Polaris
"All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to arrive"
I have yet to post directly about Polaris on this blog. A huge part of the reason behind this is that up until recently, it hasn't been firmly established enough for me to examine it outside of my own head. Watching it come to life is astonishing. I have created things before. Big things. But this has been different. I am only one of six founders of Polaris, and I am Polaris's head of school. This has created an amazingly interesting state in which Polaris has more of me in it than anything else I have ever created, and I have given up more control over it than anything else I have ever begun. And this is exactly how it should be.
The vision of Polaris is that it forms a community where individuals support each other in gaining the skills and perspectives that help them each choose and walk their own path. A school and community needs a leader, but a community with this vision has no place for a single, controlling figure. I have come to understand my appropriate areas of authority, as well as those areas in which I refuse to take authority, because both the authority and responsibility for those areas rightfully belong to the individual, or to the community as a whole. In a very short time, I have seen this workout far better than I would have chosen on my own, and quite a bit worse, but it is turned out for the better so much more often, that the less successful times are only really worth mentioning because denying their existence would be untruthful. The people of Polaris amaze me. It is a particularly difficult thing they have chosen to do, and they shine with it.
Looking back from this point, I realize that this has been my path for as long as I can remember. My "Head of School" bio for the website discusses not only my weapons study background, but also my self defense background - which started with basic self defense training in grade school, was expanded on with peer trauma counseling in high school, and I'm continuing now with my work with the National Women's Martial Arts Federation. It also talks about my history founding community organizations, the first truly official one I began when I was ten (a neighborhood library). And, of course, there is my career as an educator and educational leader. Self-actualization is something I have striven for as long as I can remember. Likewise, I have always worked to help others gain independence and happiness. I have a memory of a snow day in first grade when my brother's preschool class hadn't been canceled. They had a field trip that day and my mother was a chaperon, so I got to go along. At some point during the day, one of the little girls needed her shoe tied, and she and I fell behind the group because instead of tying her shoe for her, I taught her to tie her shoes for herself. When we caught up to my mother, she had to untie her shoes so she could show my mom what she could do. I still remember her smile. I was six. This is who I am and who I have always been.
Knowing this, I also know that at some point, someone else will come along who has been on a similar path - someone who has the skills and experience to be a head of school, and someone who is the type of person who teaches with full and earnest desire for their students to use that knowledge to increase their independence and joy. When this happens, I will have the opportunity to do something else and the school will get a new leader. Until then, I concern myself with giving Polaris everything it needs and deserves to thrive, while not becoming over-invested in a way that clouds my vision. One of my greatest responsibilities in this role is not to make Polaris thrive, but to let it thrive. I hope that I will get to talk to some other heads of school that I met at the self defense instructor's conference. They may not have advice for me on this, but they might.
There are many, many more thoughts about Polaris that I would like to write about, but time is also a strong factor, and this is all time permits for now.
I have yet to post directly about Polaris on this blog. A huge part of the reason behind this is that up until recently, it hasn't been firmly established enough for me to examine it outside of my own head. Watching it come to life is astonishing. I have created things before. Big things. But this has been different. I am only one of six founders of Polaris, and I am Polaris's head of school. This has created an amazingly interesting state in which Polaris has more of me in it than anything else I have ever created, and I have given up more control over it than anything else I have ever begun. And this is exactly how it should be.
The vision of Polaris is that it forms a community where individuals support each other in gaining the skills and perspectives that help them each choose and walk their own path. A school and community needs a leader, but a community with this vision has no place for a single, controlling figure. I have come to understand my appropriate areas of authority, as well as those areas in which I refuse to take authority, because both the authority and responsibility for those areas rightfully belong to the individual, or to the community as a whole. In a very short time, I have seen this workout far better than I would have chosen on my own, and quite a bit worse, but it is turned out for the better so much more often, that the less successful times are only really worth mentioning because denying their existence would be untruthful. The people of Polaris amaze me. It is a particularly difficult thing they have chosen to do, and they shine with it.
Looking back from this point, I realize that this has been my path for as long as I can remember. My "Head of School" bio for the website discusses not only my weapons study background, but also my self defense background - which started with basic self defense training in grade school, was expanded on with peer trauma counseling in high school, and I'm continuing now with my work with the National Women's Martial Arts Federation. It also talks about my history founding community organizations, the first truly official one I began when I was ten (a neighborhood library). And, of course, there is my career as an educator and educational leader. Self-actualization is something I have striven for as long as I can remember. Likewise, I have always worked to help others gain independence and happiness. I have a memory of a snow day in first grade when my brother's preschool class hadn't been canceled. They had a field trip that day and my mother was a chaperon, so I got to go along. At some point during the day, one of the little girls needed her shoe tied, and she and I fell behind the group because instead of tying her shoe for her, I taught her to tie her shoes for herself. When we caught up to my mother, she had to untie her shoes so she could show my mom what she could do. I still remember her smile. I was six. This is who I am and who I have always been.
Knowing this, I also know that at some point, someone else will come along who has been on a similar path - someone who has the skills and experience to be a head of school, and someone who is the type of person who teaches with full and earnest desire for their students to use that knowledge to increase their independence and joy. When this happens, I will have the opportunity to do something else and the school will get a new leader. Until then, I concern myself with giving Polaris everything it needs and deserves to thrive, while not becoming over-invested in a way that clouds my vision. One of my greatest responsibilities in this role is not to make Polaris thrive, but to let it thrive. I hope that I will get to talk to some other heads of school that I met at the self defense instructor's conference. They may not have advice for me on this, but they might.
There are many, many more thoughts about Polaris that I would like to write about, but time is also a strong factor, and this is all time permits for now.