Microcollege:
The Thoreau College Podcast
MICROCOLLEGE is an exploration of the crisis in higher education and the innovative projects and thinkers working to address it, with a special focus on the human-scaled, place-based, meaning-oriented learning communities we call “microcolleges.”
The podcast is hosted by Jacob Hundt, Founder of Thoreau College, a microcollege initiative rooted in the Driftless Region of rural southwestern Wisconsin, and inspired by the model of Deep Springs College, the pedagogy of the Waldorf schools, and the life of Henry David Thoreau.
This is a podcast for thoughtful, motivated teenagers and young adults who are disappointed by the options available to them in post-secondary education, as well as their teachers, parents, counselors, and mentors, and anyone interested in the quality of higher education and its role within our culture.
Listeners will be introduced to new ideas and alternative opportunities for post-secondary education, as well as thoughtful criticism of mainstream models and practices at colleges and universities. Listeners will discover exciting educational programs to apply to, books to read, and thinkers to learn more about.
Microcollege:
The Thoreau College Podcast
MICROCOLLEGE is an exploration of the crisis in higher education and the innovative projects and thinkers working to address it, with a special focus on the human-scaled, place-based, meaning-oriented learning communities we call “microcolleges.”
The podcast is hosted by Jacob Hundt, Founder of Thoreau College, a microcollege initiative rooted in the Driftless Region of rural southwestern Wisconsin, and inspired by the model of Deep Springs College, the pedagogy of the Waldorf schools, and the life of Henry David Thoreau.
This is a podcast for thoughtful, motivated teenagers and young adults who are disappointed by the options available to them in post-secondary education, as well as their teachers, parents, counselors, and mentors, and anyone interested in the quality of higher education and its role within our culture.
Listeners will be introduced to new ideas and alternative opportunities for post-secondary education, as well as thoughtful criticism of mainstream models and practices at colleges and universities. Listeners will discover exciting educational programs to apply to, books to read, and thinkers to learn more about.
Thoreau College Podcast
Episode #31: Zak Stein – Education In a Time Between Worlds
Zak Stein studied philosophy and religion at Hampshire College, and then educational neuroscience, human development, and the philosophy of education at Harvard University. While a student at Harvard, he co-founded what would become Lectica, Inc., a non-profit dedicated to the research-based, justice-oriented reform of large-scale standardized testing in K-12, higher-education, and business.He is also a writer whose work has appeared in a variety of journals including American Psychologist, New Ideas in Psychology, Mind, Brain, and Education, Integral Review, and the Journal of Philosophy of Education.
He has published two books, Social Justice and Educational Measurement a dissertation that traces the history of standardized testing and its ethical implications, and Education in a Time Between Worlds, which expands the philosophical work to include grappling with the relations between schooling and technology more broadly.
Learn more about Zak’s work: http://www.zakstein.org/
Education in a Time Between Worlds
Social Justice and Educational Measurement
Learn more about Thoreau College and the microcollege movement at: https://thoreaucollege.org/
Driftless Folk School: https://www.driftlessfolkschool.org/
Thoreau’s Garden: https://thoreausgarden.com/
Thoreau College Podcast
Episode 30 – Miles Iton – Lo-Fi Language Learning Microcollege
Miles Iton tells the story of the founding of the Lo-Fi Language Learning microcollege and the influences that shaped him and the program’s pedagogy.
The mission of the Lo-Fi Language Learning microcollege is “to modernize men’s educational experiences and career prospects in the Humanities by designing a liberal arts experience around a pedagogy based on the five pillars of hip-hop; breaking, DJ’ing, emceeing, graffiti art and knowledge.
“Miles “Irie Givens” Iton is an interdisciplinary educator and multimedia artist from Miami, Florida. After receiving his MA in Creative Industries Design from Taiwan’s National Cheng Kung University thanks to the Fulbright program, he parlayed his thesis project into the hip-hop EFL teaching startup Lo-Fi Language Learning. Today he is a TEFL training instructor and career coach for students of Lo-Fi’s Arts ‘n EFL program, currently hosted at New College of Florida. As Irie, his international recordings and ethereal concept albums can be found on most streaming platforms. Outside of curricula and multimedia production, he provides digital marketing services for like-minded organizations, expanding Lo-Fi’s operations into a digital education firm.
