Hopscotch House – Photo by Nicci Mechler
No, not that one featuring the red-faced man with the raised fist, but my continuing fight to save Hopscotch House and to ensure its future as I originally intended.
My slow progress during these many months is trying to my patience and to all of you who care, but it is due to the inevitably slow progress of anything legal. We are waiting right now for a judge’s decision, date unknown…
In the meantime, I would be most grateful for your responses, both from you who enjoyed Hopscotch during its long history and you who might want to avail yourselves of it in the future.
Of course we will need to provide accessible access to the first floor where there is a kitchen, bathrooms, a bedroom, library, and living room. It seems unlikely that we would need more than this.
How many of you are seriously inconvenienced by lack of WiFi? As a writer, I know its services are important when I’m submitting manuscripts to publishers or literary competitions. None one accepts mailed manuscripts nowadays.
However, when I’m actually writing, I find relief from the torrent of unnecessary and unwanted emails a great relief; the temptation when stuck to turn to all that “messaging” only distracts me from my work. Usually I have several days before deadlines and so can submit later.
What about Google?
Well….
I question my dependence on this service, now under legal attack for being a monopoly that stifles other businesses. And I’ve never been comfortable with accepting as truths “facts” and definitions proceeding from an unknown authority. We’ve all become used to this, but is it wise? Now and then someone raises the questions: where does Google’s information come from? Is it fact-checked? But there is never any answer.
To wean myself, I’ve taken to using the enormous Columbia Encyclopedia, Fifth Edition. There are probably later editions available now. These long and comprehensive entries are a little less convenient to look up, but they come with the support of a well-known publisher, Houghton-Mifflin, always dear to me because it published my first two books; and although of course you have to buy this weighty volume, after that initial expenditure the information is free.
Is it more reliable than Google’s endless answers? Yes. The Encyclopedia, like its brothers and sisters, has editors and a consulting board, made up of real people with real academic credentials. It might even be possible to question an entry and receive a response.
Has anyone ever tried to question Google?
So, to my mind, a few days or even a week without email might prove inconvenient but in the long term, a blessing. The lack of that convenience at Hopscotch is due to the fact that it is enclosed within my conservation easement, Wolf Pen Mill Farm, an enormous advantage, ensuring quiet, beautiful surroundings, and lots of walking.
Please respond if you are inspired to do so: Would the lack of internet prove a real problem for you?
I would appreciate the solitude of Hopscotch House and not having the internet wouldn’t bother me either way. I’m assuming some people might benefit from it and those who wouldn’t like it, don’t have to turn it on!
I’ve had the privilege of staying at Hopscotch House 3 times, with my first invitation coming from Judi Jennings when she was at UL. On my first visit, I was blessed to meet and have a delightful, magical experience with Wren! We made woodland fairies to either keep or place in a wooded area for others to find and maybe feel a touch of magic.
Hopscotch House and it’s surroundings, provide a sense of magic, community and peace where one can work on her writings, create her crafts and commune with others, leaving feeling renewed, inspired and refreshed. It’s a great gift from Sallie Bingham to the talented women who briefly reside there and create! Thank you, Sallie, for the experience.
I was just thinking about how to safeguard time for writing and how to build spaces that support that. The internet, hah, even responding to this post, interrupt that precious solitude where words become real on paper. Today I will put on Alice Coltrane, read Desmond Tutu on forgiveness and commit to writing….. would I need the internet, no.
Would I need community and newspapers, possibly even wire services, yes. And do we have those baseline first edition, final edition, daily and reliable (though always biased in some way), information distribution without the internet? I do not believe we will ever see that level of “real” daily journalism in print again.
So I must turn to those on substack like Seymour Hersh and your blog, for the exploration of the world beyond my factory loft.
The most important thing is that you are making a legal test for preserving your vision for Hopscotch House. Bravi!
As for wifi, I like to have it when I am writing. Maybe it could be ‘localized’ to a specific area, encouraging thoughtful use of it. And it is always optional, if you want to turn off your antenna.
WE WERE THERE.
We were held, in that sacred space.
We witnessed that tree.
We created art in that space, and experienced the art on its walls,
we shared love in that space, adding to the layers of love within those walls,
we walked its labyrinth and prayed, we healed there, laughed and cried there,
tripped over the kitchen step, shared meals, held ceremony and Reiki,
to then sew quilts infused with ALL that sacredness
for children
that needed,
just,
that.
WE can say THAT happened and WE are a part of the sacred Herstory of
THE one and only Hopscotch House.
What an honor that is.
Bless you, Sallie Bingham
The Sew What’s:
Susan Caldwell
Julie Buchanan
Mary Clements
Rene Guagliardo
Leah Swift