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Bald Porcupine Island
I turned 21 this past Tuesday! Yay! This is my first birthday away from home (how blessed am I that I got to spend the previous twenty with my family?) and it really didn’t feel like a birthday until a friend encouraged me to have a party. But first, my housemate Fletcher took me out kayaking. Because I shared a kayak with him (he’s a wilderness guide guy so he’s very skilled at this sort of stuff), he did most of the paddling and I could focus on taking pictures. The trip was so special and beautiful. We left the bay area and looped around Bald Porcupine Island (pictured above). Bald Porcupine Island is a nesting ground for Bald eagles, but its name actually came about because there’s a rocky spot in the middle with no trees.
Fletcher, my awesome housemate
We shared the water with the Margaret Todd…
Margaret Todd
After kayaking, I thought I’d invite four or five friends over and we’d sit and eat chocolate all night and maybe go to the playground (sounds great right?). I didn’t think there would be that many who would want to celebrate the birth of me, but ten or so people showed up, including my housemates (that’s like another ten), and we had a great time. And then the next day at school I saw sooo many other people I would’ve wanted to invite, had I known their last names to send them an e-mail on the school server. This week has really made me think of how many friends I’ve already made and how I really, really, really love the people here. It’s such a small school but the people are SO incredible! Everyone I’ve met is just so real. And, I think if I had to put a number on it, I’d say 50% of my friends are from other countries. And THEY ARE SO COOL. Here’s a picture of the night as it winded down.
Spreading out on the floor with lots of desserts!
The little baby is Nina. Her and her mommy Kate live with me 
.
I made chocolate frosting, and my friends brought things to dip in it!
Of course I had to get one group shot..
Then… we went to the playground.
Getting High. Hah.
Everyone at home, I love and miss you and I put up more pictures at frostt.myphotoalbum.com if you want to go check out those!
Pictures taken around campus!
“I will write peace on your wings and you will fly all over the world. This is our cry, this is our prayer: peace in the world.” – Sadako Sasaki (佐々木 禎子)
Sadako Sasaki was two years old when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. Less than ten years later she was diagnosed with leukemia. There’s a Japanese saying that when one folds 1,000 cranes, they could make a wish that would come true. She only folded 644 before dying, but her friends finished the 1,000 and buried them with her.
Blueberries are to Maine as the Empire State Building is to New York. Yes, really. Everywhere I go–blueberries!! Maine has blueberry scents, blueberry ice cream (and lobster ice cream), blueberry stuffed animals, blueberry pancakes, blueberry maple syrup, blueberry children’s books, blueberry calendars–seriously, anything and everything can be found in blueberry theme! When I found this picture, I couldn’t think of anything more fitting to introduce this town called Bar Harbor. PS if you can click on a picture, it means it’s not mine, and it will take you to where I found it!
Bar Harbor
Before leaving earlier this week, my sister (whom I miss TERRIBLY) remarked too casually to be interpreted as anything less than broken hearted, “Julia. I can’t believe you are moving to a deserted island.” Although the island is technically called Mount Desert Island, she had only heard “desert island,” and I can only imagine what she pictured in her mind. At the time, I took her hand and said, “yep, one person’s heaven is another’s hell.” It’s true. This town isn’t for everyone. We live on an island off the coast of the most northern state in the Continental US. I can walk from one end of town to the other. The stores are all geared towards tourists, so it’s almost impossible to find actual necessities (like a towel!). A store is considered “crowded” when there are more than two people. But my God, is it beautiful.
Hiking Barefoot
Yesterday, I went with a group of kids to Sand Beach. Although some went swimming, I didn’t. Not everyone had bathing suits, but it didn’t matter. A few just went in their underwear. I stood on the shore, fully dressed, not wanting to go in the water because of the temperature, but slightly wishing I was brazen enough to take off all my clothes and just run free around the beach and in the water (we’ll see—maybe before I graduate and after all the tourists leave!). Here is a picture of two of my friends identifying sea weed. On the left is Marketa from the Czech Republic. On the right is Jo from Sweden. I wish I could rotate this for you but my internet is too slow to upload it again.
Walking down the beach. Left to right, Lindsay (America), Diana (Brazil), Lenka (Czech), Marketa (Czech), Andrea (El Salvador), Jo (Sweden), and two guys I can’t remember.