Lo-fi Language Learning: https://www.lofilanguage.com/
Creative Canvas Cypher (for Colorado residents only): https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScqqv-X8zjCObnvFYMWBG1QtTL0cPKdrj6-ZYf7Mw9Zs8F3rw/viewform
Say My Name IndieGoGo: https://igg.me/at/say-my-name-book/x/29707727#/
New College of Florida: https://www.ncf.edu/news/hip-hop-creatives-learn-to-teach-efl-at-ncf/
Learn more about Thoreau College and the microcollege movement at: https://thoreaucollege.org/
Driftless Folk School: https://www.driftlessfolkschool.org/Thoreau’s Garden: https://thoreausgarden.com/
Thoreau College Podcast
Episode #29: Rick Thomas – Sterling College, Wendell Berry Farming Program
Rickey Glen Thomas “RT” preaches the gospel of draft animal power and agrarian education, describing a pedagogy borne from the musings of Wendell Berry.
Rick Thomas is a horseman, farmer, author and educator who heads the Sterling College Wendell Berry Farming Program, located in Henry County, Kentucky.
Sterling College: https://www.sterlingcollege.edu/
Wendell Berry Farming Program: https://www.sterlingcollege.edu/wendellberry/
The Berry Center: https://berrycenter.org/
Learn more about Thoreau College and the microcollege movement at: https://thoreaucollege.org/
Driftless Folk School: https://www.driftlessfolkschool.org/
Thoreau College Podcast
Episode #28: Kotaro Aoki – Expanded Liberal Arts At Kotowari School, Aizu, Japan
Kotaro Aoki describes his journey to merge the western liberal arts tradition with eastern contemplative and philosophical practices at his school Kotowari in Aizu Prefecture, Japan.
般社団法人 ‘KOTOWARI’ “that which remains unchanging underneath the surface of change”
Kotaro Aoki is the founder and director of KOTOWARI, an educational organization based in Japan. He has years of experience in designing and managing academic courses and educational programs. He has been inspired by his undergraduate studies of Philosophy at Wesleyan University as well as his 3 years studying yoga and meditation in the Himalayas to bring unique and powerful methods of exploring the self and the world to today’s Japanese youth. KOTOWARI provides transformative educational experiences for high school, university and graduate students as well as young professionals in Japan. Since 2021, KOTOWARI has been offering programs annually. Last year, KOTOWARI was recognized as a pioneer in the field of education and was awarded a grant from the Mitsubishi Mirai Foundation.
Kotowari: https://kotowari.co/
Learn more about Thoreau College and the microcollege movement: https://thoreaucollege.org/
Driftless Folk School: https://www.driftlessfolkschool.org/
Thoreau College Podcast
Episode 27 – Mike Haasl – Skills to Inherit Property
Mike Haasl of Rhinelander, WI joins Jacob for a discussion on the importance of responsible land stewardship, and the development of skills and capacities that might help a person acquire land without breaking the bank.
Mike Haasl is a homesteader, engineer, and author living in northern Wisconsin. He studied and partied at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and worked is an engineer for many years before starting a homestead 8 years ago and transition to a role as an educator and teacher of practical skills and permaculture. He is also co-creator of SKIP – which is a framework for acquiring and documenting the skills needed to successfully lead a self-sufficient life and potentially inherit land.
Permaculture and homesteading goofballs: https://permies.com/
Skills to Inherit Property: https://permies.com/wiki/skip-pep-bb
Driftless Folk School: https://www.driftlessfolkschool.org/
Learn more about Thoreau College and the microcollege movement: https://thoreaucollege.org/
Thoreau College Podcast
Episode #26
Reinoud Meijer and Noam Hitsch join us from Sweden to talk about the International Youth Initiative Program, with special attention to the meaning and practice of the word “initiative”.
Reinoud Meijer (Born 1975 in Amersfoort, the Netherlands) has been involved with youth and education for many years. He organized, facilitated, initiated and founded a number of youth conferences, projects, and initiatives before co-founding the YIP program.
