Submit your feedback
I was a Senior when you were a Freshman. I enjoyed your Movie.
I too have only been back to Midland a few times over the last fifty years. There have been changes in MIdland besides the girls. I noticed the grass soccer/lacross field and no bareback riding without hemets. I guess the improvements were made to accommodate the girls.
I think the Garden is a real improvement. In 20/20 hindsight we probably over emphasized sports and did not realize how important the experiences we were having with the environment. My best memories of Midland were trips to Dabney Cabin on horseback with Ben Rich. When things get really tough I remember going down a mountain trail in a rainstorm on a horse at the end of the group holding on to rope of the pack horse and realizing if I dropped the rope we and the horses would not have any food. On that trip I developed a lot of faith in the horse I was riding. I wish I had spent more time in the hills while I was at Midland.
The movie gave me some insights about myself. I am a lawyer and frequently represent large agricultural, energy or development interests. In my practice I often find environmental interest on the other side of the table. Often I say things or propose things that are much more radical and protective of the environment than they have ever thought of. They are a little shocked that a lawyer representing the bad guys thinks the way I do. After I saw your movie I realized that my experiences at Midland probably caused the development of some of my radical ideas about the environment. Again I enjoyed your movie.
Mike Maloney, Class of 1961
______________________________________________________________________________
My congratulations for an outstanding rendering of the Midland experience. I was very touched by the down to earth, transparent, modest and sensitive approach to the many distinct components that make Midland a "different" and enriching place. As an alumnus of Midland who was raised in another great secondary school environment (Cate), I can appreciate, perhaps more profoundly than many with more strict urban and suburban backgrounds, the very complex dynamics of what makes a school successful for all of its constituents. The DVD captured the essence and left the rest to build on...very much akin to the original experience. Thank you for sharing. The DVD is a very accurate and lasting portrait and is a vehicle that will be a great bridge for both future and historical students of Midland.
Regards,
Steve Woodworth, class of 1963
______________________________________________________________________________
Thank you Pete for interesting stories! I am also lucky to have a print of Grass Mountain by Ray Strong in my home office. Enjoy it every day.
Allan Wentworth
Class of 1962
______________________________________________________________________________
The other day I received the Midland Mirror, and was very sad to read that Heavy Metal, the horse, had died. I rode Heavy Metal only once, many years ago when my wife Kathy and I visited Midland for a day. We have horses of our own and riding is a great part of our life. But that one day riding Heavy Metal stands out in my memory, partly because we were riding the hills I grew up on, and partly because of that horse's huge heart. This all led me to watch Midland Stories. I was stunned. Thank you Peter for producing these videos. They are treasures. And thank you Midland for continuing to add so much richness to the lives of people you nurture.
Todd Bryant
Class of 1964
______________________________________________________________________________
What a phenomenal experience you have created! I was the subsititute parent for my brother's daughter, Malinda Foster, class of '95. I spent each of her 3 years there as a Midland outsider, looking in and visiting, sending letters and care packages for Malinda and her cat Tillie. Thanks to this video, I now feel like a virtual graduate, and it's a profound and satisfying feeling. Midland is the school I would have loved to have attended. I've been back to Los Olivos several times in recent years. Each time, I drove up into the mountains and hills above Midland to do some serious black and white landscape photography. I hope this series of videos is or will be available on a single DVD. I know several parents that I want to plant the Midland seed within by sharing it.
Todd Foster
Midland parent, landscape photographer, writer
______________________________________________________________________________
Peter -- another fine piece of work. Along with your first "Midland" project, this is exactly the kind of thing needed for the endless and essential purpose of "spreading the word" about this unique school.
At 15 and dying of psycho/cultural suffocation in a warehouse high-school in the Central Valley, I dreamed of something a lot like Midland -- and would have crawled there over broken glass had I only known that it existed. I've been puzzled and concerned for a while that Midland should remain so far below the radar at a time when mainstream education is disintegrating before our very eyes.
