Days of Our Lives

7:00am
Wake up and get ready for the day


7:30
Walk to breakfast and take in the beautiful Valley


8:00
Lifestyles of Nonviolence class


9:30
Go down to the river to collect and identify arthropods during Field and Natural History class


11:00
East Asian Civilizations class


12:30
Lunch at Cowpie, the vegan café while listening to the old-time string band


1:00
Work at the Office of Admission- entering data, giving tours, and talking on the phone


5:00
Make dinner in the kitchen with the folks in my dorm


6:00
Attend a movie viewing for my US History from 1945 course


7:30
Take a short hike on campus


8:30
Homework and Studying


11:00pm
Fall asleep while watching the “Planet Earth” series

Cait

Oh Lord, Kumbayah

It sounds like the lead up to a pretty good punch line: “What do you get when you send a Warren Wilson student to Maine to work at an all-girls Bible camp for the summer?” But this year, and for the past two years, I have left the Swannanoa valley to come up to New England Camp Cedarbrook. It may seem like a strange combination to you, but to me, it makes perfect sense. One of my favorite things about going to WWC is being exposed to so many new kinds of people and so many different ways of life (see also: reiki, firespinning, biodynamic agriculture, slam poetry, and raw-foodism), and learning how to be open to that. When I come to camp, I'm doing the same thing: being around people who seem very dissimilar, and learning how to look for what we have in common.

This summer, I am working joyfully alongside people who question evolution, who march in pro-life rallies, who have bumper stickers for the Marines on their cars and who proudly voted for McCain/Palin. And we all get along great. That's what being in community is about, right?

When I'm here at camp, I get to do things like teach Bible studies about compost (just like the worms decompose table scraps and turn them into rich soil, Jesus takes our icky bits and turns them into opportunities for growth) and explain how turning off the lights and buying local food is taking care of God's creation. And, what's more, I get to challenge myself, my campers, and the other staff to look beyond our stereotypes and knee-jerk reactions and learn how to live in vibrant community with one another.

See? Not so different from Wilson after all (well, except for the strict ban on skinnydipping up here. The lazy Swannanoa River will be waiting for me in August).

Can I get an “Amen”?

Lindsay

Why We Work - well, at least one reason...

It’s the middle of June and I have been working on Admission Crew for roughly four weeks now. One of the great advantages of working at WWC in the summer is getting paid every two weeks. My plan is to save some extra money for the fall semester, so I can actually go out to eat every once and a while. I made the mistake of coming to school last semester with not more than five dollars in my bank account. Not that having money is a big concern here, it is just nice to be able to go out on occasion. At least WWC pays a good bit more than minimum wage for the summer work. With a forty hour a week contract, I should have some spending money as well. On top of it all, WWC makes it easy for students to take off however many weeks they want for vacation time. I could easily spend a month in Nova Scotia, and then come back and work the rest of the summer with this set up! I guess I am enjoying working on this crew too much to take that much time off.

Thankfully, today was payday, another five hundred dollars towards my savings. Right? Not exactly. A wrench was thrown into my plans to save up, when I got a call from a friend who was planning a trip by herself to New York City. Convincing me to join her did not take much. I thought about my little savings account, and decided, what am I saving for anyway; Greasy pizza from Chow Time, the local delivery place? No, I need to put my money towards new experiences, not more junk. So I dished out two hundred dollars for a round trip ticket to NYC. Luckily, the cost of the ticket was not even half of one of my paychecks. The real cost will come when I get there, gazing around at tons of museums and subways. The adventure will definitely be worth it. I have never been to NYC, and I have never been that far north. It’s going to be a one hundred and eighty degree turn around from the mountains of Appalachia but I think I need to experience the big city. Not to mention I’ll be there for the Forth of July celebration. City lights, and fireworks here I come!

Jenn

The Last Supper

Ah, to be less than a week away from graduating. It is exciting, terrifying, and wonderful all at the same time. One of the many senior events of the final two weeks is the senior dinner, a delicious meal orchestrated by the President and his wife and shared with fellow seniors, professors, and staff alike. As if graduating weren’t nostalgic enough, do all of my professors have to dote on me so? Carol Howard, whom I mentioned in a previous blog as a brunette bombshell and professor of English here at WWC, saw us driving up to the dinner and waited outside of the door so that she could be sure to sit with “her students” at the dinner.

Unfortunately, Gary Hawkins, head of the creative writing department, and David Mycoff, head of the English department, did not plan so well, and we had quickly run out of space at our table, forcing them to find seats elsewhere. Carol and I discussed future plans as well as landmark college experiences over my beef filet and her portobello mushroom. Warren Gaughan, head of the music department, came over to chat, and I invited him to a post-graduation get-together at my house. He just said, “I’m invited? YES!” And I told him all about the two bands that will be performing at the party.

