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THE FARM: a Quaker Boarding School by Bill (Will Chris Holley aka ARCHURE)
This is why I am the way that I am, or part of the story. In Summer of 1964, at age 11, I started my 2 year adventure at The Farm, a private Quaker School run by Foy (Educator/Actor) & Elizabeth Van Dolsen (Anthropologist/Artist); who were related to Joan Baez, and educated her. They based their boarding school on "Summerhill" by A.S. Neil, a "Free School" in England, no rules, no requirements, just Freedom. It was this Freedom which led me to start projects by myself, do things for myself (if you want anything done, youve got to do it yourself).
EMAIL RESPONSE from ANOTHER STUDENT at The Farm
I recently got email from "Bruce Benjamin", another "The Farm" graduate (who lives in Santa Cruz CA (cool place), and is a musician too. In case there are other The Farm grads and friends out there, Bruce Benjamin's email address (with his permission) is dubgroove@yahoo.com Bruce says he is the son of "abstract expressionist Karl Benjamin" and that he's "been a reggae drummer for 20 yrs. and am recording in Oakland right now (Jan 2007) at Wallysound studios in a project called Super Tough"
EMAIL RESPONSE from a SECOND STUDENT at The Farm
"Mark Lyon" lyonlyondown@aol.com who attended The Farm 1969-70
Was a Auto Repairman, now an Assistant film Director for many years FILM BIO http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0528957/, and wound up in Berkeley CA (great place, I would consider living in Berkeley CA, good town).
So there we have it, 3 of us accounted for now. A Film Director in Berkely, a Reggae Drummer (I am too), and me, a Photographer (and musician). I heard that Margie Schutz is now Margret Sorel MD (? unable to verify). Oddly enough (lots of parallels here), Margie was from Berkeley, and 2 Reggae drummers (one from Oakland, which is right next door to Berkeley, and I come from a Hollywood Film Family, unbelievable. See my PSYCIC PHENOMENA page http://www.archure.net/psychology/psychic.html MORE BELOW
Class was from after breakfast till lunch, and attendance was not mandatory. Class was on the subject of what ever we wanted it to be on, and if we ran out of ideas, Foy & Libby had plenty. The school ranged from 5 to 10 kids per year.
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Located on the Northwest Pacific Coast, around a half mile from the Pacific (you could hear the waves at night), in the Redwood Forest. The main house was filled with bookshelves, including many almanacs and everything and anything else. It was my high IQ intellectual grandfather Ted and my high IQ intellectual grandmother Mimi who found and arranged for me to attend The Farm (50 miles south of where they lived in Mendocino CA (a town of The Arts, by the sea & redwoods, used in many movies & TV, "Cabots Cove" in Murder She Wrote)
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There was no TV. After dinner, Foy (and excellent orator/actor) would read novels aloud to the class, including: The Grapes of Wrath & The Pearl by Steinbeck, Mutiny on the Bounty (the trilogy), Johnny Tremaine, Little House on the Prairie, Catcher in the Rye, Black Like Me, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, A Wrinkle in Time, The Phantom Tollbooth, some of Franklins Autobiography, some Plato, every night, usually a chapter or 2 per evening. And we listend to lots of Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and Bluegrass.
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Libby (Sociologist/Anthropologist, and strong LIBERAL, we used to estimate that perhaps the word Liberal was derived from the name "Libby"), and Foy Van Dolsen (Actor, Educator, and former So CA Private School Principal); who ran the small, quality education, Quaker School "The Farm" on the Pacific NorthWest Coast of CA. I will post a better version of this photo, later.
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Then we went to the uninsulated but covered sleeping areas on the hill called "The Platform" (built by students), and Foy would come up and tell us stories of his cross country hobo adventures during the Great Depression, and his Hollywood acting, etc as we dozed off to sleep, or we would listen to the wide band radio (reception only at night), Wolfman Jack, Brother Al, This Diamond Ring, Love Potion #9, The Supreems, Petula Clark, The Righteous Brothers, Hermans Hermits, The Animals, Yardbirds, Lovin Spoonful, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, & The Rolling Stones.
