Sedona, AZ -- Desert Star Community School has been in the news this last year,
our first year as a Charter school.
We have a bit of a history. In
as much of a nut shell as I can put, a dedicated group of parents
decided to write a charter for a model school that depicted the
change most of us hope to see in the world by starting with the way
we educate our children. During this process we started as a private
school during those two years with only two teachers growing from 21
students the first year to 40 students the second. Parent volunteers
were the staple to keep things running and we had a perfect location
to house us.
The third year as our Charter was approved and we no longer had to
pay tuition, we gloried in the accomplishment and put our group
shoulder to the wheel to make it a success. A few months into the
first semester, we were faced with our landlord ending our lease
abruptly and expecting us to move our 60 students and 10 faculty
members in thirty days. Considering our very pleasant history with
the former landlord and feeling the security of two years in this
location it was a shock to say the least.
After a lengthy legal debate things looked up for our school as the
landlord decided that pushing us out was more trouble than letting
us stay until the end of the school year. It wasn’t a pretty battle
but moving an entire school in four weeks without a new location is
virtually impossible and we’d worked way too hard to just let it all
go. We had the children to protect. We gathered our resources
financially, emotionally and the resilient spirit of who we are
prevailed.
Since that distraction took a lot of our energy and focus we were
left in March of 2007 with three months of the school year to fund
raise for our new location. Many parents were exhausted at that
point…again…financially and emotionally. A small group of us managed
to muster up the gusto to pursue something besides bake and rummage
sales as an option to get the word out about our thriving, unique
school and to make some mullah to help us on our way.
Within a two month period our fundraising committee managed to put
together an idea I had to do a benefit concert. We decided on the
details and then a few of us took on making those ideas manifest. I
took on a huge portion of the job.
I spent nearly every day, including weekends, on the phone,
emailing, meeting, soliciting, chasing, harassing, begging,
musicians, graphic designers, printers, equipment renters, the city
of Sedona, the health department, various locations, possible
venues, potential caterers and concession possibilities, party
supply stores, radio stations, television stations, newspapers and
potential sponsors. I put my child on hold constantly so I could
take calls or finish a task. I hopped around the Verde Valley in my
travels and errands telling everyone I came in contact with about
this fabulous event that I was producing for my daughter’s school. I
was the ultimate cheerleader! I was sure this thing was going to
sell out…350 people and we were going to raise $15,000 for Desert
Star School without a doubt.
During this time, I re-discovered that I was good at something. I’d
mastered the simultaneous multi-tasking of changing diapers both on
the very young and the very old, doing laundry, getting healthy &
delicious food on the table, organizing sock and spoon drawers like
nobody’s business, keeping order and rhythm in my house without
being a dictator (most of the time), cleaning anything in my path
compulsively while talking on the phone with a girlfriend, paying my
bills online, letting my homemade pedicure and self tanner set,
signing for UPS, telling the handyman what else to fix and let us
not forget carpool, volunteering in the classroom, after school
activities, play dates, birthday parties, sick, whiney child in the
middle of all this, sick, whiney husband too; still managing to get
to the gym three times a week and my therapist every chance
possible, martini hour with the girls more often that therapy and P!
M! S! Oh God the PMS!!! Did I mention the sick, whiney husband? Just
kidding, dear.
Yes, I’d moved beyond Domestic Goddess-ness into the realm of
Fundraising Chairperson for my daughter’s school! Oh the power! The
life: the excitement of engaging with adults in the real world where
my spoon drawer was an insignificant accomplishment by comparison.
AND the musicians, the beautiful musicians, with their free spirits
and gypsy ways, their creative genius, their incredible music, their
sexy….everything…..and…. their inability to return a frickin’ phone
call!
I was in my element, on fire, revved up, feeling spunky, uplifted,
and enthusiastically enjoying the moment. I was able to buy airtime
for a series of commercials and even did an interview with Anthony
Mazzella on the radio to promote the show. (He doesn’t like getting
kudos for that but it was a VERY COOL thing to do for the school.)
Parents volunteered to help and we managed to distribute nearly 250
posters around the Verde Valley to promote the show. The excitement
was mounting.
We weren’t within certain time limits to get decent articles in the
papers but I felt confident that the press releases would suffice.
Well, lesson learned there. The press releases were edited down to
the point where not even the names of the musicians were listed nor
were there any photos. Stanley Jordan was the headliner! Not good.
Not good. I felt a scare. Oh, no. Could it actually flop? Would
there be a chance that people would NOT come? Wait, I know about
“The SECRET!” This is SEDONA where amazing things happen every day.
I believe in the law of attraction…I’d personally rallied at least,
no kidding at least, 100 people who said they would attend. So I put
it out of my mind.
The last minute details were done. Twenty three parents and faculty
from our Desert Star School Community volunteered for the day; a
truly outstanding number considering that we had only 45 families
and ten faculty members at the time. What a phenomenal ratio of
volunteerism! At first I thought we might lose quite a few because
there was a nasty intestinal bug that hit most of the 1st and 2nd
graders literally the day before the concert. Parents were calling
to send their regrets because either they or their kids were sick.