While exploring the beach, we found a hiking trail. Because it was a spur of the moment decision and no one wanted to run back and get our shoes, all of us ended up going barefoot. 1/5th of the world goes barefoot on a daily basis in weather conditions much less pleasant than Maine in the summer. A few times when the ground looked rocky ahead, or my feet started to hurt, I asked if Lenka wanted to turn around. (Lenka and I got far behind the other girls because we were taking pictures). Lenka, in broken English, said “If the other girls can do it, so can we. It’s also good for your feet.” So we pushed on, barefoot, through the woods. Walking barefoot through the woods is a completely different experience. The twenty minute journey turned into forty minutes as we stepped carefully around the sharpest rocks and sticks. As we walked, I compared our pace and my awareness of the ground to a few days ago when I walked across the sandbar to Bar Island. I had shoes on then, and I trotted through the woods with barely a second glance at where I stepped! This time though, ah, every step had to be carefully planned. There are some kids who do not wear shoes around campus. I see the appeal now. It’s not just freeing your feet, it grounds you. Try it. When I got home, I looked it up to see if it is indeed healthier to go barefoot. Here’s a post in New York Magazine that talks about the benefits of walking barefoot.
This was the view from the top!
Here’s us!
Other things to never forget:
- How I randomly sat down to dinner with students from St. Lucia, Western Sahara, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Ecuador. Yes, seriously. All at one table. A few were even interested in health and community development. Ah! This is AFTER spending an hour at lunch with friends from the Czech Republic, Sweden, and Mexico talking about the different languages, how and when to say I love you, and public affection in different countries. I am learning so much!
- The Bar Island Swim- a boat took participants (students, faculty and staff) out to the island to jump and swim back to school. Six boats waited in the water to pick people up as they got too tired and cold (imagine 50 degree water). Some made it though. I sat on the shore with a bunch of other students.
- Meeting a student from Swaziland who has heard of Bulembu. Talking to him for hours about Swaziland, orphanages, and sustainable villages.
- I will leave you with this.
Finding my way to the island (a time line)
July 19th, 2009: I left my team in Mississippi to join my family in Kentucky.
July 19th, 2009-August 1st, 2009: In Kentucky, I took a few days to just recuperate. The trip to Mississippi left me physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted. Seriously, seriously, seriously exhausted. I couldn’t form sentences. I couldn’t read. I could barely think. For three weeks, I had lived and breathed my Mississippi kids, and that didn’t stop when I boarded the plane for Kentucky. I was completely used up and I had poured out all I had to give, and didn’t have anything left. The team challenged me and pushed me beyond my limits. Where I had drawn boundaries in the sands of my comfort and sanity, the young Mississippites had trotted boldly across, kicking the sands beyond any point of recognition, and leaving me floating completely lost without them. In this state, I did very little. I floated around trying to find the sense of peace I had before going to Mississippi. During this time, and in such a state of internal chaos, I knew I couldn’t return to the city for school. I started thinking about alternative plans. Dreaming of creating a future village for orphans, I wanted to search the world for a good location. Instead, I stumbled upon COA’s website. COA quickly informed me that if I hurried, I might be accepted for the fall term. Skeptical, I sent my references and forwarded my transcript.
August 26th, 2009: The admissions team let me know that I was accepted.
August 27th-August 30th, 2009: I decided to go.
September 2nd, 2009- I found someone on Craig’s list with a room to rent. When I googled the address, I found this description,
“We envision a community that nurtures the individuality of each member. We envision a community that practices a way of living that is sustainable for generations to come, a way of living that defines by practice and direction the meaning of human ecology. We envision a community that strives to work out our personal difficulties between members through its own ingenuity.
Established in 1978 as a collective working to create a whole-grain bakery, the community has evolved into a group of artists and human ecologists. Located in town, we have been a source of housing and support for College of the Atlantic people for 15 years. Some of our members are actively involved in protecting the environment of Maine through grassroots and legislative involvement.In practice, we are economically independent with an individual contribution toward upkeep and taxes of the building, phone, electric, and recycled paper products. Physically, our community consists of one large commercial building, one large organic garden, and one large shed. We have a complete woodworking shop and dream of a pottery studio.We have recently purchased 19 acres of woods and blueberries to give the community a larger garden and a retreat in the country. This could possibly lead us to relocate in the future if the way opens.”
