{"id":15605,"date":"1968-01-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"1968-01-15T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kith.org\/journals\/jed\/letters\/letters_from_marcy_1968-01-15.html"},"modified":"2018-01-04T20:07:19","modified_gmt":"2018-01-04T20:07:19","slug":"letters-from-marcy-1968-01-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/marcy\/1968\/01\/15\/letters-from-marcy-1968-01-15\/","title":{"rendered":"Letters from Marcy #31: 15 January 1968"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

This letter is largely focused on the Caspar Community School, the school that Marcy was teaching at in Mendocino, so I did some research about that. Even though the big grant that she\u2019s so confident about in this letter didn\u2019t happen (as far as I know), the school lasted a while longer than I would\u2019ve expected.<\/p>\r\n

\"Caspar<\/a>
Caspar Community School<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n

(The photo on this page is of the school building in July, 1968, showing how close it was to the ocean. Photo courtesy of Carol Ross.)<\/p>\r\n

The first thing I found was that there was a benefit concert for the school on November 18, 1967, performed by a band called Clover. You can see a copy of the poster<\/a> for the concert online. A note on that page says that band-member Johnny Ciambotti\u2019s “ex-wife was a teacher at the school”; since Marcy hadn't been married to him, I'm assuming that Ciambotti's wife was Bertha Miller, who Marcy mentions in these letters. Ciambotti<\/a> and Clover later went on to play backing music on Elvis Costello\u2019s first album, and Ciambotti later became a chiropractor. I don\u2019t know what happened to Bertha.<\/p>\r\n

The only mention I can find of the school in 1960s newspapers is from the Ukiah Daily Journal<\/cite>, 23 Sep 1968: “MENDOCINO picked up another new resident of fame\u2014Smoke Dawson, the fiddler...he's appeared on the East Coast and in Canada and leaves shortly for a concert and club tour of the West Coast...he's appearing Tuesday night, Sept. 24, at a benefit concert at Kelli-owen Hall in Mendocino...after the concert, there\u2019ll be refreshments at Caspar Community School (beneficiary of the concert) and music by the Caspar Flats Jug Band.”<\/p>\r\n

But then there are two notices in that same paper in September 1985, saying that the school is a tax-defaulted property and will be sold for delinquent taxes, at a minimum price of $25,000.<\/p>\r\n

And then there\u2019s another listing of it as property-tax delinquent on August 30, 1996.<\/p>\r\n

And in June 2001, the Ukiah Daily Journal<\/cite> listed it as having defaulted in July 1995.<\/p>\r\n

So I\u2019m not sure what was going on for all those years, nor whether it was still going as a school. But at least somebody seemed to be connected to it for quite a while.<\/p>\r\n

Finally, a California business registry site<\/a> says: “CASPAR COMMUNITY SCHOOL is an entity registered at California with company number C0539938. Company is incorporated on 30th January 1968, two weeks after this letter. Current status of the company is SOS\/FTB SUSPENDED. Registered agent is CYNTHIA C LUNDQUIST, 15137 MITCHELL CRK DR,” which is also the address of the school. The school\u2019s last statement was filed on June 6th, 2002.<\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

