but has also been quite long. I woke up at my normal time this morning in order to go to barn, which I didn't miss today despite anxieties with day-light savings, and we took care of the cows and all the normal jobs. However, today I stayed much later than is normal, which was partly due to the fact that the pigs were loaded onto a truck in order to be taken off to be butchered today. I didn't much like the pigs when I had to take care of them, but their screams were, none the less, quite traumatizing. They  were very violent in their protestations, and I dare say that it was my least favorite things that I've done at Putney. After barn, I showered and did a little bit of brainstorming for a short-story in Existentialism, since Sundays have brunch instead and breakfast and lunch, and that doesn't begin until 9, leaving me with quite a chunk of time on my hands. After brunching for about an hour, I went back to Huseby, the dorm, and sat in the common room finishing my brainstorming, and then migrated upstairs to my room to read the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass for AP Composition at MV, and got about halfway finished with it. I had intended to read Uncle Tom's Cabin, but realized that a 500 page novel on top of the school work and activities of Putney was slightly overambitious. At this point, I have read one assignment for APUSH and the reading for English. After that, I went to another girl's room and we all lazed about for a few hours until she realized that she needed to do a photography shop, which we then all helped her with. The one other slight adventure of today was my first time doing laundry, which allowed me to wash the old-lady smell out of my thrift store purchases, leaving them ready for wear this week, which I am terribly excited about. That brings us up to dinner, which I just got back from. The main excitement of that was the fact that we have ice cream on Sundays, which caused a bit of a scramble, and the mint chocolate chip proved itself to be well worth it despite the hard fought struggle. Now I am on to actually writing the story for Existentialism, which is supposed to creatively portray my understanding of The Stranger, a book that I have speed read to catch up with the rest of the class.

Brattleborough

So, today I had one of my first misfortunes at Putney... Which involved not resetting my alarm for AM Barn. Seeing as I then work up at 7:15, I completely missed it, and have yet to discover the consequences, which will likely involve some form of make up work. Anyways, it's no use eying over spilt milk, and hopefully it won't happen again.... But the more exciting part of today was going to Brattleborough after having Saturday morning classes, which were Existentialism and American Studies. We finished reading Waiting for Godot, which was good even if it was also completely absurd, and then in American Studies we took a quiz, which was fairly easy even though I hadn't studied most of the subject matter with the class.

But anyways, after lunch there was an excursion to Brattleborough, VT, which is a very quaint little town about 15 minutes away from Putney. I went with another girl, Alonda, and a few sophomores who we met in the bus there. There was a giant thrift store there, and I found two pretty great sweaters, along with a button down shirt that was printed all over with pictures of old bicycles, which was a lot of fun. After the thrift store, we walked down the street to a Chinese restraint, where Alonda ordered some food, and then went to this amazing bakery. Though a lot of people don't like the food at the KDU, I find it to be pretty good; however, there coffee is awful. Fortunately, the coffee at Amy's Bakery was wonderful, and the slice of hazelnut chocolate cake was extraordinary as well, despite the fact that its large size is now coming back to make me feel slightly ill. Anyways, that is my experience with Putney on the weekends so far, and seeing as tomorrow is our only complete day off, it is to be hoped that it will be even more relaxing, particularly given that I do, in fact, have a sizable amount of homework to do, both for Putney and MVCDS.

To Round Out the Week

So, with the last day of the week, so comes my last class description, leaving us with a basic understanding from here on out. However, it also just so happens that today was not quite my last day of classes....seeing as Putney has the delightful practice of Saturday morning classes. Other momentous news of the day was that I subbed in for a friend on her dinner crew job (on my day off from AM Barn I might add), and had an experience with that that made me thankful that I shovel cow manure every morning and wake up at 5:25 to boot. Perhaps the reason for their work program is in reality a deterrent for not going to college and getting a degree? If it is, it is working well. Other than that, I learned how to throw on a pottery wheel on the sly from a student rather than the teacher, I wove about a foot of my scarf (which I am terribly excited about, so much fun), and we started reading Waiting for Godot in Existentialism, which may or may not be the most bizarre play I have ever encountered. I get to go back to AM Barn tomorrow morning, and then have the pleasure of it on Sunday, which would otherwise be the only day I might be able to sleep in on.

