SINACCORD 
August 27, 2014
Williams
College Class of ‘65 Bio for Torrey Orton
I am leading
a life I have mostly chosen, missing some things on the way that being less
devoted to choosing would have given me. Much of it has been composed of things
I never thought of, nor knew of, at Williams - living in Melbourne (40yrs),
Beijing (2yrs), Shanghai (1.5yrs) and Paris (1.5yrs) for starters. Some has
been planned, like becoming a psychotherapist and organisation consultant in my
50’s. As a result of meeting Jane by chance on a smoggy July, 1970 NYC
afternoon, I started learning deeply that there are other worlds than the
American one(s), whence an eventual change of citizenship honouring the
Melbourne home of my life.
Much of
this life has been an exploration of different worlds, inner and outer, with a
helping professions orientation which was emerging at Williams and confirmed in
5 years of HS teaching, and alternative school and commune building, in New
Haven, moderated by 2 years of a Yale philosophy Masters over 1965-72. In the
following 40 years I only once slipped outside the helping life to run a bank IT
systems project 1989-91 – but even then it was an HR system help desk.
The
bank was merged-over by a neighbour and I got an unexpected redundancy package jump
start into consulting in 1991, which was where I meant to go next anyway. My consulting
has always had an organisational focus and in intercultural flavour, with a personal
development infrastructure (I started a small psychotherapy practice in tandem
with consulting having gained licensing in 6 years of night school 1985-91). This
combination produced my second biggest adult learning experience – partnering
and coaching a Chinese partner in a start-up in Shanghai from 1998 til 2008. The
third was living in Beijing in 1981-83. The fourth is a toss-up between
fulltime therapist and part-time blogger for the last 5 years...taking both
seriously, but not enough to step up or out a quantum jump. Aikido weapons work
has been a background discipline for 10 years.
Jane
has been accompanying me and being accompanied by me since that July afternoon
in International House at Columbia Univ. The commitment to things Chinese has
always been her lead. My following there has acquired its own momentum and
valences, while adding my therapeutic and organisational tones to her
linguistic ones. She stepped into the retiring time of life 5 years ago by
launching a career-topping innovation in Chinese language teacher education,
with about every complexity I can think of!
My
first biggest learning will probably be what emerges from here on. One theme is
rehabilitation of public life, which I have blogged for five years with special
interest in ethics and public discourses about difficult issues – climate,
science, thinking while in danger. Two mornings a week I have been a pro-choice
witness to anti-abortionist harassment of patients at a local clinic for the
last 3 years. It would be simpler if I could give up worrying about the world;
I cannot.
The great
unknown is resilience. I was reminded in January ’11 that I’m as prone as any
to surprise attacks – that time acute pancreatitis and a year later a
gangrenous gall bladder. 12 years ago a slow heart beat dropped me in a street.
The beat has been picked up by a pacemaker since then. Along the way I enjoy
more aspects of life than ever – many only accessible through the portals of
age!
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