He has a passion for human potential and development, for regenerative agriculture, -food culture and -lifestyles, and for the power of imagination put into action.
He refers to himself as an Imagineer, who seeks to move possibilities towards probabilities where possible. He is currently the president of the YIP association and a member of the organising team and lives together with his wife and two children on the campus in Ytterjärna, Sweden.
Noam Marei Hitsch was born in Germany and grew up in Austria. She attended Waldorf school until 10th grade and from that point on decided to take her learning into her own hands, traveling to several different biodynamic farms and Camphills in the US and in Europe to learn about agriculture and different forms of community. Agriculture in combination with the social realm and personal development have been instrumental teachers in her life so far.
She joined the The International Youth Initiative Program in Sweden to gain intellectual nourishment in addition to all the practical skills learned from her time working and traveling on farms and in community.
Learn more about Thoreau College and the microcollege movement at: https://thoreaucollege.org/
Driftless Folk School: https://www.driftlessfolkschool.org/
International Youth Initiative Program: https://yip.se/
Spark to Flame Youth Initiative Forum: https://initiativeforum.yip.se/
Thoreau College Podcast
Episode #25: Eddy Nix, Rose Bruce on Reading Shakespeare for 148 Hours Straight
Eddy and Rose riff on the true identity of William Shakespeare.
Eddy Nix is a Viroqua resident and proprietor of Driftless Books and Music, possibly Wisconsin’s largest used bookstore, located in a 100-year old tobacco warehouse. He is a Shakespeare aficionado who has also worked as a teacher and theater director, and is currently the lead publisher at Ramshackle Press.
Rose Bruce is a Viroqua resident who, when she is not involved in Shakespearean endeavors, works in the sectors of forestry and ecology. She has previously served as an instructor and project leader at Thoreau College and also worked at the Thoreau’s Garden greenhouse. She is a graduate of Warren Wilson College.
Driftless Books and Music: https://driftlessbooks.com/
Ramshackle Press: https://www.ramshacklepress.org/
Learn more about Thoreau College and the microcollege movement at https://thoreaucollege.org/
Driftless Folk School: https://www.driftlessfolkschool.org/
Episode #26: Reinoud Meijer, Noam Hitsch – The International Youth Initiative Program
Reinoud Meijer and Noam Hitsch join us from Sweden to talk about the International Youth Initiative Program, with special attention to the meaning and practice of the word “initiative”.
Reinoud Meijer (Born 1975 in Amersfoort, the Netherlands) has been involved with youth and education for many years. He organized, facilitated, initiated and founded a number of youth conferences, projects, and initiatives before co-founding the YIP program.
He has a passion for human potential and development, for regenerative agriculture, -food culture and -lifestyles, and for the power of imagination put into action.
He refers to himself as an Imagineer, who seeks to move possibilities towards probabilities where possible. He is currently the president of the YIP association and a member of the organising team and lives together with his wife and two children on the campus in Ytterjärna, Sweden.
Noam Marei Hitsch was born in Germany and grew up in Austria. She attended Waldorf school until 10th grade and from that point on decided to take her learning into her own hands, traveling to several different biodynamic farms and Camphills in the US and in Europe to learn about agriculture and different forms of community. Agriculture in combination with the social realm and personal development have been instrumental teachers in her life so far.
She joined the The International Youth Initiative Program in Sweden to gain intellectual nourishment in addition to all the practical skills learned from her time working and traveling on farms and in community.
Learn more about Thoreau College and the microcollege movement at: https://thoreaucollege.org/
Driftless Folk School: https://www.driftlessfolkschool.org/
International Youth Initiative Program: https://yip.se/
Thoreau College Podcast
Episode 24 – Chris Knapp – The Maine Local Living School
Chris Knapp is a father, homesteader, environmental educator and founder of Maine Local Living School. He is passionate about sharing pathways into relationship with the human and more-than-human communities through hand craft, homesteading arts and deep listening. Chris is endlessly fascinated by the exploration of why the world is as it is and the human potential for creativity and positive change. Chris has designed and taught experiential programming for grade-schoolers to graduate students for over twenty years. He holds a M.S. in environmental studies from Antioch University New
England, is a Wilderness First Responder and a Registered Maine Guide.
