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***image1***THE GREEN TRUTH
David Alire Garcia's article about EcoVersity [Cover story, Feb. 28: "
"] got everything right about the decline of the school. I'd like to clarify, however, the role of one person who heroically carried my sister's vision forward.
Amy Pilling took on the challenge of leading EcoVersity after Fiz died and, with guts and skill, steered it along the path my sister envisioned. Amy shepherded EcoVersity's students and faculty with integrity and care, and Fiz would be proud of her and very pleased with her work as EcoVersity's leader, administrator and consummate academic dean.
It's a shame she wasn't allowed to continue.
Sibyl Harwood
Cambridge, Mass.
NEEDS DIRECTION
In response to the recent article on EcoVersity: I was intensely involved with this school during its first few years. I believe the organization has lacked a proper governance structure from the beginning, that is, a board that is large enough, financially disinterested enough and powerful enough, relative to those who hold the purse strings, to provide enduring and professional management.
I also believe that the work of the former dean, Amy Pilling, was grossly mischaracterized, and her reputation intentionally undermined by some, all for the purposes of ousting her during what amounted to a dynastic turnover. I felt Amy was very competent, openhearted and quite successful in her work. I viewed her departure as a direct consequence of the lack of a proper governance structure.
There were other events at the school that amply illustrate the underlying problems. I lived at and taught two solar energy courses at the school during its first eight months. During this time, when EcoVersity was first renovating its buildings, I was told that the renovations would fully take into account faculty suggestions. I therefore politely suggested that a particular building should be insulated on the outside surfaces, rather than the inside as was planned, in order to preserve the "thermal mass effect" of the heavy concrete walls, for passive solar performance reasons. To my surprise, my suggestion was met with absolute hostility. I then attempted to take my suggestion to the "steering committee," but was promptly informed that the committee had just been disbanded. At that point I resigned from the school in protest, and finished teaching my classes off-site. I returned to teach more courses later on, but pretty much abandoned the institution again after Amy and her entire staff were driven out.
Given the consistent history of problems at EcoVersity, I suggest that the community no longer support this institution until a proper governance structure is put into place.
Ben Luce
Los Alamos
UNFAIR TO PILLING
I understand that writing an article like ["
"] is a difficult task. However, I feel that some of the facts, and the way they were represented, were unfair, specifically with regard to Amy Pilling, her role there, and her capabilities, skills and knowledge.
I worked with Amy Pilling at EcoVersity, and would like to say, for the record, that Amy is one of the most talented organizers and ethical people I have ever worked for. Her sensitivity, innate sense of ethics, intelligence, capacity to work with an incredibly diverse population and among differing viewpoints, and willingness to put personal issues aside in the interest of the larger group were inspiring to me. In my opinion, those qualities were treated like pearls before swine during my tenure there.
It is not surprising to me that EcoVersity is struggling as it apparently is. The issues that were brought up in the article as having created an exodus of both staff and instructors this fall are the same issues we were struggling with at the time I was there.
The loss that EcoVersity suffered this fall with respect to its instructors is invaluable. I hope they can all reorganize themselves and continue their instruction elsewhere. They were all an amazing bunch of people doing incredibly valuable work, and it is a great loss to this community, and specifically those wishing to enter into sustainable vocations, that they no longer have this kind of forum.
Ana Willem
Santa Fe
A BAD REP
In "
," David Alire Garcia unfortunately chose to include RP Harbour's denigrating comments about Amy Pilling that transgressed the mutual release of claims apparently signed by Harbour and Pilling. His statement and your printing of it have caused unfair and irreversible damage to her reputation.
Pilling is an extremely intelligent and experienced professional who cares tremendously about sustainability, education and building community. She has and continues to give generously of her time and talent to Santa Fe.
Pilling has an impressive background that includes languages, anthropology, holocaust studies, documentary filmmaking and permaculture at Scripps College, the Anthropology Film Center, Permaculture Drylands Institute and probably other schools.
While at EcoVersity she did an outstanding job of working with Fiz Harwood to teach, establish the curriculum, bring teachers in and develop courses, work with and mentor students, interact with the public who walked in and build the administration with the staff.
Currently she is co-organizing the New Mexico Bioneers conference coming to Santa Fe this October, on the board of New Village Institute, writing curriculum at SFCC, teaching and starting her own business that will also provide educational opportunities.