\r\n
\r\n                              15 January, probably, or 16th\r\n                              [handwritten: 1968]\r\n\r\n'Allo,\r\n\r\nhow do you all be? Daddy, aren't you supposed to be having\r\nanother eye thing happening sometime around now? or when?\r\nwhat is it exactly?\r\n\r\nI'm sure you've told me before, but recipes all lost: how do\r\nyou make potato latkes? I know ingredients, but what about\r\nrelative proportions? Going to try corn or rye meal as I\r\nhaven't the least idea where to get matzo meal around\r\nhere--or rather a very good idea: nowhere. By the xx way, my\r\nsourdough rye bread is quite successful, usually. Discovered\r\nthe secret: caraway seeds.\r\n\r\nThe school is at the moment taking up perhaps even more time\r\nthan I ought to let it, even at four days a week, as I have\r\nto make my own textbooks, along with planning lessons and\r\neverything--I'm totally out of the math parts, thank\r\nheavens: Peter is teaching one of the boys (the oldest) math\r\nthrough symbolic logic games and go<\/u>, which is his favourite\r\nsport. It's an ancient chinese game, modified through Japan,\r\nvery complex and beautiful, and quite mathematical, and\r\nrather hard. Long time ago (pre-World War II at least) rank\r\nin the Japanese army used to be tied up with skill at\r\ngo<\/u>-playing, in that the highest officers were of necessity\r\nthe best go<\/u> players. xx Played with round black-and-white\r\npieces on a board 19x19 squares, such that when pieces are\r\nplaced on 4 corners of a square, they just barely touch. Can\r\nbe any size; our go-board is most beautiful, about a foot\r\nand a half square by 4 inches thick--Peter made it during\r\nthe summer when we were taking the class at Lost. Nearly all\r\nthe xx wood around here is redwood, so even little shacks\r\nand makeshift carpentry looks good, and when you really work\r\nwith it, it's extraordinarily beautiful.\r\n\r\nAnyway, more about school: Bertha, the other teacher,\r\nhandles rest of math, and I do the reading, which is\r\ninordinately difficult. We have 12 kids, of whom all but 3\r\nare at various stages of beginning to read. This means an\r\nindividualized program for 9 individuals, without benefit of\r\ntextbook. Daily say a prayer of thanks to whoever invented\r\ncarbon paper, as some things I can use for different kids at\r\ndiffernt times, though most must be separated.\r\n\r\nJust before we opened the school at newyears (immediately\r\nafter) I became very upset at how impossible it was, ranted\r\nand raged and wrote letters, realizing that we couldn't open\r\nwith no paper, no paint, no space, no heat--and recieved a\r\ncontribution of $200 from local \"reech heepie\" (translates\r\nto rich hippie) which allowed us to install another stove\r\n(now we have two useable rooms) and buy juice for snacks and\r\ninsulate the bathroom and pay another small piece of salary\r\nto Bertha and me. (We figured out that according to records\r\nI've recieved $26 per month since October, though it's been\r\nslightly more due to a few non-recorded cash transactions. I\r\nreally don't believe that we're doing this, hut we really\r\nare, and it's fantastically beautiful. The kids are learning\r\nand growing, and I am gaining priceless experience, and next\r\nyear we should be getting a grant of something fantastic\r\nlike 100 thousand dollars, as Judy (the director, sort of)\r\nhas some friends who are professional grant-writers for the\r\nUniversity of California and will write one for us, and have\r\nnever had one turned down. They know all the ins and outs of\r\njargon and which foundations to approach how, and we have\r\nhigh hopes and great plans. If we get that money, we will\r\nbuy about 5-10 acres of land and build our own school, and\r\nhouses for teachers, and raise our own animals, and things\r\nlike that. Own g arden, fresh, organic vegetables; safe,\r\nisolated place for kids to be, crafts room, potting wheel\r\nand kiln, schoolbus, separate classrooms for different ages,\r\nand all that........'Corse we probably won't be here for it,\r\nas Peter is deciding to go back to school and get his x\r\ndegree, which would be nice indeed. 'Cos no matter that it's\r\nquite true that he can do anything anyone with an m.a. in\r\nmath (or is it m.s.) can do, no one believes it without you\r\ngot graduated. No problem of tuition; after one quarter,\r\nNational Merit Foundation will pay for all the rest. But he\r\nwill have to work some, anyway, as that's just tuition, and\r\nI will try to get a part-time or something job at some\r\ngroovy nursery school, or perhaps some private school for\r\nolder kids. Will have to be just half-days, as I wouldn't\r\nleave the baby for a full day. Probably (well, pretty\r\ndefinitely) he will be at U. of Wash in Seattle, as that's\r\nwhere most of his credits are, and he knows and digs Seattle\r\n(it's a pretty fine city), and there's plenty of places for\r\nus to live in semi-country, within easy commuting distance.\r\nOr at the very worst, we'd live in a houseboat in Seattle.\r\nWhich is exciting and very cheap and amazingly\r\ncomfortable--visited several when I was there. But neither\r\nof us are really willing to live in the city again, and\r\ndon't want the baby to contract city-tensions just by being\r\naround a lot of nervous tense rushing people.\r\n\r\nAllo, again- --now it's Wednesday. Just got your letter;\r\nthanks for informat. on CHanukah. No school today, as Bertha\r\ngot a job substituting and is going to snitch some\r\ntextbooks.....nice to have a 4-day week, it's flexibler.\r\nGlad there's no school, as gives me a chance to get caught\r\nup with myself and cook a good dinner, and besides the baby\r\nis kicking so hard and so constantly I'd never be able to\r\nconcentrate. Will be sometime between Mar 20-April 10, I'm\r\nsure; Peter dreamed April, but he's pretty big and heavy and\r\ndeveloped right now, and I think it might be March. Peter\r\nalso dreamed a boy, but I kind of think maybe a girl. I can\r\nfeel the shape of his (etc) body as twists and turns x and\r\ndoes flips; he's really big, and has 2 more months to\r\ngrow--have no idea how he'll ever get out. Peter weighed 9\r\npounds when he was born--and I want to make it without\r\ncutting or tearing or stitches, ho ho.\r\n\r\nGlad Hank is doing something--can be a very very lucrative\r\nfield. Ah, I believe the country where the Glicks are is\r\ncalled Uganda<\/u>--did you look on a map to see where it is?\r\nNotice where the equator goes through Africa--surprise.\r\nThought it was through the bulge, didn't you? Had thought\r\nthey were going to be in Nigeria......What's happening to\r\ntheir house? What are Sara and Dave and Stelle doing to each\r\nother lately?\r\n\r\nAh, the sun is shining, the cats are xxxxxxxxx cowering (dog\r\nnext door is in heat and her following grows larger\r\ndaily---cats terrorized. (We have the same two we had in the\r\ncity plus one with 22 toes, 12 in front and 10in back. She\r\nis currently proving to herself that it hurts when you stick\r\na paw in front of the typewriter keys and someone is\r\ntyping.) , the ocean is leaping up with 10 - 15 feet of\r\nspray, and the baby is somersalting......all's welll with\r\nthe world.\r\n\r\n               love,\r\n\r\n                    [handwritten: P\/M]\r\n<\/pre>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n
 <\/p>\r\n
Postmark: Jan 18, 1968, Mendocino, CA. Handwritten: “Rec\u2019d this 1\/22\/68.” And: “Ans this 1\/25\/68.”<\/p>\r\n
\r\n
Facebook post for this letter<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mostly about the Caspar Community School and various things connected to it. \u201cAh, the sun is shining, the cats are cowering (dog next door is in heat and her following grows larger daily\u2014cats terrorized. (We have the same two we had in the city plus one with 22 toes, 12 in front and 10 in back. She is currently proving to herself that it hurts when you stick a paw in front of the typewriter keys and someone is typing), the ocean is leaping up with 10-15 feet of spray, and the baby is somersalting......all\u2019s well with the world.\u201d","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-letters-to-parents","category-mendocino"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/marcy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/marcy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/marcy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/marcy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/marcy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15605"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/marcy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15605\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15946,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/marcy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15605\/revisions\/15946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/marcy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/marcy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/marcy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}