Making it happen at Bard
When Madeleine George invited me to apply to the Bard Bacc program, I couldn’t say no…
“For many (many) years, the likelihood of focused study and the pursuit of a degree seemed for me so improbable, I put the idea out of my head, but here it is, sparkling up a storm. The Bard Baccalaureate program is so outrageously generous — it's the antithesis of so much else happening in American, or in my life. A place that would have such a program is a total spirit match for me.
I've always craved learning. I've snuck study into every possible corner; most recently, I took a class via Harvard Extension, "News Reporting for the Web, Print, and Other Platforms" in 2017. It was super! But my life's design has always too tight with other demands on my attentions and hours and my finances were too limited to allow myself four committed years of school.
This opportunity could not land at a better time. I'm a photographer and content creator in the western Catskills (Delhi, to be exact), but am currently at a professional crossroads. From 2017-November 2020, I was the Director of Communications at an environmental non-profit in the region. I am now without regular employment and as interviews without offers become habit, I'm realizing that the likelihood of landing a position similar to what I had (as a 50-something woman without academic credentials) is little more than a mirage.
But here's the greater truth. I don't actually want another "job". What I do want is to make New York State the first state in the nation to discontinue the distribution and usage of chemical pesticides and fertilizers, make soil health a priority and go completely "organic".
There are so so many reasons why this should happen. There are environmental reasons, fiscal reasons, the concern for pollinator's health, but the social inequality of the food system and the right of children to a diet free of neurologically damaging chemicals really light my fire.
According to a March 2019 article by Lisa Gross in the *Nation*, "More than 92% of Americans have pesticides or their byproduct in their bodies". Conventionally grown kale is number three on the Environmental Working Group's "Dirty Dozen List" of most pesticide-laden foods, but that information is known by a very few. Foods grown without pesticides are available to very few and only the financially entitled can afford to feed their families and themselves what is now a rarified option — organically.
My highest level objective is to bring this project with me to Bard, I can't make such a thing reality on my own. The possibility of studying at Bard with a focus on Environmental and Urban studies, while evolving and launching Natural NY in the context of my studies, makes me drool.
I crave intellectual connection and sparkle most brightly when bouncing ideas around with other (different-thinking) heads. Challenge, collaboration, curiosity and growth are what I would be focused on at Bard. I would arrive with my arms spread wide, open to knowledge, fresh insights and of course, the elusive degree.”