Again, a little scare but we had plenty of volunteers to spare. This
was not an omen. We continued on with setting up the stage tent,
decorations, chairs, concession stand etcetera. The musicians showed
up…glory, halleluiah...with all their equipment in tow.
Sedona businesses were generous and truly came forward in the spirit
of charity. New Frontiers and Bashas had donated bottled water and
sodas for our concession stand. Red Rock Rentals donated 350 chairs.
Sedona Recycles donated recycling bins for all the garbage. Allegra
Print and Imaging had donated all the programs. We had a beautiful
web page donated by one of the parents, Char Howard Web Designs,
with all the details.
The musicians, Stanley Jordan, Anthony Mazzella, Eric Miller, Three
Trees, John Dumas, Fitzhugh Jenkins, James Fitzhugh Jenkins and
Susanna Martin all rallied their efforts to set up the sound system
with Keith Martini, another local musician, as the sound man all
donating their time and talents. As soon as I heard the sound check
with the music filling the air above Airport Mesa I felt a shiver of
excitement and great expectations. The vibration of the guitar
traveled through the ethers straight to my heart and filled it with
confidence. The sun was shining. The air was cool and breezy. We
were ready to go! It was really going to happen! I could feel it!
Three o’clock came, then three fifteen, three thirty. Very few
people had shown up. Show time was 3 p.m. A wash of anxiety came
over me. The Masonic Lodge on top of Airport Mesa is a beautiful
spot with the Red Rocks as the back drop of the stage and trees all
around. 350 chairs didn’t take up much room and only a few of those
chairs had people in them. I was nearly ready to pray to the cross
that distinguishes the sight…Oh Lord, please let people come. Please
don’t fail our school. Please don’t fail ME!
There we stood at the ready; twenty volunteers at their stations
rearing to go; brilliant musicians with instruments tuned and ready
for curtain and there I was, embarrassed, shocked and deeply
disappointed. I held it together even with PMS, quite a personal
feat, mind you. All I could repeat in my head was “Do not cry. Do
NOT CRY. You’re a grown woman. The show must go on. Just keep your
chin up and face the music…literally!”
I did. I had to. This wasn’t about me. It was about the children…the
school…and I had a responsibility to them. Admittedly, it wasn’t
easy. Stanley Jordan reassured me that he’d produced a few of his
own shows with his own money and the turn out left him turned out.
Anthony Mazzella said the same thing and that he would play his
heart out even if there were only two people in the audience because
connecting with them, seeing them enjoy the music is all that
matters. And the rest of the musicians, as well, didn’t seem phased
by the low number of audience members. They were laughing and
joking, seemingly oblivious while I was on the edge of madness!
Madness, I tell you! They wanted to do their thing, and they did.
They played like it was a full house. Professionals, completely, so
I followed their lead.
First, John Dumas opened with his healing flute and didgeridoo. He
was truly jolly and unaffected by the low turn out. His humor, light
and a joy birthed a gentle beginning to our event.
Then as Fitz, James and Susannah were doing their beautiful set,
they dedicated the song “Somewhere over the Rainbow” to the
beautiful Laurie Burke-Shields, a singer in town who had died,
suddenly, only days before. Her funeral was taking place in San
Diego at that same exact moment. It seemed that the incredible power
and immense love through which these musicians presented this song
invoked the forces of nature, many of the concert goers later told
me. They thought it was symbolic and beautiful, while I had a
completely different perspective at the time.
Some where under a rainbow, the weather prediction of thirty percent
chance of showers in Northern Arizona decided to manifest in one,
humungous, blue-black cloud directly over OUR heads. Then lightning
shot out, thunder roared as the song ended and huge drops of water
began hitting the stage, the sound system, the people, the Earth. As
I started to glaze over in denial I looked at the ground around me
and noticed the droplets were so big that when they hit the dryness
of the dirt, little, circular, smoky puffs would explode on contact.
I was seeing it all in painfully, slow motion.
I sunk in my chair next to the stage. The expression of forlornness
was practically stamp printed on my face. You see, I’m normally very
perky…to the extent that unhappy people really don’t like me. But
that is another story….What I’m getting at is that when I’m down
everyone can see it because it is not my usual state of being. So I
nervously barked a sick, angry laugh, tried to joke it off by saying
out loud “Somebody get me a gun. I’m going to shoot myself!” But it
really wasn’t funny. None of what was happening was funny to me.
People were running to their cars and for the trees. Musicians were
pulling plugs, frantically moving their precious equipment to
protect it from the rain. All of us scattered in different
directions like flies on a pie being swept away by an invisible,
giant hand saying “SHOO!”
