Observations on the Incoming class of 2012 at Southwestern College
Today was the orientation for the new students of Southwestern College’s Class of 2012. Wow. Strong voices, literally, metaphorically. Strong values. Deep, searching, creative, adventurous, committed. That is a great combination. The day before, we did a full day of training with the incoming Graduate Assistants.
When I am riding a right brain wave, as I was today, I tend to hear things more impressionistically, rather than literally. (Think Monet’s Impression Sunrise, rather than Grant Wood’s American Gothic.)
So, as I listened and experienced the energy in the room during these meetings, and when I let go of the need for literal-ness, here is what I understood about our incoming class and the other people who participated in the welcomings…
• The entire city of Austin, Texas is now enrolled at Southwestern College
• Santa Fe is the spit and image of Ethiopia
• Two of Canada’s eleven residents are now members of the first year class
• Nobody likes Long Island
• Craig McAdams has some growth areas in the field of directing plays in the Quechuan language
• The city of Minneapolis is operating with a skeleton crew while all of its people pursue Art Therapy/Counseling degrees in New Mexico
• Everybody arrived in New Mexico last night
• Such foreign nations as Cuba, Mexico and Vermont are also represented in this year’s class
• Everybody in the class rescues dogs every chance they get, and the total number of pets represented in the room numbered in the millions
• Approximately 10% of the people in the room were at Woodstock
• Leslie the Librarian is having trouble with marauding bears on Pojoaque Pueblo—they are eating her koi fish from her five ponds
• “La Cienega” means “The Swamp”, but there is no swamp there, and at night, it is a lot darker than Cleveland or Cincinnati
• Half the room does energy work or somatic work already
• If sheer “number of therapy sessions” were the lone criterion for winning a contest, Webb would win hands-down
• We are going to have some conversations about Pueblos over the next couple years
• Understanding the complexities and historical context of the Latino/Hispanic/Mexican question in New Mexico will take you more than two years, and maybe more than ten
• Everybody probably needs to go on a Vision Quest while they are here
• If you keep insisting to yourself that your own actions follow the calling of your heart, you may very well end up in Santa Fe, at Southwestern College…
And now that you are here, you will have to discover the answer to the question in Debbie Schroder’s song of the morning:
“What will you stand for?”
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.
