Southwestern College 
A Long Slow Ride to Solid Ground
Following the Mystery
to distant shores
where the long slow swells of the Grandmother Ocean
break hard upon the beaches
below Miraflores
I remember the Ancient Ones
the Children of the Sun
the First Man and First Woman
who left their footprints
at Lake Titicaca
I ride the waves past my own childhood
past my mother’s terror of being alive
my father’s ancestral rage
I bear witness
to the Untruth
of Separation
as i land hard upon the edge of the great
Southern Continent
the feel of solid earth
beneath my body
volcanic cliffs black in the moonlight
The Southern Cross above me
marks the way
for the Great Turning.
About the Moderator
Jim Nolan is in his 6th year as president of Southwestern College. He has worked for a dozen universities or colleges, both online and on the ground. He holds a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology, and attended graduate school in English/Irish Literature. He reads a lot of books, takes a lot of photos, plays guitar, got married in India in 2010, and has a wire haired fox terrier named Barney. He is the opposite of a guru, whatever that is called.