Maine Local Living School: https://www.mainelocalliving.org/
Learn more about Thoreau College and the microcollege movement at: https://thoreaucollege.org/
Driftless Folk School: https://www.driftlessfolkschool.org/
Thoreau College Podcast
Episode 23 – Laura Marcus – The Glacier Bay Year at Tidelines Institute, Gustavus, Alaska
Laura Marcus weaves together a beautiful web of her educational and professional experiences, from her public school upbringing in Indianapolis, to employment at Deep Springs College, and the founding of her own educational initiatives as an adult.
Laura is committed to a vision of education that integrates the active life with the life of the mind. As co-executive director of Tidelines Institute and founding director of the Arete Project, she has worked with her students to create experiential and liberal educational programs that prepare students to be thoughtful stewards of the world around them. Prior to founding the Arete Project, Laura worked at Deep Springs College and as a ranger with the National Park Service. Laura has her B.A. from Yale University, her M.Phil from the University of Cambridge, and is a doctoral candidate at Stanford University. In her spare time, she is an avid backpacker, reader, and cook.
Tidelines Institute: https://www.tidelinesinstitute.org/
The Arete Project: https://areteproject.org/
Learn more about Thoreau College and the microcollege movement at: https://thoreaucollege.org/
Driftless Folk School: https://www.driftlessfolkschool.org/
Thoreau College Podcast
Episode 22 – Vilhelm Skoglund – Effective Altruism and the Future Academy
Vilhelm Skoglund is the secretary-general of Effective Altruism Sweden. In October 2022, Vilhelm and Effective Altruism Sweden launched Future Academy, a five month long free program aimed to equip university students and young professionals from around the world with the thinking, skills, and resources they will need to pursue ambitious and impactful careers. He has several board positions within the non-profit sector and co-founded Nema Problema, a non-profit aiming to make migration policies more effective. Vilhelm has previously worked as a consultant and has studied law, developmental economics, and sustainability studies at Uppsala, Yale, and Cornell University.
Effective Altruism: https://www.effektivaltruism.org/
Future Academy: https://www.effektivaltruism.org/futureacademyNema Problema: https://www.nemaproblema.se/mentoring-program/
Thoreau College Podcast
Episode 20 – Marcus Ford – Flagstaff College
Marcus Ford, Ph.D. is the co-founder of Flagstaff College and a retired professor from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona. He is the author of several books, including Beyond the Modern University: Toward a Constructive Post-Modern University and William James: A New Perspective.
Flagstaff College: https://www.flagstaffcollege.education/
Thoreau College Podcast
Episode 19 – Dave Puig, Justys Grenier – Outward Bound and Expeditionary Learning
Dave, Justys, and Jacob trade tales of transformational wilderness experiences, and discuss the origins and importance of expeditionary learning as a field.
Dave Puig has been a wilderness instructor for fourteen years, leading expeditions in the desert, the Arctic, the wondrous Northwoods, and into the minds of authors, social critics, and high school students. He developed the expedition-based Land Ethics Curriculum at Youth Initiative High School which challenges students to see their own growth in reciprocity with their peers, those they see as different from themselves, and the earth. He also builds houses and lives on his wife’s family farm where they are embarking on the incredible journey of parenthood!
Justys Grenier is a Viroqua native, alumni of Youth Initiative High School, experiential educator and outdoor enthusiast. I grew up in the Driftless area and enjoyed a community supported upbringing while exploring the creeks and hills of our unique landscape. After a few years of traveling overseas, learning and growing into myself, I found a calling in outdoor education. For the last three years I have been working as an instructor at Voyageur Outward Bound School, leading trips with small groups of young people through the wilderness of the Boundary Waters, and through the Chihuahua desert of Big Bend, Texas. My desire for a change of pace and time to explore other interests has led me back to the Driftless area for the foreseeable future. Here I am learning carpentry and finding ways to engage with my community and give back with the knowledge and experience I have gained over the past few years.
