Midd alum reflects on Earth Day

An Earth Day celebration at the Town Hall Theater on April 16 explored how writers and songwriters throughout the centuries have thought about our relationship to the planet. Natural Selections: An Earth Day Celebration in Prose and Song featured folksinger Geoff Kaufman ’69 alongside Assistant Professor of English and American Literature Dan Brayon’s Spring ’11 “Nature’s Meanings” class as they read excerpts from writers such as Thoreau, Henry Beston, Aldo Leopold, Annie Dillard, Gretel Ehrlich, Farley Mowat and N. Scott Momaday. The dialogue was broken up by traditional songs chosen by Kaufman to compliment the writings. Each song and each snippet of writing praised the beauty and majesty of planet Earth, both from a historical and personal point of view. Songs included “Just a Little Rain” by Malvina Reynolds, “Last Leviathan” by Andy Barnes and an original piece by Kaufman entitled “Gold to Silver.” The highlight of the show, however, was not any particular song, but a short impersonation of Mark Twain by Kaufman. The monologue had Twain comparing an anaconda to an Earl, commenting on the Earl’s brutality and the anaconda’s decency when it came time to kill another living being for food.

In addition to Kaufman, the performance featured Nora Daly ’13, Zach Doleac ’12, Stu Fram ’13, Will Ford ’12, Fielding Jenks ’13, Juliana Kay ’13, Liia Koiv-Haus ’13, Claire Lewandowski ’13, Rachel Madding ’13, Molly Rose-Williams ’13 and Annika Silverman ’13. Each student read excerpts or notable quotes from famous writings. Lewandowski served as the performance’s “narrator,” helping intertwine Kaufman’s songs with the students’ orations.

Kaufman turned to folk music in 1975 after completing graduate studies at Rutgers.  He became a founding member of Stout, a quartet that sang in downtown Manhattan during the 1976 bicentennial celebration. Soon afterward, Kaufman discovered the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, built by Pete Seeger and friends to draw attention to environmental issues and by 1977 Geoff was a member of the Sloop Singers, performing with Pete and an inspiring collection of activist musicians.  This Clearwater experience led to Kaufman’s acclaimed 1992 live recording, Tree of Life. Kaufman’s maritime music brought him to Mystic Seaport where he became Director of Music Programs for 15 years.  It was there that he met Brayton, who at the time was teaching maritime literature for the Williams/Mystic Program.  For five years, Kaufman has been returning to Middlebury to sing for Brayton’s classes as well as in concerts.

Three years ago when Brayton offered his “Nature’s Meanings” class, Kaufman was inspired by the readings required for the class, and chose to base the performance’s repertoire off of the class’ syllabus. On Saturday night, he tapped into an awe-inspiring synergy between the class’ prose and his own lyrics — it was evident that his heart was deeply invested in this undertaking.  As a result, the audience came away with a deeper, enduring understanding of their relationship with Earth, which, in the end, was one of Kaufman’s goals.