COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC NEWSLETTER COA RECEIVES printshop in Dijon. The SPINNERS AND FIRST EDITION book was hand set and WEAVERS IN A recent gift to College of printed on handmade RESIDENCY the Atlantic's endowment paper. It is number 59 of 100 was a first edition copy of copies of the original 1922 A unique academic James Joyce's Ulysses. printing. Ulysses was the program at College of the Given by COA Trustee center of much controversy Atlantic is "Residency." Mrs. R. Amory Thorndike, and was not allowed in the Here students who possess the book was purchased by United States until 1933 outstanding abilities to work her late husband, Amory, when a ban that had been independently enter into while he was a student at placed upon it was lifted by contractual agreements Cambridge University in Judge John M. Woolsey of with the College to prepare England. Amory Thorndike, the New York District programs that allow for in whose memory the COA Court. In 1934, Ulysses assuming full responsibility Library's R. Amory was published and widely for planning, implementing, Thorndike Memorial distributed by Random and evaluating individual Fund for the Arts and House, Inc., a well-known educational goals. The Humanities Collection New York publishing firm. program offers an alterna- was founded, had a life-long This book is a major tive from structured interest in literature. acquisition for College of coursework but does not In 1922 during a visit to the Atlantic's collection and necessarily preclude taking Paris, Amory bought two will become part of its courses. This year several copies of the book from permanent endowment. Its students have entered into Miss Sylvia Beach who ran donor, Mrs. R. Amory "Residency Contracts" Shakespeare and Co., a Thorndike, is Vice Chair- including Laura Edwards, small English bookstore and man of the Executive Abigail Goodyear, and Joy lending library. James Joyce Committee of the College's Knowlton. Each of these had been introduced to Miss Board of Trustees and is an students is interested in Beach by Ezra Pound, and active member of the textile design and prefers to she took his manuscript to a Library Committee. work with natural fibers and natural dyestuffs. Under the direction of Joli Greene, an accomplished fiber artist, these students spent fall term exploring spinning and dyeing techniques. The first half of the term was devoted to studying the history of spinning and dyeing as well as learning about different wool types. During the second part of the term, they experimented with different dyestuffs and mordants -- substances which set the dye and determine the shade of COA President Edward G. Kaelber thanks Mrs. R. color. With the exception of Amory Thorndike and Mr. John L. Thorndike for their five exotics, the group used recent gift to the College's endowment. local flora for dyeing OUTZEN PHOTO material and worked specifically with wool. Their Spinners and weavers (left to right) Joy Knowlton, Abigail Goodyear, and Laura Edwards exhibit the results of their fall residency project. On display were 25 different shades of naturally dyed wools, several samples of hand-spun yarn, and finished products including the hats they are wearing. JACOB PHOTO dyeing experiments pro- display was a step-by-step a sheep farm in southern duced 25 different colors, description of the dyeing Maine. Abigail Goodyear and the wools were spun and spinning process from who is already an accomp- into yarns of different types raw wool to finished yarn. lished weaver is interested ranging from novelty yarns The method used for in textile research and plans to finely spun fingering. obtaining each color was to raise sheep on her farm in The results of this also described. Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Residency Program were Although these three Joy Knowlton hopes to placed on exhibit in the students worked together continue dyeing, spinning, COA library. Samples of for this project, their and weaving. She is each color and yarn were residency goals are interested in preserving the displayed along with somewhat different. Laura natural methods of dyeing products made from the Edwards is interested in used before synthetic dyes yarns. Laura and Abby knit wool production and sheep became available and plans hats and sweaters, and Joy breeding. She is spending to raise flax SO that she may wove a rug. Highlighting the spring term on internship at experiment with linen fibers. SYSTEM THINKING AND HUMAN ECOLOGY: THE FORMAL CONNECTION During the fall a course in General Systems Theory focused on the nature of interrelationships familiar to any definition of Human Ecology. Unlike the traditional sciences, systems theory chooses to emphasize not the reduc- tion of phenomenon to parts, but alternatively, the importance of the whole While preparing the computer model for COA's system composed of Systems course, Bill Hohensee contemplates a individuals interacting with systems approach to the study of Human Ecology. BENINGTON PHOTO their environments. Various members of the mathematical structure was for global forecasts in the faculty were involved in manifest in the phenome- popular book, Limits to presenting a trans- non of physics, as well as Growth. In altering some of disciplinary view of topics in sociology. The examination the policy relationships in systems thinking. For of these isomorphisms, seen World III, students were instance, COA philosophy as general systems of able to begin considering professor Dick Davis guided behavior, was one of the key the implication of alternative the students through the focuses of the course. policies on the standard philosophic underpinnings Under the guidance of global scenario while gaining of system theory in the COA student Bill Hohen- the experience of "hands- branch of philosophy see, students became on" simulation modeling. known as process thought. familiar with one means of This course demonstra- History professor Susan formalizing the application ted that system theory, in Mehrtens presented a of systèms thinking in some ways, represents the systemic perspective on System Dynamics or logical progression or different events in history. computer simulation "Formalism," of Human Faculty member in Law, modeling. Here students Ecology. Dan Kane, identified had access to what is known EDITORS NOTE: This transferrable models of as "World III," a simulation article was contributed by behavior, or "isomor- model embodying global Bill Hohensee who organi- phisms," that hold relevant interrelationships. Original- zed the General Systems applicability in fields which ly written by a group of Theory Course for his are seemingly unrelated. researchers at MIT, this senior project. Resonance and similarity in model served as the basis SUMMERTIME College of Education, porpoises, and seals that Summer, 1981, at College University of Maine, Orono, frequent the Maine Coast.