Our Second Season and Other Updates

September 30, 2023

Among the Coming Changes

  • Group discussions will follow class presentations with Anastasia, Sue—the only remaining student from the original Season One Class—and on-site auditors at Black Bear Mountain Village. Dial-in auditors will also be offered discussion opportunities (TBA).
  • Monthly Fire Circle Storytelling participation will be open to auditors.

Read on to hear about our fascinating journey, from "there" to here—now trying to rebuild our lives post-pandemic and our current "Becoming Black Bear Mountain Village" experiences as we move forward on our "adventure of a lifetime."

Also, find out how to just hang out with us.

From fancy hotel workshop accommodations to what used to be only a kitchen door back driveway, now becoming "Anastasia's Courtyard"—under construction, times are changing at the New Horizons Harper's Ferry Retreat Center, becoming Black Bear Mountain Village.

Last Thursday, as Board Members and Provisional Board Members sat down for our first official Ms Class—Study Group: Season Two, I found myself stumbling a bit to find my way.

Everything was dramatically different from the beginnings of even Ms Class—Study Group: Season One with its first class—and its original agenda launched on February 28, 2019, pre-pandemic shutdowns.

Most dramatically, "Season One" was not intended to be a "Season," though it lasted close to two years—a very long season, if you want to call it that at all. But what else might we call it?

The original Class-Study Group had been organized in mid-December 2019, specifically to support a single board member, whom we call Tonya, to preserve her privacy. Tonya had just recently lost her home and all her belongings to one of Northern California's wildfires—and her husband to another woman along with it.

To compound her distress, her lurking tendency to emotionally drown herself in the depths of suicidal ideation had taken hold of her to such an extent that I was seriously concerned for her.

So I prodded her to once again do an "Evaluation Session" with me as a prerequisite. Her earlier one had been almost thirty years ago. I would reward her discipline by conducting a five or six-week class/study group for all interested NH/ZOP Board Members, focusing on her special needs as the centerpiece.

We had six Board Members at our last annual board meeting in July. However, we began what I now want to call "Season One."

To be continued…