News

Special thanks to Themis Gkion and Tessie and Madeleine Bunnell for their contributions to this issue!

Click here to view the April Newsletter.

I recently had the opportunity to connect with Themis Gkion, a Creative Empowerment Facilitator with Partners for Youth Empowerment (PYE). Connecting via Zoom between Greece and the United States, we enjoyed a wide-ranging conversation about the PYE approach to learning, about larger trends in education, and about what is possible when the power and potential of young learners are unleashed. As an outcome of our conversation, I’ve been personally inspired to take an online Creative Facilitation 1 course from PYE in June. —Marnie Jackson Read More →

Pictured: a photo by tessie of MadelEine, Anika, and a curious doe. Photos courtesy the Bunnell family.

We were lucky enough to get to know the Bunnell family during spring and summer 2020, as Beth and her daughters Tessie (14) and Madeleine (16) got involved as volunteers on the land. When we asked for their reflections, Tessie and Madeleine both expressed excitement about what they had seen and learned, and eager anticipation of their next visit to the land. 

“I look forward to spending more time at the Whidbey Institute and seeing how our trail looks in the different seasons,” Tessie said.  Read More →

Click here to view the newsletter and read this article and others.

Our resident caretaker, Thomas Arthur, shares an experience he had here during our February snowstorm and then offers up a beautiful video of that time. Enjoy! —Marnie

I am standing in the courtyard of Thomas Berry Hall in the midst of our February snow storm. There is no wind, no sound, just the wondrous view of huge flakes floating to the ground, galaxies of light falling through space. I am captivated by the moment, filled with a giddy delight as if I were seeing snow for the first time. Read More →

by Marnie Jackson

Kent Wales discovered the Whidbey Institute when a colleague invited him to Spirited Work in 2002. The program, hosted by Anne Stadler and others including Gabriel Shirley and Mark Jones, was once described by Tree Fitzpatrick as, “an ongoing experiment that embodies collective wisdom as a conscious system.” These Open Space gatherings continued to draw Kent west from his Spokane-area home until Spirited Work concluded in the mid 2000s. As a result of the program’s influence in his life and in appreciation for this land, Kent donates regularly. As part of his care for this place, he became a monthly donor to the Whidbey Institute in 2013.

I recently connected with Kent to thank him for his ongoing generosity and to find out more about why he gives. He shared about his experience with Spirited Work, which he said helped bring balance to his life. Read More →

The Evolving Dance of “Place Ballet”
Years ago, our friend and former colleague Robert Mellinger introduced me to the concept of “place ballet”. This concept is described by David Seamon and Christina Nordin in a 1980 paper on Marketplace as Place Ballet. “Conducting their own daily activities, people come together in space, which takes on a sense of place. Individual participants using the same space unintentionally create a larger place with its own tempo of activity and rest, bustle and calm,” they write.

Click here to read the full article, plus see news about Waymarkers’ Wild Winter course, a Dawnland screening with live Q&A hosted by Rebecca Black, and more!