15 August 2007 - Burlington, VT

A few more days in Vermont gave us time for more long walks and more email, dinner in Montpelier and breakfast in Pittsfield, meteor watching on a clear, cold night and house hunting on a beautiful, warm day, and some sweet hang time with Annabelle and Robert. The cool nights and beautiful days feel like home. I love it here.

Wednesday morning we headed out for breakfast, then made our way slowly up to Burlington, where we met for dinner with the organizers of the screening there, Essie and Sarah and Patrick. After a torture-free cheeseburger, some great mushroom enchiladas, and some wonderful conversation with our hosts, we headed over to the venue, a comfortable and well-equipped theater at Champlain College, where we met with Rob, who was another sponsor of the event.

I counted fifty one in the audience, twenty-four of whom stayed afterwards for a truly wonderful circle of dialogue, conversation, and brain storming. It’s always so gratifying, to sit in circle with a group of people who are ready and willing to engage in an honest and open sharing of thoughts and feelings and reactions. We spoke of hope and despair, of action, and of simply sitting with the question. There were lots of ideas about where else What a Way to Go might be shown in Vermont, and how else the word can be gotten out. The energy in the room was palpable and sobering. Looking at the situation head on, and sitting with the many unknowns, and the deepest questions, has a way of bringing people right into the moment. And that moment, in the Burlington circle, was sweet and alive and enough. We were so happy to have been there.

Afterwards we followed Essie to her home, where we stayed up late with her and Michael, sipping wine and eating chocolate chip cookies and speaking of the world, and of all of our work in it.

In the morning we were able to see the mountains outside their windows. There’s something about mountains… something about taking a stand… something about putting in one’s picket pin, as Derrick Jensen speaks of. They call to me. How nice it would be, to live amongst them.

We’ve got a few days off before we head to Massachusetts for a follow-up potluck there, then a few days more to explore Maine before we head to Pennsylvania. We toured the Lake Champlain islands and the norther reaches of the state on our way home from Burlington, but the central mountains call us more strongly, so we’ll bounce around here a bit more.

Peace, all. We’ll be back.

Tim