Anyways, my last activity that I will be devoting a post to is American Studies, which is sort of like an United States History class and English class smashed together according to its description. I have yet to see much evidence of the English portion, but so far the history side has been focusing on the structure of the government, which is particularly interesting with the electoral college and the upcoming elections. Basically everyone here is extraordinarily liberal, and the teacher for this class is very adamant about the fact that the electoral college turns the election into something that is not, in fact, a free election, but rather a controlled one. This ties in to the topics of Federalists verses Anti-Federalists that we are discussing in class, which we also had a debate about in class today. Even though I don't actually go here, I was the only one on our team who had written up a bit of a statement for the Anti-Federalists side, and so we were not terribly well prepared, and neither side was particularly eloquent or organized in their thoughts and ideas.

This description of our rather lack-luster class brings me to an interesting point on Putney that I have observed over the past week, which is how they differ with Maumee Valley on the basis of how much importance they place on academics. Many of the students transfer to Putney after discovering that their high school wasn't really where they wanted to be after the first or second year, and so everyone is extraordinarily creative and unique, and the environment they form in that way is amazing. However, very few students focus on academics with any great diligence, and there is a very lax attitude towards homework and work in general. Perhaps this is only my observation because I have yet to see any of the assignments graded and handed back, nor any tests or quizzes. Nonetheless, that still leaves the fact that the shortest period of time in between the three classes that are held each day is an hour, and two of the three classes are themselves an hour long with one being an hour and a half. This makes for a very relaxed environment, and for the right people it certainly works; however, though I adore Putney so far, I'm not sure that I could bear the academic environment for very long.

Existentialism

Before getting to the meet of this post, I think I can give some updates as the Putney situation. My new farm experience this morning was cleaning it a chicken coop, which was positively horrendous. At first it looked as if the poop was the floor, but then when we started to dig in I realized, much to my chagrin, that in reality, it was the top of about a foot of chicken droppings. It had a disturbing similarity to paper mâché in texture, and as we shoveled it realsed a dust that got absolutely everywhere. Since I was avoiding breathing through my nose in order to bear the stench, the inside of my mouth and just about everything was coated the dust, and it was positively miserable. Just another thrilling day on the farm. Even though it sounds like I don't enjoy it, doing AM Barn really is one of myfavorite things about my stay. Getting up early and having a satisfying start to the day really is nice, and I truly am learning a lot from the experience. Luckily, however, I will have my day off tomorrow, meaning I get to sleep in past 5:25 for the first time since last Saturday... Oh the excitement :)

Anyways, the class today that I shall talk about is Existentialism, which is turning out to be a pretty great class. It's mainly discussion based, and student run, so it's great to hear all the ideas that other students have. I must admit, the Northeast was, is, a bit of a culture shock after the Midwest, but also certainly a welcome one. They are very liberal, even more so than Maumee Valley, which is both nice and strange. Back to the class though. I began in right when they finished reading Camus's The Stranger. Today was the final discussion, and the assignment of a project on our understanding of Camus's ideas, meaning that I am both lost and fascinated. I did manage to get some ideas in based in what others were saying and my bare-bones understanding of the book from Sparknotes. The philosophy involved in his writing is very interesting, and I believe, though I don't think the teacher expects it, that I might read The Stranger briefly and then do the writing project that he assigned, which was basically to relatively portray your understanding of what Camus was talking about. Is fun to be n a class whose main focus is one philosophical discipline, and though I'm a bit lost occasionally since I don't have as solid a base due to my jumping in as the others do, it's still fascinating to be in the class. The teacher, Lou Cannelli, is wonderful as well, and has very intelligent methods of getting us all to participate and think through the lenses of Existentialism.

My discussion in class has led to another topic, which is that of the people at Putney. Although I had a fear of not being able to relate or interact, or that it might be more difficult, everyone here is wonderful and a lot of fun, making the entire experience better than it ever would have been otherwise. I don't remember is I had mentioned this already, but I think it something worth reiterating,