Fall 2018

Editor’s Note

On page 1, junior Anna Morrisey describes how Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” teaches the reader “to live as part and parcel of the world,” to find the sacred balance between self and other. Building on last issue’s introduction of the Center for Experiential Learning and Global Engagement, this issue of Potash Hill has many such lessons, many ways that Marlboro students have gone beyond their studies to find their “self” in the world.

For example, students traveling to Yellowstone National Park last March were given the opportunity to slow down and be a part of the Rocky Mountains landscape in winter, giving many of them new perspectives on ecology and community. “In a world where a thousand things are constantly demanded of us from technology and social media, that open and focused space is an invitation to connect to ecosystems much larger than us,” says Adam Katrick, Outdoor Program director, who led the trip.

Closer to home, other students are finding new ways to include community governance in their course of study, to balance their individual academic interests with the common good. From recent graduate Andrew Smith Domzal’s exploration of the existential black experience to alumna Jessica Flannery’s intrepid efforts to deliver public health programs in remote, war-torn areas of Africa, this issue brims with diverse lessons about how to be “of the world.”

Despite Adam’s understandable caution about social media mentioned above, I want to take this opportunity to personally invite every Marlboro community member to be part of the world of Branch Out, Marlboro’s very own virtual community. Get connected, find old friends and meet new ones, gain career advice and share memories. And if you have your own lessons about finding the sacred balance between self and other, or any other reactions to this issue of Potash Hill, I hope you’ll share them with me at pjohansson@marlboro.edu.

—Philip Johansson