Outward Bound: https://www.outwardbound.org/
National Outdoor Leadership School: https://www.nols.edu/en/
Voyageur Outward Bound School: https://www.vobs.org/
Learn more about Thoreau College and the microcollege movement: http://thoreaucollege.org/
Driftless Folk School: https://www.driftlessfolkschool.org/
Thoreau College Podcast
Episode 18 – Eric Anglada, Brenna Cussen Anglada – The Catholic Worker Movement, Nones & Nuns
Eric and Brenna Anglada describe the origins of the Catholic Worker Movement and the more recent organization Nuns and Nones.
Brenna Cussen Anglada is a founding member of the St. Isidore CW Farm in southwest Wisconsin, home of the Ho Chunk, Meskwaki, Sauk, and many other nations. She serves as the Religious Communities Liaison for the N&N Land Justice Project, and works with the Catholic Native Boarding School Accountability and Healing Project.
Eric Anglada is a college dropout and co-founder of St. Isidore Catholic Worker Farm outside of Cuba City, WI. He is the ecological programming coordinator at Sinsinawa Mound. He works a bit for the Nuns and Nones Land Justice Project. His interests are in the intersections of land, community, spirituality, and decolonization.
Contact the St. Isidore Catholic Worker Farm at catholicworkerschool@gmail.com.
Nuns and Nones: https://www.nunsandnones.org/
Learn more about Thoreau College and the microcollege movement at: https://thoreaucollege.org/
Driftless Folk School: https://www.driftlessfolkschool.org/
Thoreau College Podcast
Episode 17 – Lene Rachel Andersen – The Nordic Secret and Global Bildung
Lene Rachel Andersen expresses the importance of Bildung philosophy, describing its origins in 18th-century Denmark and impact on Scandinavian societies through to the present day.
Lene Rachel Andersen is a Danish author, economist, futurist, and philosopher, President of Nordic Bildung, and co-founder of Global Bildung Network.
Thoreau College Podcast
Episode 16 – Frank Eccher, Emily Drukman – Outer Coast College
Jacob is joined by Frank and Emily of Outer Coast College to talk their story in Sitka, microcolleges, place-based education, and more.
Frank Eccher is the College Launch Lead at Outer Coast in Sitka, AK, where he is charting a course to accreditation for the launch of Outer Coast College in fall 2024. Originally from a small town in Colorado, he has written on trout conservation and wilderness narratives in the Mountain West, patterns of college attendance in rural America, among other topics. He plans to pursue doctoral study in the history of experimental colleges and the relationship between general education and American democracy.
Emily Drukman is currently a second year architecture student at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana. She attended Outer Coast for the 2021-22 Academic Year program, and returned to Sitka last summer as the Dean’s Assistant, working in Tlingit translation and editing.
A handful of spots for the Spring Semester 2023 at Outer Coast are still open and full scholarships are available. The application is available online at outercoast.org/apply.
Outer Coast College in Sitka, Alaska: https://outercoast.org/
Learn more about Thoreau College and the microcollege movement at: https://thoreaucollege.org/
Driftless Folk School: https://www.driftlessfolkschool.org/
Thoreau College Podcast
Episode 15 – John Vervaeke on a Meaningful Education
John Vervaeke and Jacob dissect the importance of thinking, reasoning, wisdom, and meaning, and ways to overcome the barriers we face today in understanding these facets of our humanity.
John Vervaeke, PhD, is an award-winning lecturer at the University of Toronto in the departments of psychology, cognitive science and Buddhist psychology, who has published a 50-part lecture series known as “Awakening From the Meaning Crisis”.
Awakening From the Meaning Crisis
John’s website: http://johnvervaeke.com/
Learn more about Thoreau College and the microcollege movement at: https://thoreaucollege.org/Driftless Folk School: https://www.driftlessfolkschool.org/
Thoreau College
Episode #14: Jonas Søvik – The Danish Folk High School Experience
Jonas Søvik joins the podcast and shares his experience as a student at a Danish folk high school, and the impact he think the folk high school model can have around the world.
Jonas Søvik is a 23-year old Danish university student currently studying psychology. Prior to entering university, he spent a year at the Vrå Folk High School in Vrå, Denmark where he experienced bildung firsthand.
