Flatlanders' Questionnaire 1
Thanks to all of you fellow flatlanders who showed enthusiasm for the project. (If you're new to this project, you can read the previous entry Flatlanders' Vermont.) While most of us
are solid individualists, who seemed to be making a very singular choice to leave our city lives to homestead in Vermont, in retrospect I see we came in a wave, all pushing northward for a saner life. Many of us are artists and educators, many of us parents, all of us have had unique experiences which I'm eager to have us share.
Each week I will post between 3-5 questions to mull over. Answer any or all in any order, and you can post your initial responses as comments (click on comments below his blog entry) or if you prefer you can email them to me at ebenreilly@aol.com.
This is our first leisurely phase-- just sharing our perceptions. Based on our responses we will devise a Flatlander Questionnaire which we'll print and distribute to any individual or family who then feels they'd like to contribute to the book.
1. When, from where and why did you move to Vermont?
2. If your Move to Vermont were a movie, describe the opening scenes and images as the credits flash across the screen.
3. List 5 first impressions of Vermont.
4. Describe the first problem you encountered and how you coped or overcame it.
5. Tell the most compelling story of those first weeks in Vermont-- could be as simple as
watching your kids hunt for tadpoles, drawing your first landscape, being befriended or
ostracized... whatever comes to mind most boldly.
posted by Eben Reilly @ 12:05 PM
2 Comments
2 Comments:
Hi - I'm not sure how to use the website so here are my answers - feel free to use my name. I'm soooo excited for you.
1. When, from where and why did you move to Vermont? We moved to VT because my husband was a Forester and there were not a lot of jobs in that field in NJ. He also knew this area from coming to Lake Dunmore in the summers as a child. His family was also moving here as well.
2. If your Move to Vermont were a movie, describe the opening scenes and images as the credits flash across the screen. The first scene would be of a young woman excited and then in the very next moment that look of wondering what she got herself into. The next scene would be her crying.
3. List 5 first impressions of Vermont. Beautiful, peaceful, quiet, scary and overwhelming.
4. Describe the first problem you encountered and how you coped or overcame it. When we first moved here we lived in Brandon and I did not have a job at the time. I had been married a year and we moved into my -in-laws house. That says it all. I don’t remember any first problem, it was more adjusting to a new way a life.
5. Tell the most compelling story of those first weeks in Vermont-- could be as simple as
watching your kids hunt for tadpoles, drawing your first landscape, being befriended or
ostracized... whatever comes to mind most boldly. I’ll think about this one!
----- Original Message -----
Hi Eileen!
I enjoyed meeting you, and I'm glad you're running with this idea. Sorry it took so long for me to respond. Things get pretty busy around here!
1. When, from where and why did you move to Vermont?
I was 11 and living in Manhattan, W. 116th, when my mom started getting part-time gigs up at Johnson State College (she was a pro musician then and taught flute). After some commuting via Amtrak, she decided to buy a car and move us up here for real.
2. If your Move to Vermont were a movie, describe the opening scenes and images as the credits flash across the screen.
A highway in 1979. A U-Haul. A little girl romping on a hillside covered with white pines. Oh, and the opening credits of Battlestar Galactica (original series), because when we moved to VT, we also got our first TV, which was quite a milestone in my life!
3. List 5 first impressions of Vermont.
Uh... green stuff. Ten-cent ice cream cones. Fuzzy pines and lots of ferns. Tons of churches for such a small town (they've since become part of the Vermont Studio Center!). Bears (fear of).
4. Describe the first problem you encountered and how you coped or overcame it.
Junior high school was the problem. A huge problem. Particularly gym class. I tried to overcome this by buying the proper clothes (chamois-pronounced-chammy shirts from the Woolen Mill, hiking boots with red laces), but I would not say I overcame it. More like grew up and fled it forever. I vowed never again to be in a situation where my worth was determined by my prowess at soccer and b-ball.
5. Tell the most compelling story of those first weeks in Vermont...
Finding my mom sitting by the creek outside our apartment complex when it was totally dark outside. She said she was meditating-- which was nothing unusual, this being the '70s and all. But in the city, you don't meditate outdoors, at night! In fact, for the first few weeks, I was terrified of the thick country dark, especially because there was this movie called Prophecy out that summer, about a rampaging monster in the rural woods. I didn't see it, but the THOUGHT sufficed. Anyway, at the time, I was floored by my mom's courage! But soon I was roaming the woods after dark, too.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home