• A History of Bethesda Episcopal Church: Worship and Healing in Saratoga Springs, New York
  • About
    • Writing Workshops
  • Readings, Book Fairs, Book Groups
  • The Three Poets
  • The Truth and Legend of Lily Martindale: An Adirondack Novel

Mary Sanders Shartle

~ Writing quietly – Reading aloud

Mary Sanders Shartle

Monthly Archives: July 2020

Mountains

01 Wednesday Jul 2020

Posted by msshartle in Uncategorized

≈ 6 Comments

 

2019 Anne LaBa Writers' Weekend

Last summer (2019) at Great Camp Sagamore in the Central Adirondacks, seventeen women gathered for the second year for the Anne LaBastille Women’s Writers Weekend. We gathered in the Playhouse and stood in Tad Asana (Mountain Pose) feeling individually what it was like, perhaps, to be a mountain. It was then suggested that together we could be considered a mountain range–collectively an image of unity, uniquely composed and very powerful.

Now, because of the pandemic, we are in relative solitude, relatively far from one another, and far from the unique place that is Great Camp Sagamore. Since March, we have been in a fearful state of mind and soul, those of us who were once a range of mountains, because of a tiny virus that not anyone, not the greatest minds in science, completely understands, and that has killed over a hundred thousand citizens of the US and infected over two million.

We are hardy women writers. You would think that as such, we would be thrilled to be in isolation, able to wipe a calendar clean of appointments and responsibilities and get down to finishing that collection of poetry or that novel. I, for one, find it jarring to be interrupted by the phone and internet. I have organized and reorganized my office, my forty years worth of journals, and one file twenty years thick with letters to and from my college roommate. I have appreciated that solitude and the chance to do my work, but I have also had all the time, like a mountain, to be very still, very within. I have also been still, hoping to be passed over, like a frog when the heron is nearby,

Governor Andrew Cuomo described the last 100 plus days in New York State as climbing a mountain. Everyday he displayed graphs to show how the slope up was so steep. In fact, he compared the mountain of infection rates, hospitalizations and deaths as “Mount Everest” and a few days later brought it closer to home describing the mountain as Mount Marcy, tallest mountain in New York State. The State of New York is seeing its lowest levels of infections and hospitalizations—the lowest in all the United States. New Yorkers followed the protocols and kept each other safe—wearing masks, washing hands, keeping a safe distance from others.

There is still great danger from the virus and that will likely continue until there’s a vaccine. One year from now, will we be able to form another mountain range at Sagamore? We all will have changed. Ice storms, rains and winds alter the surface of the mountains but do not change the core, the structure we hold to: each other.

For more opportunities to write in the Adirondacks or on-line, contact the Adirondack Center for Writing  This organization and the Anne LaBastille Foundation  supported this program at Great Camp Sagamore. Do support these wonderful organizations!

Archives

  • March 2022
  • September 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • February 2020
  • December 2019
  • December 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2017
  • August 2016
  • April 2016
  • January 2016
  • August 2015
  • February 2015
  • November 2014
  • August 2014
  • June 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 28 other followers

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • Mary Sanders Shartle
    • Join 28 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Mary Sanders Shartle
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...