Yesterday we were shut down by vegan protestors.
After all the debate online, and the rescheduling, four rather angry, intimidating, and determined fundamentalists, arrived uninvited, and disrupted our by now infamous rabbit class. It didn’t get ugly but it was unpleasant and upsetting, to say the least. We tried talking to them, to explain what we were doing and why. They weren’t interested. We tried asking them to leave. They just said, “make us.” We tried quietly carrying on with what we were doing. But it was impossible to hear each other above all the shouts and aggressive chanting, let alone have a conscious exploration of what it means to eat meat. We all felt pretty powerless in the face of this onslaught. I know I did. After about an hour of relentless pressure, we gave up and stopped the class. And the rabbits stayed in the box. It was a gorgeously sunny September day for our Embodied Wild Swimming class. The sea was calm. We had welsh cakes round the fire after. Session leader Vicky says "We hope you continue to be curious about what you do and continue to sea swim. Long may the September sun shine."
Befriending the Dark. Starting from Lewes we walked through the woods and fields of Cuckoo Bottom, and back to Lewes, walking in silence and without torches. It was cloudy on the way up, and very dark in the woods, but the moon came out on the way back to light the way. A peaceful, magical and uplifting night walk.
God you're big. You're so big you've got another tree growing out of your side You're so big that I can't see the top of you when I sit by your trunk. I've just seen another tree growing out of you! You're amazing. So tall and strong, and straight, and solid. I am in awe of you. I wish I could climb your branches and see what you see, and know what you know. I am a child by comparison. I am sorry that they have cut you, several times, in several places, somehow that only enhances your gnarly wise beauty. What's with all the sticky white stuff though? You truly are awesome, and I am humbled before you. I am captivated by your size, and your stillness. I love too that your needles are soft and shady. What secrets do you hold? What thoughts and what dreams? And what depths to reach so high. Sharpham Trust, August 2017
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Author & CuratorNigel Berman is the founder of School of the Wild. Archives
April 2025
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