Welcome to the Alternative Underground

Visitor Weekend at Healthcote  March 7-9

Our next Visitor Weekend is coming up March 7 - 9. Heathcote is a beautiful, peaceful place to visit. There are lots of woods for hiking, a hammock for resting, a stream for wading, and many secluded areas where you can be alone to connect with nature. Some people visit with the intention of participating in our community life and talking with community members, often because they are interested in applying for membership. Others simply want a place to spend some time alone resting and relaxing in the country. Many times local folks will come for the day on Saturday. If you're interested in visiting, contact our visitor coordinator, Carol, at 410-343-1779 or CarolSed@comcast.net to reserve a place.

The featured Saturday evening (March 8) program for the March visitor weekend will be a Dance Free. If you like you can come for dinner and dancing - let us know so we can tell the cook. We ask $5 per person for dinner, or you can bring a vegetarian dish to share. Or just come around 7:30 for the dancing.

Our next house concert will be Chris Ayer on April 12. Chris Ayer's clever lyrics and song structure is what separates this 25 year old as a singer/songwriter from the plethora of others. Chris tours nationally and won the Grand Prize in the 2006 John Lennon Songwriting Competition Folk category for "Evaporate". In November 2006 the song was also recognized by VH-1, winning Song of The Month in their Save the Music competition (Adult Contemporary category). Chris was also Performing Songwriter Magazine's "Do It Yourself" pick for March 2007. His latest album, This Is The Place, was recorded in Nashville and produced by Jason Gantt (The Chieftains, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw). Chris' next studio album is set for release in spring 2008. You can listen to music samples at http://www.chrisayer.net and http://www.myspace.com/ChrisAyer. Please tell everyone you know, it'll be a great show!

Bob will be leading a Bowl-Turning Workshop on April 12, 2008 from 9 AM - 3 PM. Come and learn to turn a wooden bowl! Participants will begin with a bowl blank and end with a completed wooden bowl to take home. We will proceed step-by-step, firs cutting a blank from a log, bandsawing it round, rough turning, final turning, sanding, and finishing. The workshop will begin at 9:00 AM and end around 3:00 PM with an hour break for lunch. Bring a vegetarian lunch to share, or plan to pay $5 for lunch supplied by the community. Familiarity and confidence around shop tools recommended. Cost: $40.00 To register call Bob Geissel 410-343-3478 #6.

The Secret Tells Itself: Writing as a Contemplative Act
Winter Writing Retreat - March 28-30 with John Terlazzo
At Camp Eder in Fairfield, Pennsylvania

We'll be spending the weekend together in the woods writing, reading aloud, exploring ideas & tales, meditating, wandering & diving deep into the Mystery. And as always, the retreat is open to both experienced & "first-time" writers alike.
The Retreat will be held in the cabin called Tree of Peace on the grounds of Camp Eder. Tree of Peace sleeps up to 40 people (though this retreat is limited to 30 participants maximum) in comfortable accomodations. There are 8 bedrooms - each bedroom has one double bed, one set of twin bunkbeds & a single trundle bed, and each room has its own bathroom & shower. We'll also have our own spacious kitchen where we can prepare delicious vegetarian meals. This, I think, is going to be a wonderful winter home for our retreats & I'm very much looking forward to sinking deeply into this place with you.

We often forget that creative writing is much more than a mere hobby or “commodity”. Writing, when approached with conscious intention & an open heart, is a Contemplative act – a way of igniting one's soul & honing one's true nature. In the modern world, an impossibly fast pace, lack of silence, and a media “bombardment” have begun to atrophy that part of the brain that understands metaphor. When we, as a culture, cease creating Images, we lose the ability to Imagine. Nothing is more debilitating to an individual or society. But in the workshop we write. We laugh & read aloud (electively) and strike some nerves and work again & again with our own meaningful images & metaphors. We actively honor the joy & ecstasy that is this life as well as our depression & our sorrow - it’s all sweet water & we dive in.

The cost for the retreat is the usual $125, plus $68 per person (Camp Eder's charge for the accomodations).
TO REGISTER, PLEASE SEND A CHECK FOR $193 NO LATER THAN MIDNIGHT DECEMBER 21ST
Checks should be made out to:
John Terlazzo
511 Madison Ave.
York, PA. 17404
(717) 854-0403

Classes at Heathcote Community