A Word from the Faculty — Ann Kimmage

     We are gathered around the conference table to pursue the art of autobiographical writing.  Our eyes are fixed on the reader, soaking in words that bring to life the drama of past events.  They are happy, sad, poignant, even puzzling, but they all magnetize us.  Delving into  the past with pen in hand lifts the curtain under which we find the mystery and wonder of the past.  Our readings ignite response and reflection.

     Our minds travel back in time to memories students generously share.   Here are some examples: sitting on a piazza in Bath fifty years ago with a loving family; the surprising consequences of devouring dates snitched from a pantry; an artist who finds a perfect model for his sculpture A Maine Girl; the delights of turkey ice-cream; sitting at a mother’s bedside during her last days; tracing an immigrant family’s past; reliving relationships with grandmothers, grandfathers, parents, and former husband.  The written word reveals new understandings.  As an instructor, I feel the excitement of the process and the pride in the results.

     The same love of learning is present in the Senior College classes I am currently taking as a student.  Curiosity and a passion to discover and challenge the mind are the common threads in all the classes.  There is an amazing wealth of talent and life skills among the students and teachers.

     It is enlivening to feel the mind grow, explore and discover, a thought well expressed by Walt Whitman, whom I rediscovered in a Senior College class:

“When I can touch the body of books by night or by day, and
when they touch my body back again . . .”

     There are no limits on the travels and explorations of the mind and the enrichment it brings into our lives.