MIMr MADURO May/June 1984 RAIN Page 25 in the Olympics, climbing Mt. Rainier, and sponsoring the Paul Winter Consort's Missa Gaia concert. The codirectors of the Education Department, Autumn Preble and Marilyn Strong, view their work as "bridging the separation between spirituality and nature." Many Chinook programs reflect the community members' desire to learn about ideas and concepts they need to help the community grow. Something else abounds in the village—meetings. About a dozen committees and departments make up the organization's structure, each dedicated to one facet of community life, such as welcoming guests, financial management, bookstore planning, and gardening. The posted list of weekly meetings can overwhelm a newcomer to village life. Monday—known as Challenge Day—is the one day of the week free from meetings. (I did manage, though, to meet with a hearty Chinook member on a Monday.) Meetings operate on a decisionmaking model called consensus by attunement. This means that members observe silence while decisions are being made so that everyone has time to understand and participate fully in any decision. Cross-current notions of community, village, culture, and education converge at the Chinook Learning Community. How did it begin? What is at the heart of the community, and what is the dream all about? The roots of the dream began with Chinook's cofounders, Fritz and Vivienne Hull, who in 1970 were struggling with work commitments. Working together at the University Presbyterian Church in Seattle during the 1960s made them face many issues concerniug work and the future. They joined the exodus of clergy leaving conventional religious service, but instead of embarking on careers in academia or counseling, as other clergy were doing, they headed to Europe with their 18-month-old son, Timothy. Their travels brought them to me island of Iona, off the coast of Scotland, in August 1970. Although the visit to the community on Iona (whose origins trace to a Granny's, a meeting place at Chinook sixth-century monastic school) was disappointing, it sparked Vivienne's research into Celtic history and into the cultural impact of Christianity in Ireland and Scotland. Vivienne was returning to her roots. She had been raised in a working-class neighborhood in Northern Ireland where she experienced a society divided by competitive religions. As Vivienne explains, "Our research and work became a way that we tried to work with Christian history, and to say to those in a more conventional setting: The Christian story is bigger. It is not just a matter of moving forward in time to the future, it is also a matter of seeing throughout our own past what conveniently got set aside and why." Upon returning to Washington later that year, Fritz and Vivienne decided to settle in Clinton, where Fritz's family had spent many summers. They continued to ruminate, but first they spent a few years discovering what they didn't want to do rather than what they did want to do. Some educational programs were held and some committees formed. A pivotal change occurred in 1979: The first covenant meeting was held in August 1979, marking the beginning of the commitment to membership in Chinook. Reflecting upon Chinook's first decade, Vivienne says, "Two strong themes have been with us since the beginning. One is the sense of the fundamental shift from societies that are increasingly fragmented to a true understanding of interdependence and learning to live that way. Second is a real concern for the environment and the way in which Christianity has been a part of the problem that caused people to disregard matter and the natural order by teaching a terrible dualism." The community and the village are growing. The nine-month residential program begins in September. The program's faculty comprises visiting scholars such as David Spangler and William Irwin Thompson, as well as Chinook members. Plans are under way to expand the community's buildings from the farmhouse, a meeting place called Granny's, a bungalow, and a shower facility to include a dining room, a large kitchen, and a student residence. Parallel to the growth of adult education programs is a commitment to children's education. As more children are born and village families grow, the issue of how to educate the next generation becomes vital. Vivienne sees the questions of how to embrace and work with a young family within the community as essential to the growth of the community and its vision. Fritz Hull stresses that Chinook offers a resource for empowerment and learning. He says it is important for people to take matters into their own hands. Self-education and pioneering are integral to Chinook's values. "Parts of what Chinook is all about are replicable in every community," remarks Fritz. Perhaps this is the . challenge: to take from this contemplative learning center called Chinook what works for us as we examine our connection to nature, land, and educational and cultural change. □ □ Mimi Maduro, a member of Rain's Board of Directors, gets absorbed by music and culture and is sometimes obsessed with technology.
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