3 August 2007 - Northampton, MA
Our day-off went swimmingly, as they say. Fred served us homemade whole wheat pancakes and Maria gave us home-grown cantaloupe and we debriefed some more from the night before. Fred gave us book ideas (and books!) and Maria showed us photos. It had been an enriching few days. So wonderful, to make new friends in this way.
We packed up and headed into downtown toward the train station, our hosts’ grand-daughter Emma along for the ride, in search of Thomas the Tank Engine. The train was right on time. We said our goodbyes and boarded. On to Amherst, MA.
By early afternoon we were in the able hands of our next host, Jim, who gave us a driving tour of Amherst and “the valley” on our way to his home near Northampton. We met his family and his pets, then crashed for a few hours in the guest room, catching up on a few emails and napping onces again. We’ve been far more tired than we had anticipated, even when it feels like we’ve had enough sleep. Some combination of being “on” as much as we have been (hard work for confirmed introverts!), the traveling itself, the change and the newness, and the heat that seems to be following us wherever we go, has left us fairly drained, and we find ourselves just nodding off in the afternoons. That’s not like us at all!
We came out of our cocoon to a wonderful dinner with Jim and Torie and Emma and Ethan, sweet corn and sweeter conversation. Then we headed to bed for a full night’s sleep.
The next day brought us breakfast on the deck and more great conversation, then we headed into Northampton, to see the town and check out the space for the evening’s event. We’d be screening in the UU church right downtown, a re-built version of the previous building (that burned in 1903, I think) in which, we were told, Ralph Waldo Emerson had spoken more than once. I found myself wondering what Emerson would have thought of our movie.
The church was beautiful and spacious, with Tiffany stained glass filtering the sunlight. The day was headed into the mid-90s, and the church has no AC, so we’d moved the screening to 8 PM, hoping for a cooler experience, and a darker room. As everything was in order, we headed back to Jim’s house, to fit in a few hours of computer time and rest.
We had a wonderful dinner at an Indian restaurant, then walked up to the church to set up. We hauled chairs for the circle and set up fans. Emma manned the table at the door and Jim and his friend Tim got the sound and picture in order. By 8 PM we had over 70 people in the room. Sally and I made our opening remarks, setting up the doc as best we could in the few minutes alloted to us. The lights went down and the movie started.
The church was hot. But most people stayed until the end. They got up, stood in the back in front of a fan, one even laid down for a while (is it “laid”? I always get mixed up with lay and lie, no matter how many times I work to get it straight!), but almost all of them stayed. Somewhere in there a thunderstorm marched overhead, bringing a bit of relief along with the rain. It was 10:10 when the end credits rolled.
And still, 21 of us stayed for the circle afterwards, sharing feelings and thoughts and ideas until 11:30 or so. This circle was more varied than most, with people in many different places with respect to the issues explored in What a Way to Go. Despair was in the room, as was hope and encouragement, and feelings of relief and empowerment, anger and shame. Something often happens for people upon seeing the doc, and seeing that they can look at these things without being undone. They find themselves with a new feeling of personal power.
There was a strong agreement that this sort of circle dialogue processing was much needed, and one woman collected names and contact information, in order to organize an ongoing circle. That was very gratifying to see.
We got home after 12, decompressed with a bit of reading, then went to sleep. The next day will bring our screening at Hampshire College, in an air-conditioned room with sound and projection equipment already in place. And at some point we’ll have to pick up our rental car, as the trains won’t quite work for us for a while.
Onward,
Tim
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August 5th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
Dear Tim and Sally,
I was there last night- in Amherst—thank you again. The movie is very catalytic. It was such a relief to find myself amidst others who live in the same world I do.
I want to share some thoughts with you— (thanks for the Blog space in which to do that!!). Going back to a previous entry from you Tim, this June, about the Collapse— when is it coming, etc. Caused me to think on this. See what you think about these ideas.
My experience is that the Collapse began (or began to begin) about 40 years ago. The incredibly naïve and materialistic idealism of the 50’s eventually gave way in the 60’s. I read somewhere that the QUALITY OF LIFE peaked in 1969. Think on that. It has been in decline since then (in the U.S.). I have been thinking about—and trying to deal with—the coming Collapse since the early 70’s. Back then we became “back-to-the-landers”, which I did….twice. I read somewhere in 1976—- that bad times were coming so, 1- learn to meditate, 2- watch your dreams, and 3- plant a garden. I did all three. We always thought it was imminent!! What has been so devastatingly hard to cope with is the fact that things keep on being the same. I.e. not collapsing. Y2K predicted imminent collapse— but nothing happened.
I have the feeling that one of the causes of the widespread denial, despair and general numbness….is that for some of us anyway- we have tried……………many things. And while life has been rich and lots of wonderful things have happened….still, for the most part everything has failed that was supposed to counter the collapse. The hippies, communes, anti-war movement, the environmental movement, the “New Age”, Y2K……….plus more…. (think of it all! Good Grief!)…….none of them have delivered……..delivery! The first Earth Day was May 1, 1970……..we knew about environmental degradation. We knew about population. We knew about all the main issues THEN! And here we are…….37 years later and every department is worse now than then. That is really quite discouraging. How does one cope in the face of a lifetime of effort that seems to not have made a real difference?
Now actually I am not discouraged (most of the time) because no one said this would be easy! And as you said briefly last night…….there is something about not knowing. Being in the not-knowing. Maybe we had to try and fail in order to get down to THIS. The Mystery. I think there really isn’t “anything to do”. It is about each one of us looking inside and making the change. One at a time. No prescriptions. No maps. All I can do— is me. That is why I don’t feel hopeless anymore. I am with me all the time and have endless opportunities to change me. It’s hard work—yes, but it’s happening.
It makes a HUGE difference to be around others who—for whatever strange and mysterious reason— see that the Emperor actually has nothing on. So I do hope that others from last night will in fact reach out and stay in touch.
Also I hope you will come back through this way again soon.
Many thanks once again for the courageous and creative work you both are doing.
All the very best,
Suzanne
August 13th, 2007 at 7:17 am
Dear Tim and Sally–
I’m so enjoying your posts! and now that the DVD is for sale, I’ll certainly purchase one. Funny story–the New Haven Advocate (I live just outside of New Haven, Connecticut) had listed the screeing of your film as happening on Wednesday the 26th of July and on Thursday the 27th, each night at a different UU church in the area. Well, I had a commitment on the Wednesday, and showed up on the Thursday–and no one was around! I waited for a little while (ten minutes), and still no one showed. Bwahhh! Later on, checking your blog, I learned that I was a half0hour early, and that the film wasn’t shown that night anyway, that it was a continuation of the previous evening’s discussion group. So–it just wasn’t meant to be for me to join with you folks at this point!
By the way, I’ve just learned (and feel ridiculously proud about it!) a sure-fire way to keep “lay” and “lie” in the right categories: “lay/laid/laying/lain” is for objects, “lie/lied/lying” is for peeps.
Happy trails!