June was a strange month indeed. Strange in good ways, but strange nonetheless. I spent 20 days with friends and family – that’s even more than the time I spent in AZ with my sister, Sue, after I broke my wrist. It’s been great, and quite a change from what I’d become accustomed to.
After six days at Hammonasset Beach State Park on Long Island Sound in Connecticut, I headed to Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire to see a friend I met working on a community college advocacy project a few years ago. Over the years we had the chance to talk a bit about things other than work, but the several days gave us a chance for deeper conversation. I loved hearing stories of her growing up years and railing on about the state of our country. We did some kayaking on a nearby lake and I managed to get caught in a rain storm and a little lost on my bike. LeeAnn was in a meeting when I walked in, but she took one look and said “you need to get in a hot shower.” I must have looked like a drowned rat.
I left Fitzwilliam planning on a couple of nights at Harvest Hosts before making my way to a birthday party for a friend’s 100th! Before going to the Hudson House and Distillery, where I was one of six or seven HH guests, I went to the Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site. I’d read a biography years ago, but didn’t realize that she and two friends started a vocational training program for farmers so they’d have a back-up plan when the farming didn’t go so well. It was called Val-Kill Industries, named for the river that ran through the property. After the center closed she had it turned into her home.
Eleanor Roosevelt was an extraordinary woman, serving as the U.S. delegate to the General Assembly charged with forming the U.N. She chaired the UN Human Rights Commission, leading the way to passage of the International Declaration of Human Rights. She was the only woman, making the struggle greater than it otherwise would have been, but she had values, convictions, and the belief that her voice was righteous and mattered…and she made an impact, in the UN and for many years afterward, including writing a daily column and 27 books.
One of her quotes characterizes part of her – “I’m the agitator, he’s the politician,” ‘he’ being FDR – but it doesn’t ring true and I think she was selling herself short. Her track record included meetings with world leaders – Krushchev, Nehru, and others – and JFK meeting with her in her home seeking her endorsement. He got it but it hinged on his commitment to work on civil rights legislation.
I also went to the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, where Woodstock took place in 1969. The story of Woodstock is astounding in that the organizers pulled it off. It should have been a disaster given the size of the crowd, the rain storm, the lack of food, etc. It seems to me that it went as well as it did because….well, hippies!
The first part of the exhibit lays out the social and political context – nearly 2 million young men were drafted, the fight for civil rights was under way, and a better world was being imagined. That helps to explain why almost half a million people found a way to get to Bethel, a town with nowhere near the capacity or infrastructure to support the event. The deep desire for peace that people brought with them had to have contributed to handling the challenges with grace and love, with the will to figure things out, to be of help, to contribute to the greater good. It reminded me a little of the Occupy Movement and participants’ earnest efforts to deal with the human issues that arose while taking a stand for economic justice.
There were a couple of films that made me want to watch full length documentaries, which I will do. We need a little Woodstock love and power right about now.
How about this for a coincidence? I was sitting in the theater waiting for the movie to start and a woman in the row in front of me turned around to chat. We figure out that we’re both from Washington and she tells me that she’s out here to visit a childhood friend and go to a birthday party. As soon as she says it’s for a 100 year old I interrupted – I’m going to a birthday party for a 100 year old! She says, Stella? What are the odds? We told the story I don’t know how many times at the party.
My Harvest Host after Bethel Hills was Michele, an Alpaca and Llama farmer and a PK-12 art teacher. She was her AFT local’s president for a time, so I felt a kinship with her. She really adores her animals and I’ll admit it – I found the alpacas adorable!
And then I got to the town of Woodstock to hang out with friends Mark and Diane and a hundred+ of their family and friends to celebrate Diane’s mom’s 100th – you go Stella! It was great to be with friends in a beautiful setting – a house on a creek flowing with waterfalls, a swimming hole and a rope swing, and the Catskill mountains off in the distance. A neighbor hosted a square dance on Friday, the birthday party was on Saturday, and Sunday was a day to chill. People came from all over the country and even someone from Argentina! The bonds of these families were formed decades ago and celebrating Stella was a joyous occasion!
I left Woodstock for a few days camping at Allegany State Park in western New York. Given the heat wave I felt lucky to have had a campsite in the shade. This is a huge park with lots of activities, a lake for swimming and kayaking, a bike path throughout the park, and lots of hiking trails. Next stop is Ohio and other points west. It feels like the launch of my journey home – I can hardly believe it. I have so much to see and do as I travel the roughly 3000 miles back home!
Karen in the Gap 
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