This planet is alive. We who think and construct are its conceptual mind and its creative hands.

It is our constant responsibility to take Earth's well being into account when considering actions that may affect it, because these decisions shall ultimately affect us, much as the individual human must make conscious choices whose repercussions reverberate through his or her physical and emotional matrices. This is not an obligation. Obligation is construed as burden. Responsibility in this context is an honorable grasp of fundamental truths and active realization of consequences inherent in existing within such a malleable environment. This realization is an evolutionary imperative and the basis of my personal philosophy. Its arteries and veins course through me and infuse my work with vital ideational nutrients. I have always been a writer and I love to be outdoors, so for many years I've lived an autonomous, itinerant lifestyle. I held interesting jobs and worked hard to save money, then would hop on a plane or hop on a bus or a bike and just go go go. Keep on. Keep on going. I thrill at motion and vibe off constant discovery. I awaken energized by big blue skies with crisp winds pushing plush clouds aloft. I've lived and thrived inside of an ongoing cinematic narrative. I've left pieces of myself on four continents in eight countries and every contiguous United State. I lived for years how some people say they wished they'd had the gall to, before their youth and fire were siphoned off by everyday commitment and the consequences of aspiring to economic advantage. I know this lifestyle's strengths and limitations. I also know the importance and inevitability of change on a churning rock. Methods of learning should be as dynamic as the actual learning itself. An individual can only gain so much from piloting the same course. Adapting to new environments and circumstances and taking on new challenges is essential. Intellectual variety breeds recognition and understanding. In order to complete the full spectrum feat required to attain self and communal realization, I must, "return to [my] childhood and kick out the bottom," as the poet D.A. Levy would say. As a youth overwhelmed by the wealth of hypocrisy in American caste systems and the Euro-centrism of institutional education, I was quick to denounce my public school experience while still in its grasp. I became an autodidact by temperament and necessity and believe in the sacred art form of asking questions... and then questioning the questions and the answers... and then deconstructing the motivations lurking sly behind each mobilized psychosocial front. As an adult I am comfortable and refined at defining my own terms and better suited to learn, assimilate information, and lead. I better understand the reasons behind cultural and institutional justifications, and am more prepared to accept and discuss. I am not inclined to act or react without thoughtful consideration. I have visited Green Mountain College and become oriented to its ways and am intrigued by its accomplishments and possibilities. The

synchronicity in what the school offers by way of education and what I require to excel in educating myself is apparent, and a welcome departure from the accepted, expected norm. I can see myself flourishing within its free flowing systems and structural flexibility. All that I require is an opportunity. I can take care of the rest.