Orientation was scheduled for 9am this day and I actually got up on my own at about 6:30am (which is amazing considering that would be 3:30 home time *gah*). The day was proving to be a hot one again and after my shower, I put up my hair Mrs. Olsen-style (okay, how many remember the old coffee ads with Mrs. Olsen and her braids?). The braid-bun I had tried the previous day stayed up mostly, but I was constantly fussing with hairpins. I hoped the new do would be less fussy.
The day’s orientations (program, library, and computer lab) were all pretty standard which was difficult from a ’stay awake’ POV. I could tell the trip was starting to catch up with me. The library tour in the afternoon was the most challenging and found me asking the most obscure questions about the databases we would have access to (are there RSS feeds for these databases? Do the PDFs come over with bookmarks and the ability to highlight text?). Work questions really and I later let DH know we could now spy…errr…review other digital libraries and see how our DL interfaces stood in comparison.
The most exciting part of the day was meeting faculty – I had lunch with Marion Dane Bauer, Martine Leavitt and Ellen Howard. Delightful people and all very capable. Marion has been with the program from the start and she very much embodies all the goals and aspirations of the program – part passion for children, part discipline for craft and overall enthusiastic for creativity. I’m not sure that I asked the right ‘interview’ questions. Mostly I wanted to know about each of them, get a feel for their energies and creative focii. I’m pretty sure I’d do well under any of their mentorship.
After the library tour, we had the official welcome to the program and our first look at the entire student body. What a wonderful group! I could tell very much that it was a bonded group and us 1st semester folk were all a bit overwhelmed by all the support and camaraderie we were witnessing. Sharon Darrow, the faculty chair, gave a wonderful speech congratulating us all on being part of the new Vermont College of Fine Arts, an independent arts center. Later, the Firsts got together with the all the faculty and we introduced ourselves. I wish they’d given us a heads up on creating an elevator speech for ourselves. I found mine morphing with each introduction. I think I hit it pretty well by faculty intros, though, getting out not just my name and location, but also my day job and hopes for projects.
After dinner we had our pix taken (oh! I think I forgot to mention that I took pix of our class the other night. I have to wait until I get home before I post it as I left my cables at home) and listened to Thomas Christopher Green tell the story of how a few folks got the crazy idea to go independent a couple of years ago, didn’t realize how naive they were and took on every challenge that came their way with a Can Do attitude. I understand from later conversations that TUI has had a difficult relationship with the VC program, looking more at numbers and money than on quality of experience and craft. Everyone is hopeful that a full arts program can be long-standing and I think that given the success of the programs thus far, they will achieve and exceed their goals in quick measure.
Addendum:
Sharon Darrow distilled the story-making process into two questions – What is? and What if? – I like the What is, part of the equation since often the ‘hero in his natural state’ is overlooked in a lot of craft books. She also reassured us that the stories we need to write, the skills we need to write it, and the support we need to get through the process will all be there for us – Go for it! Ultimately, as so many others have said, she urged us to Trust the Process.