I live one county north of Los Olivos, and it continues to amaze me how often I have to start from scratch when talking to people about Midland -- they most often have just never heard of it.. I try to carry school DVD's around with me (including yours), which I happily distribute at every opportunity. This web-site and the new video material provide yet another inspiring and effective means of letting people in on the secret. Thanks very much -- I will be dropping this link into as many email conversations as I possibly can. May the traffic build!
in appreciation
Charles Duncan
Midland parent, Writer/Screenwriter/Musician & perennial student
______________________________________________________________________________
Peter, congratulations on this great piece of work. I love how you built the website to have the chapters broken out... in my current life, I never have 2 hrs to sit down at a time :)
I have emailed friends and family with the link. We have posted on Facebook and Twitter, both my personal pages and blueEnergy's.
Anne-Cecile's (blueEnergy France Director) comment from today, "I love this video!! I think it is one of the best to actually show what bE is about and doing in the communities and in Bluefields."
She asked if it was possible to add this segment to our YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/blueenergygroup), where we have all our videos compiled? She also asked about the possibility of getting the original hard copy so that we could add French subtitles to it.
Basically, it's a great video and we'd like to get it disseminated as broadly as we can.
Mathias Craig '96
Founder & Director, blueEnergy
______________________________________________________________________________
I loved every bit. It was great. Lise Goddard as Louise Squibb was both great and believable. Lorri Hamilton Durbin has always compelled me, though I never met her. I saw her in a graduation issue and she was so beautiful -- first thing you notice. Then I discover she's an accomplished athlete, an excellent scholar, a school leader -- I'm thinking, who IS this paragon? And then to go from Midland to New York City -- what a head-snapper! How did she do it? Midlanders can do anything.
Barney Currer, '63
Journalist, fiction writer, advertising copywriter
______________________________________________________________________________
Film expressed my unspoken feelings about Midland. I, too, have the now famous Grass Mountain painting hanging prominently in my home.
Conincidentally, with the arrival this film, there appeared a list of "Lost souls" - those students who attended and some even graduating from Midland - who in the words of Paul Squibb "do not wish to be found." The reasons for not wanting "to be found" are undoubtedly many and complex and may have nothing to do with the Midland journey into adulthood.
For me Midland was the best of times. For others it was not. Why ?
Chap Milbank
Alumnus, Attorney
______________________________________________________________________________
Thank you for your hours of dedicated service in producing this wonderful slice of Midland life. As parents that only get to visit on those special weekends, I appreciate getting the history and insights into the lives of those that have graduated. I am truly grateful that my daughter Shayla has the opportunity to experience Midland - it will serve her well , as your film has so beautifully shown . Thank you for capturing so many beautiful scenes and what a joy it was to see Shayla included in a few of them !!! .
Christine Gordon
Midland parent, yoga instructor, former kindergarten teacher in Africa
______________________________________________________________________________
My daughter was an actor and I was suprised Midland didn't have a theatre of any kind ...so I convinced David Lorrie (previous Headmaster) who also had theatre background to trust me and we set about to build a theatre that was functional and blended into the hillside. The problems were several. If it became too elaborate, traditionalists would object. And Board of Trustees consent would be required. So in true Midland tradition we decided to act quickly and ask forgiveness instead of permission. A good friend loaned me his concerte construction forman, traded labor with a couple construction friends, and in three weeks we built the oudoor Midland theatre (quickly between board meetings so we wouldn't get caught. Since completion its been used for 8 major plays, countless assemblies and performances and two one women performances: Miranda Poett's and Emma Dunncan's the year before. I had to laugh when you described it as funky, not traditonal prep school quality. That's exactly what we strived for. Thank you for capturing wonderful spirit of the Midland experience.
Michael Kidd
Innkeeper, and parent of Alexis '08 and Evan '11
______________________________________________________________________________
(Midland Stories) is about a unique school, but also about kids finding themselves. Wish I had gone as a student, would love to teach there. Words that capture the values that underlie the movie, and Midland: Timeless, simple, concrete, clear, responsibility.