September 4th, 2009: Chelsea, Greg, and I drove from NY to ME and moved into the Downeast Friends Community. Chelsea and Greg stayed to check out my living situation and to make sure it’s not a cult, or, as my mom puts it, a bunch of “naval-gazers”—people who sit around looking at their belly buttons in amazement all day. It’s not.
The Downeast Friends Community
My vocabulary is not wide enough to explain this place in all its fullness, so for now, you will have to suffer with cliche’s. I live in a hippie commune, or, as one of my teachers described it today, a “peace community.” I’m here to reclaim the word “hippie” and direct you in a specific direction as I describe my community. Otherwise, I’m doing everyone an injustice by summing it up with a word so quickly stereotyped. I tend to stay away from the term because of its connotation with drug use and free love, but I’m learning that there are so many other kinds of hippies and it’s not a dirty word. The word hippie originally began to describe those living counter to popular culture. Today’s hippies are different because today’s culture is different. The hippies here are not running around naked, getting high, or doing the whole free love thing (or at least are not doing those things in the house). They (we?) are just living counter to popular culture. We eat organically, try to grow some of our own food, or at least be conscious of everything we eat, are nonviolent, and try to live intentionally. Many are artists and musicians, but some are scientists and mathematicians. Many are vegans or vegetarians, and almost all are working towards a better world. That describes College of the Atlantic too.
Joining Downeast Friends
Chelsea, Greg, and I arrived to meet James, the craiglist guy, and Robert, the owner of the house, late Friday afternoon. James gave us a tour of the house. The house looks like it’s two houses that have been connected in the middle. James described one side of the house as the “old person side” and the other side as the “young side.” One side belongs to Robert and Diane, the couple who rent out the rooms. The other side has room for 10-14 tenants spread out over three floors. There is also a large living room and kitchen. My room is on the top floor, and it’s simple, but perfect. The other members of the family (because we are a family) have rooms through out the house. Ian and Christian, however, prefer to sleep outside under the stars, and they have hammocks set up in the garden that they retreat to at night.
When Chelsea and Greg and I arrived, Robert informed us that we were to be guests of the house for two nights to see how it works, and to give us two days to find alternative housing. Sweet deal. If I decide to stay, all the housemembers will “come to consensus” in mid-September and decide that we all want to live together. If we are all “in consensus” we will sign the contract. The contract is not a normal contract.
Instead, it’s a comprehensive guide telling you to cover the TV with a blanket when you are not using it and to let others know before you do use it so they can leave the house if they so desire, and which plants in the garden are for communal use, and how the definition of “sustainable” is NO WASTE. The contract stresses harmony between human beings and the environment. Material goods and work is shared among all members of the community. This desire to live in harmony with each other and the environment is the glue that holds us together.
Explore the Reality of that idea
The others who live here are very interesting characters. One short conversation with any of them leaves you wanting to hear their life story. Maybe with time, those will come. For now, I only have my stories of how things are much more free and flowy here. Structure is loose. For example, when explaining to Robert how Greg could sleep on the floor, Robert put his hand up and slowly said, “well…… why…… don’t you…… explore…… the reality….. of that…… and then… see where that….. takes you……. and just…… go…… from there.” Maybe it wasn’t that slow, and I’m just used to people talking faster. I don’t know.
The next morning at breakfast, we sat out on the porch and ate blue sticky rice with granola and blueberries and talked about the garden, and the imbalance between omega 3’s and omega 6’s in the American diet. At one point, Ian, barefoot (I’ve never seen him wear shoes), wearing overalls, a plaid flannel shirt, and his usual dreads, came out of his hammock to tell us he had found glasses. When he learned someone had left them behind, he put them on and said, “Wow. The trees have actual leaves! I can see how people become addicted to these!” Addicted to glasses? I never thought of it that way. Despite his appearance, which I must admit, initially had me wary (my prejudice labeled Ian a drifter doing nothing with his life). I was SO wrong. Ian is brilliant. He never graduated from COA, but he seems to know everything about food and plants and their interactions with each other and the body. I just want to follow him around with a camera and record everything he says. He’s brilliant.
—
I am perched here in my room on the top floor, looking out over the rest of the town, and enjoying the sun streaming in. In the coming days, I hope I will describe more of the characters and conversations here. But for now, world, I just want to announce that I’m here, and this place already feels like home. Yes, I’m here in this small community of Downeast Friends, living in this big house in this small community on this island off the coast of Maine– I’m here, I’m here, I’m here!