Pilling chose to respect the release of claims agreement and did not tell her side of the story. The different ways that she and Harbour each chose to handle the situation speaks volumes about their character and integrity. In his description of Amy Pilling, we learn more about Harbour than about Pilling!
Nancy Judd
Santa Fe
FADING CLUB SCENE?
In response to Will Adams' piece regarding alcohol and personal responsibility [First Person, Feb. 28: "
"]:
Although I found him way over the top on this very serious issue, his points should be taken to heart. I've been speaking with other musicians, club owners and bar staff about this for months, and the consensus is that at the rate we're going, the Santa Fe nightlife scene is in very serious danger of going the way of the dodo. This is a serious point, as tourism will be greatly affected as well. Who wants to go to a city where they roll up the streets at 9 pm?
I personally NEVER drink and drive, or have had a DWI, and am greatly saddened by the tragedies that come about because of it, but while our lawmakers have succeeded in cutting the number of DWIs down with new and more drastic penalties and a barrage of advertisements and tools such as the DWI hotline, I don't see any effort to implement alternative transportation (like every other halfway developed city in the world), so that one could go out for an evening that included having a few drinks without running the risk of having one's life ruined.
Santa Fe has very few buses that run at night, and those stop before most folks are just getting started. One can take a cab, but with rates the way they are, a couple will spend as much, or more, on the transportation as they will on their night out. (Forget about it if you're a struggling artist or musician.) And if it's a holiday, with the few cabs there are in town, it is usually an hour or more wait.
Sure, one can be or try to find a designated driver, but in most scenarios-let's be realistic-most people do not want to be the DD, so people are just staying at home. Albuquerque has "safe ride" cab programs for those who feel they've had too much to safely drive (theirs are free, but even a nominal fee would still make it effective), night buses that run until 2 am on some main routes (that get one closer to one's home, making for a more affordable cab ride if necessary), and voilà, a very vigorous downtown nightlife scene of restaurants, bars, discos, pool halls, etc. More incentives actively offered at bars and restaurants, such as free sodas, coffee, tea, snacks, etc., for DDs would definitely be a plus as well.
A balance can be found so that everybody wins-DWI must be stopped, but at the same time, let's get some alternatives in place so that our city will keep thriving.
Billy Miles
That '70s Band
Santa Fe
CULTURE OF DENIAL
Boy, you have to hand it to Will Adams for being an unrepentant alcohol worshipper, but at least he knows he's drinking to suppress his anger. His strange, convoluted rant seems to revolve on the technical point that drinking alcohol is, in fact, legal.
He's right about that, but I think more to the point is that all establishments that make their living serving alcohol also rely on their patrons to overimbibe. If every drinker at WilLee's (or any other bar in town) had only one drink and then left, they couldn't stay open. The whole liquor industry is predicated on customers drinking "too much" booze, not just the occasional drink. So, telling bartenders to limit their regulars to moderate amounts of liquor is essentially telling them to put themselves out of business.
Also, it's a red herring to hold them responsible for reckless drinking when the real culprits are friends and family of bad drinkers. Alcoholism doesn't happen overnight. We have a culture of denial in America and New Mexico that permits us to make believe that we are not responsible for our fellow man.
People who overdrink need help, not tattle-tale bartenders. I agree that for the time being, a certain amount of prudence in bars wouldn't hurt, but holding bartenders legally responsible for drinkers' failings is absolutely ridiculous and is just a smoke screen being used so the real social problems at the root of alcoholism (read: expensive and complicated) don't have to be addressed.
David Goldberg
Santa Fe
SMALL GUY SUFFERS
I wasn't aware that sucking up and gentle bribery were First Amendment rights when dealing with the state Legislature. But it makes sense to me-since the homeless, underpaid and hungry are not that good at sucking up since they are too busy trying to survive.
To make matters worse, there is only one state senator who even gives a darn for the "small guy," and that is Sen. Joe Carraro, R-Bernalillo. No wonder the issues of homelessness and hunger are never taken care of.
You didn't mention the word "integrity" in your whole article on "
" [Cover story, Feb. 14]. That has me wondering-what high places you are referring to?
Simi Stevens
Santa Fe
ONE FOR THE MAN
Hats off to the Reporter for featuring Jonathan Ellsworth as a book reviewer [Books, Feb. 21: "
"]. Mr. Ellsworth's intelligent observations and cohesive writing style are exactly what we expect in the Reporter.
Patricia Genereux
Santa Fe
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