VRAA Folk High School: https://vraahojskole.com/
Folk Education Association of America: https://www.folkschoolalliance.org/
Learn more about Thoreau College and the microcollege movement at: https://thoreaucollege.org/
Driftless Folk School: https://www.driftlessfolkschool.org/
Thoreau College Podcast
Episode 13 – Willie E. Jones III on Shakespeare, The Classics, and Theatre Education
Willie Jones joins the podcast for an earnest discussion on the importance of the classics in the theater, in education, and in the pursuit of truth and knowledge.
Willie E. Jones III is an actor, director, producer, and playwright who is the founding Actor/Manager of the Jones Classical Theater Company in Chicago, Illinois. He is the Artistic Director of the Juneteenth Theatre Justice Project, a Co-Founder of the Minnesota Black Theatre Circle, was the Executive Producer of the Blackness Is… Theatre Arts Festival, and also serves on the Board of Yellow Tree Theatre in Osseo, Minnesota.
Willie is a graduate of the Guthrie Theater B.F.A. Actor Training Program at the University of Minnesota, and most recently directed As You Like It at the first ever Viroqua Shakespeare Festival, which he co-produced in collaboration with Thoreau College.
Jones Theater Company: https://sites.google.com/view/thejonesclassicaltheatre/home
Juneteenth Theatre Justice Project
“Blackness Is…” Theatre Arts Festival
Learn more about Thoreau College and the microcollege movement at https://thoreaucollege.org/
Driftless Folk School: https://www.driftlessfolkschool.org/
Thoreau College
Episode 12 – “Bridget O’Brien, Dr. Charlie Brennan – Permaculture, Praxis, and Play”
Jacob speaks with Bridget O’Brien and Dr. Charlie Brennan of the Garden Juju Collective, as they take us on a foray into the world and practice of Permaculture: in agriculture, education, and life.
Bridget O’Brien is the director of Resilient Spirals LLC and co-founder of the Garden Juju Collective. Bridget’s studies and work focuses on the design of personal well-being, community building, and land use, through cultivating a range of regenerative applied skills in design, facilitation, horticulture, eco-landscaping, food growing, Permaculture, fermentation and yoga.
Dr. Charlie Brennan is the co-founder of Garden Juju Collective, with over 30 years of applied experience in gardening, farming, landscape design, conservation, horticulture, permaculture, and forest, river, and Australian bush regeneration,
Garden Juju Collective offers a range of in-person and online workshops, presentations, services and packages. These draw together design, facilitation, social ecology, food justice, permaculture, conservation, re-wilding, sustainability, environmental education, ecopsychology and deep respect for Indigenous land and culture.
Garden Juju Collective: https://gardenjujucollective.com/
Learn more about Thoreau College and the microcollege movement at https://thoreaucollege.org/
Driftless Folk School: https://www.driftlessfolkschool.org/
Thoreau College Podcast
Episode 11 – “David W. Orr – Ecological Literacy in Higher Education”
This week on Microcollege, David Orr makes his case for the importance of a higher education that keeps the Earth in mind.
David W. Orr is the Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Politics Emeritus at Oberlin College, and presently Professor of Practice at Arizona State University. Orr is one of the original advocates of microcolleges, whose work focuses on ecological literacy, sustainable design, and eco-friendly practices in American higher education.
Learn more about Thoreau College and the microcollege movement at https://thoreaucollege.org/
Driftless Folk School: https://www.driftlessfolkschool.org/
Thoreau College Podcast
Episode 9 – “Nathaniel Williams, Stefan Ambrose – Free Columbia, MC Richards Program”
Tune in this week for a discussion between Nathaniel Williams and Stefan Ambrose of the Free Columbia initiative in upstate New York as they describe the origins of the program and its pedagogy.
Nathaniel Williams is the co-founder of Free Columbia with Laura Summer. He studied visual art and marionette theater in Basel, Switzerland, graduating with a certificate in visual art from the neueKUNSTschule in 2002. He has a PhD in Political Science from the University at Albany and works as a performer, teacher and artist.