Bob Peterson
Urban Organic Farmer
______________________________________________________________________________
The characters seemed to be self-sufficient and independent self-starters, which seems to have been instilled in them from Midland values. We were especially moved by the alumnus dedicating his life to bringing clean water and energy to Nicaraguan villages. Ed Carpenter’s work is very creative and brilliant. The values instilled in the students of Midland were inspirational. Accountability, self-sufficiency, awareness, consciousness, empowerment.
You did a great job portraying the scenes from the past with actors (of the founders with the students). That was really a huge challenge to take on and you and the actors did a fantastic job!!!
Missy Porteous
Dietician, Diabetes Educator, Dancer
______________________________________________________________________________
The diversity seemed to be the common thread, expressed as an almost stubborn independence and belief that doing things your own way is a good choice - also a love for Midland and a feeling that Midland was a life changing experience. It presented interesting new ideas about the environment, population concerns, and “living with less” both in poor countries and in wealthy ones. Some of the individual segments, (I particularly remember the Nicaragua footage and the sculpture footage) are quite captivating, and could stand alone as mini docs.
The parts that moved me were mostly spontaneous interactions between students, footage stolen when they weren’t looking. The more scripted or staged it got, the less moving I found it, like the scenes of the woman looking at names in the chapel. At the far end of that spectrum were the scenes in which the two teachers reenacted the life of the original headmaster and his wife. I found those so unconvincingly portrayed as to be jarring. A particularly egregious example is a bit of dialogue as the “headmistress” brings in a plate of cookies before examining plant specimens. A boy asks, “Did you make those yourself?” It took me right out of the movie into musings about the ways that our time is different from 1930’s and 40’s, and whether contemporary people or actors could ever really find their way into the minds and clothes of those sturdy, upright people we see in the wonderful still photographs in the movie.
Doing things your own way is a common Midland trait, it seems, going all the way back to throwing rocks at a garbage can, rather than suppressing the urge to throw rocks.
Deborah Geffner Holcomb
Actor, Filmmaker
______________________________________________________________________________
I loved the diversity of Ed Carpenter’s visual works, the bee keeping, the wine making, the cattle ranching, city vs. country, east vs. west, and especially Sawyer’s story. The simple life, honestly lived. The focus on Miranda held everything together. This would be a great student recruiting film because it sends the message that you can realize yourself at Midland and you can do anything and be anything. You had so many locations, which expanded the consciousness of the viewer. The old swimming hole is something I thought was extinct. I really loved the cutting in the film, which gave a temporal and geographical complexity, helping sustain attention and interest. The film cut between generations and characters and subjects and places, a sort of post-modern playfulness with time and sequence. There was a pearl, a keeper, in every set-up.
Jeffrey C. Hamm
M.D., Strax Rejuvenation and Aesthetics Institute
______________________________________________________________________________
Starting the movie in a cemetery is pretty glum. Please cut all the reenactments. They make it feel like a bad unsolved mysteries episode.
Jamie Seborer '96
Filmmaker
______________________________________________________________________________
The bar for performance seems high yet at the same time it didn’t feel like it was shoved down students’ throats. Paul Squibb's solution to the boys throwing rocks proves the underlying philosophy there that there is more than one way to solve a problem. Loved when Miranda found the note with Lorri’s address on the barren swept floor of her dorm room.
Frankly the physical living conditions seem a bit too minimalistic to me but I’m probably spoiled with way too many comforts of home. In my younger days I would definitely do better with living in Midland’s simple accommodations. The sense of community, however, would undoubtedly trump the modest living accommodations and as a student community would matter most. I would love to teach there.
Ryan Beck
Photographer
______________________________________________________________________________
I wish I would have known about Midland before I sent my girls to high school. The common trait I saw was the ability to think independently and look for a path in life that wasn’t necessarily predetermined by typical career paths. The movie was coherent, but long. My attention drifted to the laundry I was doing, then I came back.
Delia McGrath
Senior Engineer, Stormwater Quality Improvement Program
______________________________________________________________________________
Impressive. Inspiring. Challenging. Strong work ethic + values = changing lives.
Toni Wisner, Actor
Mother of Three, Community Volunteer
MIDLAND SCHOOL WEB SITE