Newsletter #35: That amazing study program I'm involved with

News, applications open now for 2025, and a fundraising appeal

Dear friends and readers,

About a year ago, I told you about The Matthew Strother Center for the Examined Life, a remarkable new thing I was helping to start. The Center is named after, and was envisioned by, a beloved former student who died last year of cancer at the age of 35.

Our programs go like this. Five students, adults of any age, come to the Center's beautiful property on a farm in upstate New York for seven to ten days. They spend three hours each morning studying a single humanistic text (literature, philosophy, history) in depth. They spend one to two hours each afternoon doing labor around the farm. They eat long, unhurried meals together. In the evenings, they do things like put on plays, recite poetry, make art, or whatever else they're moved to do.

No technology: no phones, no laptops, no internet. And no cost. The program is free. Here's a short video that gives you a sense of what it all looks like.

I got back a couple of months ago from leading the last of the three sessions we held this year. I'm still floating. It was one of the best experiences I've had in many years, a cross between two of my favorite things: literature seminar and summer camp. We read A Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man, and that is all we read: a 250-page book that we talked about for three hours a day for ten days (not counting the time we talked about it outside of class). I met six remarkable people (including my TA) who I hope will be lifelong friends.

Next year, we are running four sessions, two in May-June, two in September-October. We've lined up four great teachers, who will each bring something new to our work. Applications open today, December 14, and run through January 19. Please spread the word (and please apply yourself, of course, if you are interested).

Now here is the appeal. As I said, these programs are free. Having stood the Center up in the space of a year, we are now turning to the most difficult part: fundraising. I hate to ask people for money. In fact, I've never done it before. But the program means so much to me that I'm going to do it now. Please make a donation, if you can, however small, to help keep this unique endeavor going.

Right now, we've got a $100,000 matching grant that's in effect until the end of the year. Which means that right now is the perfect time to give.

Thank you,

Bill