Stefan Ambrose is the director of the MC Richards program at Free Columbia. He grew up in the shimmering heat of central Florida’s Green Swamp region, spending his youth immersed in the dark marsh water and sugar sand forests of old Florida. Stefan has studied Goethean science with the Nature Institute of Ghent, New York, storytelling at the International School of Storytelling at Emerson College, United Kingdom, and has trained extensively in Rogerian empathic dialogue and humanistic psychology through Satvatove Institute.
Learn more about Thoreau College and the microcollege movement at https://thoreaucollege.org/
Driftless Folk School: https://www.driftlessfolkschool.org/
Free Columbia/MC Richards Program: https://www.freecolumbia.org/
Thoreau College Podcast
Episode 10
“Steve Lawless on Service Learning”
Steve and Jacob strike a rich vein of conversation in the topic of service learning, from its origins to its applications in the world of higher education today.
Steve Lawless has an M.A. in Education, and has taught in many settings including as a traditional writing and literature teacher on Native American reservations, farm schools, alternative middle and high schools and a Waldorf school. From his nearly thirty years of teaching and facilitating adventure and service learning experiences, Steve has an infectious enthusiasm for taking learning outside the classroom. He is currently the proprietor of Sittin Pretty Farm in Viroqua, WI and the man behind the wheel of the Merry Green Marvel, a rolling community of adventure and service.
Learn more about Thoreau College and the microcollege movement at https://thoreaucollege.org/
Driftless Folk School: https://www.driftlessfolkschool.org/
Merry Green Marvel: https://www.merrygreenmarvel.org/
Sittin Pretty Farm: https://www.sittinprettyfarm.org/
Thoreau College Podcast
Episode 8 – “Austin Smith – Leaving Stanford, Coming Home”
The poet Austin Robert Smith joins Microcollege for an examination of the current state of higher education and the role of poetry in a liberal arts education.
Austin Smith is a poet and formerly a Jones Lecturer at Stanford University. He grew up on a family dairy farm in northwestern Illinois before receiving a BA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, an MA from the University of California-Davis, and an MFA from the University of Virginia. Austin’s poems have appeared in The New Yorker, Poetry Magazine, Yale Review, Sewanee Review, Ploughshares, New England Review, Poetry East, ZYZZYVA, Pleiades, Virginia Quarterly Review, 32 Poems and Threepenny Review, amongst others. His most recent collection of poetry, Flyover Country, a celebration of the rural Midwest and small-town life, is available through Princeton University Press.
Flyover Country, Available Now: Flyover Country
Substack: Poem-a-Day
Learn more about Thoreau College and the microcollege movement at https://thoreaucollege.org/
Driftless Folk School: https://www.driftlessfolkschool.org/
Thoreau College Podcast
Episode 7 – “Julie Tomaro, Nicholas WazeeGale – Folk Schools, Skills, and Knowledge”
Julie Tomaro and Nicholas WazeeGale are both instructors at the Driftless Folk School in rural southwestern Wisconsin. Their dialogue this week revolves around the Folk School tradition in America, some of their life experiences leading to their involvement in one, and the important role a Folk school can play in helping to build personal and cultural resilience.
Julie Tomaro is the owner of Blue Bobbin Studio in Viroqua. Julie has been sewing and crafting for most of her life, though more recently her journey has led her to take these skills into the world of sustainability and reaching towards zero waste. Through sewing for herself and her community she has found a new platform to empower others reaching for those goals themselves.
Nicholas WazeeGale has been a lifelong student of Nature, traditional culture, and sustainability. He is passionate about Nature observation, living closely with the Earth and natural rhythms, hunting and gathering, craft and handwork, and community. He resides in the Driftless region with his wife and children and has taught for DFS, the Kickapoo Valley Reserve, and independently for almost 20 years. He is a certified wilderness guide, holds a level three track and sign certificate through CyberTracker, and he and his wife earn their livelihood teaching outdoor skills and hand crafts, running summer camps, and selling fine handcrafts through their business, WildRoots HandCrafts.
