Before stepping onto the Roseway, I gulped down a non-drowsy dramamine, taking a swig from my water bottle so it wouldn’t get stuck in my craw; all of this “off stage” action was completed outside of the last public restrooms at the dock before boarding our vessel for the day. The Roseway is the schooner that our Ocean Classroom students use as their home away from home each fall trimester. On the last Saturday in July, a group of Proctor people and their families were getting an “amuse bouche” - a little taste - of what it was like to voyage on the same open seas that Proctor Ocean classroom students get to behold.

How do I enter? That was always one of the questions I would ask the director when I worked in theater or TV. What is he (the character) thinking? What has just happened? I realize, at that moment, these are the questions that guide my current journey. 

Backcountry driving, just like backcountry anything, can reveal much to you. Like some divination tool, it tells you mostly where you are going by revealing where you’ve been. That’s what I tried to do when I drove halfway across the country to Proctor’s campus last weekend in great anticipation of the longer journey that awaited me as a member of the Proctor community. During this meandering drive from the midwest, I figured I could only focus on what lies ahead.