Following dinner, the Warren Wilson College Chorale serenaded us with everything from world music to a Bob Dylan cover. As I sipped my coffee, Mycoff took advantage of a seat vacated by my roommate, Tori, and sat down next to me. I slyly opened with “How’s your semester wrapping up?” as a casual lead in to ask if he had read my thesis yet and, if so, what he had thought of it. I dropped the question, and he told me that my forty pages about AIDS Drama was one of the best theses he has read. As he stood up to leave, he added: “And I don’t just mean out of this year’s work.” I have been on cloud 9 since that conversation and will continue floating until May 16th around 10:00 or so.

RH

No Rest for The Weary

At this point in the school year, students are realizing that there are, in fact, only a couple days left in this academic year.

Right now Wilson students are in the midst of writing final papers, preparing for exams, and reviewing all the information they’ve absorbed over the semester. In addition to all the academic work at hand, Wilson students are still putting in fifteen hours a week on their work crews. That’s right, our students are not graced with a week free of classes, let alone work. Our cows still need to be rotated on our pastures and the bathrooms in Gladfelter still need to be cleaned.

But, you know what?

That’s what makes our school and students so distinct. Outside of a college setting, the world won’t hold still when stuff starts pilling up. The same holds true here at Wilson.

LM

One Down, Three To Go

It’s funny to think how just ten months ago I was completely ignorant to the entire idea of college life. I remember thinking to myself, as I packed my final belongings into the van the night before our 14-hour journey from New York to North Carolina, that everything was going to be different from now on. All the websites say that once you leave for college your relationship between everyone at home changes, not necessarily for the worse. Then when we pulled out of the drive way the next morning I remember thinking that this is going to be my last trip down my driveway and then NY for a long time. I have always traveled and loved being away from home, but this time is different, I was going to a chapter in my life. It was a bittersweet goodbye.

I remember pulling off of Warren Wilson Road onto campus for orientation week. I remember being nervous, excited, scared, and ready all at the same time as my parents, sister, and I began to unload the van and carry my things up to the third floor of Sunderland. How we opened the door to see white walls, a bed, desk, and wardrobe, and my mother not being able to believe that she was going to leave me in such a hospital looking room. Everything is such a blur for the next week.

Life was awkward for the first month or so as we were all finding our friends and our place here on campus. It was especially awkward between my roommate and I, learning about each other and trying not to step on each other’s feet. Audrey and I have come a long way since our first meeting. Now we are best friends who stay up for hours in bed just talking. I have grown confident with my classes and the college all together.

I know I have changed since coming to college, but all for the better. I have a better idea of what I want in life. I have life long friends. I know myself better. The beginning was difficult, but it was so worth it to get to where I am now. So it is hard to believe that a year full of memories is exactly that…memories. Now I have to look to the future and a new year next fall.

AL

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh

This semester has been a rough one both academically and physically. In addition to taking an intensive course load, including chemistry, I have been dealing with some health issues. Over the course of about a month, I have had two serious bouts of tonsillitis that landed me in the hospital. My plan was the same all along, to hold out until summer and have surgery at home after the semester was completed. When the second round of tonsillitis stopped responding to antibiotics, my doctor advised me to have my tonsils removed immediately to avoid a systemic infection. He also advised that I discontinue my school and class work as the medication I would be receiving after surgery would impede my ability to focus.

I was devastated. There was only five weeks left! The last thing that I wanted to do was withdraw from school and delay my graduation. So, with withdrawing out of the question, I called the dean of students, Cathy Kramer. Cathy calmed me down and we created a plan that allowed me to remain a Wilson student while I dealt with my medical concerns. I dropped chemistry as I would not be able to attend enough labs to satisfy the course. Each of my other professors met with me individually to discuss my coursework. They offered to meet with me in their own free time to fill me in on the material that I had missed. Everyone accommodated me to the fullest. When I was recovering, I received “get well” calls and emails from both my professors and supervisors.

Finally, I am left in aw of Wilson again. Never have I felt such a part of a community. It is situations like these that make me grateful that I call this tiny mountain school my home.
-CC

P.S. I have returned to work and I will be completing my classes in the next two weeks without my tonsils!

Work Day - Breakfast

Usually, when students are interacting with Landscaping supervisor Tom LaMuraglia, he’s wearing a green flannel shirt, a Leatherman on his hip, and a cap on his head. He holds a walkie-talkie in one hand and a forever-ringing cell phone in the other. He has motor oil on his finger tips, grass clippings on his shins. If Tom had a motto, it would be, "eat, drink, landscape, and be merry."

Today, Tom is relatively clean, sporting a white t-shirt and a fresh pair of Carharts. But that doesn’t mean he’s not working hard. He moves around his kitchen with his chin to his chest, beating vats of raw eggs, sculpting mounds of sausage patties, looking up only momentarily to give a hearty welcome and a slap on the back to every student that enters his front door.

