We always talk on here about all of the twatwads who excelled in fucking our ears to cornhole our brain, and rightfully so.
Who were the staff who either truly tried to make a difference, or at least removed themselves enough from the program, whether they were in raps or not, to develop a decent, somewhat functional (as much as is allowed at the duck farm) relationship with the kids?
This doesn't mean they weren't human. blownaway told me a story of one of my favorite staff totally decompensating while he was teaching a class. He just started screaming and yelling. Based on what he told me, it sounds like this teacher had reached his breaking point with the bullshit program and temporarily went looney tunes.
So... if you would like to contribute, here are some things to talk about:
Which staff you thought was cool.
Respond (if applicable) to other posts where someone thought the staff was cool, but you most certainly did not, and can remember times when they were being quite un-cool.
Echo if you agree with positive sentiment about a staff, and elaborate, if you would like to.
One thing I found concerning the cool staff is that they didn't work as counselors. They were always on the periphery, such as a teacher, someone who worked in the kitchen, etc.
Most of these people had to go through the program themselves, and most also sat in on raps. But for some reason, they managed to hold their own.
So... here's mine.
1. Lou. He was the supervising staff at the farm in the 80s. Soft-spoken, rather wise (IMO), pragmatic and had the respect of almost everyone I knew while I was in quest. His one big, non-negotiable rule was that you never abuse the animals, and he was hard-core about that. (Too bad he wasn't around during the BCA era.) It appears, from all intents and purposes, that he felt the same way about us. As shitty as quest was, he was a gentle presence during work crews. Never barking at us. Never getting on our case if we were slacking. Or... if he did, it was always in a respectful manner. He was sometimes in raps. Hell, I heard that a few years before I got there, he RAN raps, which surprised the hell out of me. I remember raps with him. Whenever he offered feedback, it was sensible and in a normal tone of voice. I always felt that he cared about the kids, and respected their feelings in a way that the other staff didn't. He never called people names. He never yelled at anyone. (But he probably would if someone hurt one of the farm animals.) Staff never got on his case about it, because he was old school. He was there when RMA started.
2. Wendy. The super-awesome "kitchen lady" who pretty much ran the show, despite the fact that the fat hosebag, Patsy, was officially in charge. Wendy went through the program with Lou, and was old-school. When I found out that she and Lou both traversed the nine circles of hell, I was shocked. How could this be possible? They didn't act like all of the other raisin-cakes there. Like Lou, she was also a still-waters type of personality. Soft-spoken, matter-of-fact, and in possession of a complete lack of interest in impressing anyone. She didn't need to. Her quiet demeanor belied her obvious confidence and security in herself. In addition, she could out arm-wrestle anyone in the school. Soren, in all of his massive, muscular scandinavian physique, was thoroughly owned when he challenged Wendy to a duel. She, on the other hand, rarely spoke about her amazing ability. If you asked her about it, she would nod and say yes, and that was about it. She and Lou never talked program. Never mentioned propheet or workshop tools. All they seemed to really care about was working with the kids.
3. Will Vernard. Will was more involved with the program, and *would* mention tools occasionally, he attended raps, but he never yelled at anyone. At least, not when I was there. He also possessed a gift for finding driftwood, working it and finishing it to look like a polished version of... well... driftwood. Here one of the reasons I liked Will... one, he would tell us wickedly cool "war stories" (for lack of a better word) about his time in the Navy when he supervised the reactor on a nuclear submarine. Not only that, he would also regale us about the hijinks he and his comrades pulled on shore leave. Here is the other reason I liked Will... he was one of only two teachers at the school who actually TAUGHT me something. Having a pedagogue who possessed a background in nuclear physics had its advantages. He taught algebra, geometry, trig and calculus. If it hadn't been for him, I never would have passed my SATs. Not only that, he didn't pull punches with grades. After my summit, I got real busy with the program. I vaguely recall upper school students being required to get their affairs in order prior to graduation. What this entails, I honestly don't remember. Any other teacher there would have given me leeway. Oh she's going to be graduating soon, she's going to be busy with the final stages of the program. Let's give her a break. Not Will. I was astonished to find a C on my report card, which was mailed to me after I graduated. I called him, simply to ask what happened. He said "Well, towards the end of your stay, you only sporadically turned in your homework, and sometimes, you didn't even show up to class." I stated that I was really busy, as were all of the other people in my peer group. He said, "I understand, but I can't just give you a good grade because you were busy and couldn't make it." Brownie points for you, Will. Rock on.