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With the clean skies, the clear stars, a half mile or less from the Pacific, on a Farm with pigs, Nubian goats, a donkey "Sunshine", sheep, geese (noisy, and attacked me constantly), dogs, cats, rabbits, chickens.
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There was only ONE MANDATORY TEST at the end of the year, the California State Achievement Test, which we all expected to flunk, but we all jumped higher than we ever had in any Public School.
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My best photo (artistic)
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The attitudes were very Quakerish: Non-Violent, Anti-War , Anti-Racist, very Hip for 1964 thru 1966. They were not vegetarians, but had vegetarian visitors, who helped my eventual sway to vegetarianism (some of the students tried it). There were Teacher Assistants and others around, many of whom helped me learn guitar, Jack Knox, Cay Warren, and Michael Mathey; and Joan Baez come over to visit too, she liked me, and I her, and Candice too, very hip chick for 1964.
Selected LINKS from JoanBaez.com's Links page
Amnesty International
Human Rights Watch
abolish the death penalty. information, statistics, and links
Resource Center for Nonviolence
Central Committee For Conscientious Objectors
Joan Baez.com
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"Oh they wished, you had accepted, the blame for The Farm, with the sea at your feet, and the phony false alarm..... ....who amoungst them, just wanted, just to hold you; Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands, with the sad eyed profit says that no man comes..... ....your Arabian drum, should I leave them at your gate, or Sad Eyed Lady should I wait" -Bob Dylan (and I "Bill" found the Arabian Drum at the gate, and brought it back to the house, he had left it, and he was gone)
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FRIENDS
The 3rd Year of The Farm's existance
64-65: Brian (Holms?), Cole Waren, Mark Waren, Chip Wende, Tim Foy, Alan Hogle, Margie Schutz, Betsey Waren, April Reed (great singing voice), and me Bill Holley
Teachers, Assistants: Foy Van Dolsen, Libby Van Dolsen, Ken Waren, Kay Waren, Michael Mathay (excellent potter, excellent guitarist), and visitor Joan Baez (many visitors)
The 4rd Year of The Farm's existance
65-66: Steve Hogle, Bobbie Schutz, Jendi Dibley, Tracy (Furry?), April Reed (great singing voice), Chip Wende, and me Bill Holley
Teachers, Assistants: Foy Van Dolsen, Libby Van Dolsen, Jack Knox (excellent guitarist), Michael Mathay (excellent potter, excellent guitarist), and visitor Joan Baez, etc (many visitors)
Pardon Me if I forgot someone?
65-66 we briefly had another student or 2, but because they did not start at the begining, there was some friction.
And The Farm continued on for a number of years, most students only attended on year, I was lucky enough to get in 2 years (with Chip and April who shocked us the second year with her great singing voice (I think she had some coaching from Joan Baez?, and perhaps my Grandmother Mimi may ave stopped by? Mimi coached Rita Coolidge, EmmyLou Harris, and James Taylor).
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I was low on B Vitamins and often depressed (I didnt want to take my vitamins, I didn't see the coorlation, even if I was told from time to time). At the end of the year, they promised that no animal friends would be put to slaughter, but during the summer thats how they got food for the next school year. Each year I raised a calf, to sell it at auction, didn't pull any profit, the feed cost more than what I got, I was sad to see them go.
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A photo of visitor Vegetarian "Louise" holding my pet calf Andrew Jefferson in 1966.
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Ben Franklin hung around Quakers.
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The Farm taught us to be Self Motivated. I came from a strong Republican Family (Mom), after 2 years of The Farm, it was hard to adjust, so I lived with my more liberal grandparents Ted & Mimi. 50 miles North, in the Redwoods, in Mendocino CA.
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"Oh they wished, you had accepted, the blame for The Farm, with the sea at your feet, and the phony false alarm..... ....who amoungst them, just wanted, just to hold you; Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands, with the sad eyed profit says that no man comes..... ....your Arabian drum, should I leave them by your gate, or Sad Eyed Lady should I wait" -Bob Dylan (and I "Bill" found the Arabian Drum at the gate, and brought it back to the house, he had left it, and he was gone)