Trip to Greenfield Community College

In my life, the acronym, GCC, stands for "Guilford Community Church," but just 20 miles south of here in Greenfield, MA, it would be immediately recognized as "Greenfield Community College." That is where Brendon is going to college, and on Friday, Ellen and I went to the GCC campus in Greenfield where we joined Ellen's sister Katie and Brendon, to hear Brendon in a mid-day choral concert put on by the GCC Community Chorus, of which he is a member. I had not been on the GCC campus for many years - decades even - but back in the 1980's and maybe even the early 1990's, I had occasion to go there quite often. Two things took me there: (1) my friend, Judith Kinley, a nurse at the Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, who sat with me on the BMH Ethics Committee, taught a course in "Bio-Ethics" at GCC (they have a nursing program there), and she invited me on at least two occasions to visit her class and talk about ethics in general and bio-ethics in particular. Back then I not only sat on the BMH Ethics Committee, I also was teaching courses in "Management Ethics," "Social Ethics," and even "Sexual Ethics," at Southern Vermont College, and so I was sort of an "expert" in "ethical theory." The other thing was (2) I was teaching a course in "The Bible and the Arts," at SVC, and one segment of that course dealt with the Book of Job and the play, "J.B," by Archibald MacLeish, which is based on Job. It just happened that MacLeish lived near Greenfield, MA, and when he died, he left his papers to Greenfield Community College, and they had created the "MacLeish Room" at the college where you could peruse his papers, and even watch a video of a performance of his play. "J.B.," and other things of interest. So I took my class down there to see the play. It was not the sort of thing you expect to find at a small, community college.

Archibald MacLeish (1892-1982).

Judith Kinley (1942-2018).********* Anyway, the campus has grown a bit since those days, but still looks pretty much the way I remembered it looking. Brendon's concert was in the Sloan Theater, which was very conveniently located near a handicapped parking space, so it was very easy for me to get to.

Greenfield Community College.*********** The GCC Community Chorus is small, and it is open to community members not enrolled at GCC, so Brendon is one of the few actual students in it. The chorus is led by Margery Heins, who also is choir Director at nearby Ashfield, UCC Church. The concert included pieces by William Byrd, G. F. Handel, some traditional Hebrew and Ukrainian music and a piece by Carly Simon titled, "Let the River Run." It was a small audience, but an enjoyable concert - maybe the word will get out and the audience will grow. After the concert, the four of us met at the Greenfield Coop for lunch. You can go to an area where there are prepared foods, and then take them up to a balcony overlooking the store where there are tables and chairs. We tried sitting outdoors, it was such a lovely day, but the honeybees wouldn't leave us alone. So we sat inside.

Brendon in the GCC Community Chorus

The GCC Community. Chorus, with Margery Heins talking about one of the pieces.

At lunch in the Greenfield Coop

The entrance to the Greenfield Coop. ************************** Friday evening, we had a Dummerston Choir rehearsal and worked on "Locus Iste," a motet-like piece by Anton Bruckner. We'll be singing that this coming Sunday, November 5th.