Stephen and Susan Drinkard. I've mentioned these two in this forum before. This couple were also teachers, were required to go through the program, and also had the dubious distinction of being required to attend the Here Forever staff workshop, since their timing unfortunately coincided with the every-five-years ritual of Mel browbeating the fuck out of everyone who worked there under the guise of a grand vision, such as camelot or here forever. Steve taught literature and creative writing. Susan taught journalism. Steve was downright subversive, albeit subtly. He tried to influence us through literature and writing. He assigned us books like Lord of the Flies, 1984, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451... he showed us films like Brazil and The Third Wave. He never yelled at anyone in a rap, and went off on the staff in a propheet when they were accusing him of being in his thinking. (He said something to the effect of "You know what? My thinking has saved my ass more times than I can count, so I think I'll hang on to it, thank you very much.") Susan was smart, and, like Will, pulled no punches with grades. She turned in the class grades one time before she went out of town for christmas. There were several people in the class who received Cs, Ds and even Fs. While she was gone, the creepy and incessantly annoying Bob Sulfies, who was the acting "academic director" at the time, changed all of her grades to As and Bs. When she confronted him on this, she was promptly fired, and when Steve brought his grievance to Doug shit-faced Brown, he was also let go. Well... they tried. A for effort on both of their parts, seriously.
Rod Barkley. Okay, there are things I liked about Rod, and others I did not. One thing I liked was that he was super smart, probably on par with Will. Specializing as a geologist, that is what he taught. Most of us, at the time, thought he was dorky, nerdy and awkward, and he was. However, these days, I find those to be admirable traits. The only beef I had with Rod was that he was an easy grader, and it annoyed the hell out of me. It was rare that I ever got less than an A with at least two pluses following closely behind. One time, I had pluses going all the way across the page. A+++++++++++++ "great work! amazing!" It drove me crazy. I don't know if he was easily impressed or what, but it wasn't fair... to any of us. Still, he seemed to be a good egg.
Ed Katz: Ed Ed Ed.... one of the Voyageur staff who worked down at the wood corral with John Aaron, Ed was also kind of a borderline staff for me. I do recall him yelling at people in raps, but it never seemed to be so abusive. It was almost as if he was yelling the same stuff that wendy and lou would talk normally about, but I could be misguided in my memory of him. He also ran his anger, if I recall. Here's the one thing that always enchanted me about Ed... his smile and laugh. That would always brighten my day. It was genuine, and had nothing to do with the glazed over CEDU/Miss America fakey grimace that everyone else wore around their pie-holes.
Greg Springett. Okay, Greg sometimes gave me a creepy vibe, but I also never remember him yelling, and he seemed quite gentle for the most part. He was required to tell part of his story at a challenge first light one time, and he seemed downright embarrassed having to talk about what taunts the kids said to him as an adolescent. Who wants to reveal that shit? Really! Here is why I have fond memories of this guy... fishing. Fishing was one of my few solaces there and one of a bunch of "hiding out" techniques I would use to avoid having to socialize with anyone up at the house. I loved it, and I was one of the few girls who actually did it, which made me the subject of quite a bit of ridicule from my peer group. For the longest time, I had one of those cheap-assed rods that really weren't all that sturdy. By the time I reached challenge, I was bored with the cast and reel routine of my one-step-up-from-a-pocket-fisherman rod. Greg lent me one of his fly rods, and two flies. He taught me the proper way to cast, and how to tie and untie a fly from the line. I was addicted to fly fishing from then on. My old pole collected dust in the dorm, while I reeled in countless steelhead with the new one. He let me keep it for the rest of my stay there, and probably would have let me leave with it, had I not always remembered to keep to my word and return it to him upon graduation. He never asked for it back, if memory serves. I simply gave it to him.
Here is another category to ponder... staff who started out somewhat cool, and then got sucked in so deep not only did they become fully indoctrinated, but they became power staff. I can think of two prime examples of this.
Chuck Selent. When I was at RMA in the late 80s, Chuck was this unassuming specimen of Aryan genetics. Also soft spoken, he was an artist and craftsman. I attended almost all of his classes, which included scrimshaw, 2D animation (done with a video camera that could not shoot frame by frame. I seriously doubt RMA would have sprung for a pencil test setup), and stop motion animation (done with same camera.) Chuck could certainly get annoyingly pissy if you got distracted and didn't pay attention in some of the required classes he taught. (of which I don't remember) It was obvious he was well on his way to becoming the asshole he turned out to be, but when I was there, he was relatively decent.
Kristen Gilje. Kristen was already towing the party line when I was there. Running raps, pulling people up, etc. However, nobody respected her authority. She was such a mellow, soft-spoken hippie child that people just thought she was a joke for the most part. It was quite obvious that this kind of behavior was not in her nature. Unfortunately, she eventually learned to work the program. However, when I was there, she was mostly gentle. Possessing an amazing gift for water colors, her classes did something that the classes at my alma mater didn't even teach.... method. I actually learned HOW to use watercolor, instead of simply letting the students go express themselves without any guidance concerning the media. She taught me about layers, helped me hone my gesture and figure drawing, and introduced me to decoupage. I considered her a close friend, and was one of her favorite students. Unlike other staff who ride their favorites hard, she was incredibly sympathetic when I was in one of her raps... even when I was on my full-time. It is a crying shame how the broke her and molded her into the apparent monster that later alumni said she had become.