Blue Bobbin Studio website: https://www.bluebobbinstudio.com/
Blue Bobbin Studio Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bluebobbinstudio/
Wildroots Handcrafts website: https://www.wildrootshandcrafts.com/
Wildroots Handcrafts Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wildroots.handcrafts/
Driftless Folk School: https://www.driftlessfolkschool.org/
Folk Education Association of America: https://www.folkschoolalliance.org/
Thoreau College Podcast
Episode 6 – “Ciarán Willis – Rethinking Remote Learning at A Place Beyond”
Ciarán Willis speaks about his experiences leading up to the foundation of A Place Beyond, a unique approach to the remote learning boom prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ciarán is currently the operations director at Deep Springs College. Prior to founding A Place Beyond, he was born and raised in Portland, Oregon and studied English Literature at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He lectured English at the University of Finance and Economics in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia; and he is a faculty member at NOLS, instructing mountaineering, rock climbing, backcountry skiing, and adaptive leadership throughout the Western US and Alaska.
Learn more about Thoreau College and the microcollege movement at https://thoreaucollege.org/
Driftless Folk School: https://www.driftlessfolkschool.org/
Deep Springs College: https://www.deepsprings.edu/
A Place Beyond: https://www.aplacebeyond.com/
National Outdoor Leadership School: https://www.nols.edu/en/
Thoreau College Podcast
Episode 5 – “Sue Darlington – Deep Springs College and The Edge of Academia”
On this episode of Microcollege, guest Sue Darlington and Jacob discuss the story of Deep Springs College and its subtle but resounding societal impact during its 105-year existence.
Sue Darlington is the current president of Deep Springs College, and former professor of Anthropology and Asian Studies at Hampshire College, where she taught for 30 years. Her research focuses on socially-engaged Buddhism, with particular attention to environmentalism and Buddhism in Thailand.
Deep Springs College: https://www.deepsprings.edu/
Learn more about Thoreau College and the microcollege movement at https://thoreaucollege.org/
Driftless Folk School: https://www.driftlessfolkschool.org/
Thoreau College Podcast
Episode 4 – “Lucien Dante Lazar – Art and Anthroposophy as a Pedagogy for Self-Development”
Lucien joins Microcollege for a conversation about the intersections between art, spirituality, and education, as well as his artistic process and the divine wisdom with which his work is infused.
Lucien Dante Lazar is a multi-disciplinary artist, musician, essayist, poet, social worker, philosopher, and anthroposophist from Evanston, IL.
Find Lucien on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luciendantelazarart/
Learn more about Thoreau College and the microcollege movement at https://thoreaucollege.org/
Driftless Folk School: https://www.driftlessfolkschool.org/
Thoreau College Podcast
Episode 3 – “Dr. Julie Shackelford and the International People’s College”
Dr. Julie Shackelford discusses the origins of the Scandinavian Folk School movement and its applications to a wide range of issues facing students and educators today.
Dr. Julie Shackelford is an academic, writer, polyglot, anthropologist, Wisconsin native, and a teacher at the International People’s College in Elsinore, Denmark.
International People’s College: https://ipc.dk/
Folk Education Association of America: https://www.folkschoolalliance.org/
Association of Folk High Schools in Denmark: https://danishfolkhighschools.com/
Find Julie on linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/julie-shackelford
Thoreau College Podcast
Episode 2 – “Jacob Rowland, Liam McGilligan – Thoreau College Alumni Reflections”
Thoreau College alumni Liam McGilligan and Jacob Rowland outline their educational upbringing and reflect on their experiences at Thoreau College versus other more traditional institutions of higher education.
Liam McGilligan is an actor, artist, scholar, and citizen, alumnus of the Guthrie Theater Actor Training Program and Thoreau College, and the producer of this podcast.
Jacob Rowland is an alumnus of Thoreau College who is currently enrolled at Oberlin College, with interests in philosophy and literature.
Thoreau College Podcast
Episode 1 – “Jacob Hundt — An Introduction to Microcolleges and Thoreau College”
Podcast host Jacob Hundt provides an introduction to the concept of “microcolleges” as an alternative to traditional forms of higher education.
Jacob Hundt is the Executive Director of Thoreau College in Viroqua, Wisconsin. Growing up on a dairy farm in the Driftless region of southwestern Wisconsin, and as a founding student at the Youth Initiative High School, Jacob gathered inspiration for transformation in higher education through his studies at Deep Springs College, the American University in Bulgaria, and the University of Chicago.