In the living room, past and present members of the Landscaping, Tree and Blacksmith Crews mingle about, happily drunk on the smell of what’s about to come out of the kitchen. It’s 8:30 in the morning, and Tom’s house is packed. He’s just the kind of guy that can pull 50 college students out of bed that early in the morning for a meal that most of them aren’t even accustomed to eating anymore. No one’s complaining about the early call time today though.

After breakfast we play bocce ball in the pasture behind Tom’s house, Scrabble around his sofa and Jenga on the dining room table. The Tree Crew pops in a CD of 80’s pop songs with techno remixes. A dance party ensues around the Scrabble players, who must shout to be heard: "Europe is a proper noun, but I’ll let it slide!"

This is the most fun I’ve had before noon in a long time. God bless Work Day.

Christopher Biddle '11

"Start small, go slow, but go.”

My life as a Warren Wilson College student is about to end. On Saturday, May 16, 2009 (short 4 weeks from now), I will graduate from this fine educational institution with a degree in Outdoor Leadership Studies. Whoa.

I transferred to Wilson from Hood College, which is another small, liberal arts college in Frederick, Maryland. Hood was my fallback school, and when the college I had my heart set on fell through with financial aid, I realized that I needed to fall back. It was not a good fit. I won’t sit here and complain, but basically, students at Hood are not focused on the community as a whole and I had a difficult time making friends, despite my best efforts. I found solace in the art club (which was made up of mostly commuter students) and in the knowledge that I was not going to stay an entire four years.

During spring break of my first year, I looked at schools in California and in the fall of my sophomore year I looked at schools in Vermont. I decided that I was somewhat interested in majoring in Gender Studies at Burlington College in Vermont. On Christmas Eve, however, I was talking to a friend who had graduated from Wilson in ’05, and she said something about how she had never heard of another school where students could work on a farm or graduate with an Outdoor Leadership degree. I got excited; I decided right then that I wanted to go to Warren Wilson College to major in this Outdoor Leadership thing. So, having never visited the school, I applied two weeks before the spring semester started, was accepted a week later, and three days before orientation I drove on down south with my mom to find out what this place was all about.

It was, without a doubt, the best decision (and the riskiest!) I have ever made. I love going to school here. I have met people who have changed my life (including the daughter of Maura Bussiere, who I know is reading this blog), learned things about the world and myself, and experienced things I don’t think I would have had I attended a different school. I fell in love with the mountains of western North Carolina, which I not only see every day while on campus, but also lived in for 48 days during a North Carolina Outward Bound Course. I know the town of Asheville and its many splendors, my favorite of which are the Sisters McMullen Cupcake Corner and the French Broad Chocolate Lounge. I met Rue McClanahan, a star of my favorite TV show (The Golden Girls), at a local bookstore. I have also found a great tattoo artist, which is a mixed blessing because it means that now I’ll have to come back to Asheville every time I want a tattoo. And, most importantly, I know that I will do something worthwhile with my life because I came to Warren Wilson College.

I realize now that all of that gushy “Go forth young man/woman” graduation crap is not actually gushy crap. I’m starting to feel nervous and excited about starting my life as a college graduate, and all of the stuff I rolled my eyes at before I’m starting to relate to. This is when I’m supposed to start becoming a real person, and that’s a little scary. I’ll have to do things like pay for health insurance and my cell phone and try to make friends outside of a school setting and try to be a good person and contribute positive things to the world. It’s a lot to think about! Luckily, I don’t have to become an adult all at once, and I have my whole life to get things right. One of my favorite professors, Dr. Marty O’Keefe, says something that I like a lot: “Start small, go slow, but go.” And that’s what I intend to do, to go.

Laurel

I woke up at 6:15 on Easter morning to bundle up, since it was below freezing at that time, and walk to the Formal Gardens here at Warren Wilson College for the Easter Sunrise Service. I walked over with fellow early-riser from my dorm and met some friends at the Garden. There were some chairs set up, and standing room in the back. People were bundled up with hats, scarves, and mittens holding bulletins awaiting the sunrise. My good friend had gotten up extra early that morning to bake bisuits to share with others at the service, and they sure hit the spot – warm and delicious. We stood outside as the sun painted the sky various shades of pink and orange and the birds woke up from their slumber and began chirping above us. We prayed together, sang together, and even danced together a little bit as we welcomed the sun and the warmth and celebrated.

For many, Easter is a very special time and Warren Wilson does an excellent job making it special for those who cannot be at home with their families. While many students were able to go home for the weekend, many of us were still at school and were happy to have a lovely service to go to that morning. Leah McCullough, the new Spiritual Life Director, lead the service and it was an excellent opportunity to meet her. She lead a wonderful service and we were all happy to be awake and celebrating together.

After the service we all walked back to our dorm rooms to warm up our frozen feet and hands before continuing our days.

Adrianne