loving art, science and creative kids

 Painting inspired by ee cummings.  Each of us lives in our communities minding our business and doing our own thing ignoring the greater world.

 Pretty How Town by ee cummings

" Anyone lives in a pretty how town  / with an up so floating many bells down / spring summer autumn winter  / he sang his didn't he danced his did...  "

Remember the time you left home for college? It may have been the first time you were going to be without parents guiding your life. I remember it as a moment of great anticipation and excitement.

As a relatively sheltered child my parents did not want me to go too far from home so I selected a rural institution about 100 miles away. What a shock! I was a big city gal enjoying the richness of Philadelphia. My childhood included Saturday mornings listening to youth concerts at Symphony Hall and participated in programs at the Philadelphia Art Museum surrounded by great masterpieces. In general the city was my playground.

Enter college years! Dad introduced me to a small school because he had been a medical resident in the area. The college was known for liberal arts and pre-medical training and sounded good to me.

It was thrilling to learn that I was accepted and assigned a roommate. But what a surprise it was to meet the person who was going to be living with me. She was a small town girl who was raised on horses, went to demolition derbies and enjoyed skipping classes. I loved horses and thought derbies were exciting but her particular twist was disturbing. As amusement she and her friends would cover themselves with sheets and ride through their country club pretending to be the Ku Klux Klan. What type of person was this? I was horrified.

The boys at school were also different from those I knew at home. In the fall they came to classes with hunting licenses on their backs, ready to take off as soon as they were free. They attended fraternity parties with hazing rituals that would make my hair stand on end. In our dorms we could hear screams drifting from hidden locations across campus.

We girls were also subject to hazing. For our first six weeks we had to wear one yellow and one red sock, a name placard over our shoulders, and a beanie on our heads. At 12:30 each day we all attended a pep rally and demonstrated that we knew all the school and football songs. Orientation was not fun with sophomores closely watching the movements of every freshman. Apparently the goal was to make the freshman class become close and form a plan to rebel against the sophomores. Our class never did.

It wasn’t until the end of my freshman year that I finally broke through my wall of shyness. I was a dancer and tried out for a lead part in a homecoming spectacular. Much to my amazement I got the part. For the first time at college people started talking to me. I made friends and we got along.

I stayed in that school for the entire freshman year, transferring to Boston University as a sophomore. I loved my experience at Boston University but looking back I realize just how much I learned about rural America by participating in an environment with people who were so unlike me. Most were loving and caring—just a little different. Their values were not always the same as mine but by the end of the year we somehow managed to communicate and enjoy each other’s company. Going away from home—whether to further education, take a job, join the military, meet new people or learn to adapt to cultural differences—is life expanding. Travel abroad is one of the best gifts you can give yourself or your children.

These experiences remind of what Anatole France once wrote, that “Even a little dog is the center of his own universe.” Understanding these various centers make life rich. Learning to communicate and have discussions with people who are different is the best way to solve problems.

                                                                                            SCOTLAND by Marilynne