I jumped up on center stage to hold an umbrella over the web of
wires connecting the whole sound system to the control board out in
the audience. I crouched, hidden behind the umbrella, afraid to look
out into the empty, wet chairs that remained where the few people
who attended had been joyously getting a wonderful show. As the rain
soaked my backside it felt like I would melt like the Wicked Witch
screaming in agony all the way to my total demise. “Who would’ve
thought that a little cloud could destroy my beautiful concert…I’m
melting…I’m mmmmehhhlllltinnggggg!” Thank heaven one of the
musicians thought to turn off the main power switch. There were
lightening poles connected to the stage for gosh sakes!
The weather that accosted us was brief but enough to change the
vibe. Some people actually left but most of the congregation
remained. After a break of downsizing the sound system, drying off
the chairs, encouraging the audience it was safe to return and
making lots of wise cracks to make light of the situation….amazingly
the show went on.
While I crouched there on the stage and then zombie-like helped get
things running again a thought kept repeating itself in my head.
“Our school is cursed. We are doomed. DOOMED, I SAY! It is cursed.
That is the only answer. How could we have made it through years of
planning and having gone through so much with the Landlord, made it
through that nightmare and now here we are with the possibilities at
hand to reach out to hundreds of people in the community to support
our school and THIS has to happen!???” I mentally slapped myself
over and again to shake the negative, shake it loose. The musicians
were holding it together so I could too!
The clouds cleared and the warm weather turned remarkably cool. Eric
Miller took the stage and the sensual magic of his voice soothed the
exasperation, calmed the air, changed the moment from fiasco to
felicity. He was the rainbow after the storm.
When it was Anthony Mazzella’s turn it was like lightening all over
again but in human form, electric and magnificent. He played his
soul out into the red rocks in the Northern distance and to the
audience with charismatic surety. Eternal sounds radiated from his
guitar penetrating the audience as the rhythm of Three Trees rocked
our world by adding the thunder. The moment was timeless. The fact
that the musicians were having a great time made all the other stuff
inconsequential.
As Stanley Jordan took the stage an entirely new element permeated
the mountain top. He spoke of the children and the heart of the
school. He eloquently reminded all of us of the importance of
education and the arts. He was proud to participate in our
fundraiser and suggested it become the first annual concert of many
more to follow. He even offered to come again next year. With that
the small audience, including myself, roared with consent. And then
Stanley played only like Stanley can…with incredible magic and
blissful ease. It was hypnotic and transcendent.
As we came to the close of our benefit concert I handed each
musician a stack of thank you cards that the 1st and 2nd graders had
made for them. Many of the cards said “Thanks for the money” so the
irony for me thinking “what money” was awkward. But, hey, the
children anticipated that we’d make lots of money and wanted to show
gratitude to the ones who were donating their talent... I tried not
to think about it as the musicians graciously accepted with
kindness.
In the finale of our concert every musician got up on stage and they
jammed, baby, jammed like only these great artists can. I felt a
deep pride being part of this community and the privilege of being
in the presence of artists of this caliber. I found out later how
much the audience and parent volunteers shared that feeling. For me
and others who appreciate the healing power of music it was a dose
of the greatest kind of medicine…the kind that cures all. And as the
sun set with the thunder and lightning far away in the distant
Southwest, the clouds above us seemed to part and star shine blessed
the end of our day.
The next day I was completely engulfed in my own humiliation
thinking I had failed the school. I had failed the children. Okay,
so if I did raise $15,000 by selling the concert out, it was still
only a drop in the bucket of the hundreds of thousands we really
needed. But, to end with nothing; to not even make our expenses?!
How would I face the families that I loved so much with this
failure? After all our little school had dealt with I thought I had
achieved nothing to help mend the way.
But this is where the miracle happened. This is where the story gets
really juicy. The school board president came to my house with
flowers and a beautiful card thanking me for my efforts. I lost it.
I cried, “But I didn’t make any money! I failed the school!” And
only as Catherine Weld can, again another amazing person who is one
of the founding members of this Charter School, she took me in her
arms and said that the concert had planted a seed. She said that
seed will grow into an annual event, something that people in this
community will look forward to. What matters is that the event
happened! There in lies the success. With those words I realized
again the magnificence of the group of people in Desert Star School
and that comfort eased my embarrassment turning it into a small
personal victory.
As the next days passed and I finally counted the money from our
ticket sales and donations….I found that we actually raised just
over $3500.00 AFTER expenses! I don’t know how, but we did! Then I
got feed back from people who attended. They thought the thunder and
lightening was a great sign of support from Mother Nature, God, the
Universe, Spirit, you name it with whatever title you like. They
thought it was magical and fantastic! Parents came to me over and
again and friends called and stopped by my house to reassure me,
praise the effort and show their support. To be able to say that the
concert actually made a profit was a tremendous joy! It was better
than making nothing.
One family called me during the week and apologized for not making
it to the concert due to sudden illness. The wife offered to pay for
the tickets they would have purchased and asked if she should make
the check out to me personally. I told her she could make it out to
the school and I would add it to the other monies we raised. She
asked me in genuine surprise, “You mean you made money, Linda? I
thought you paid for everything yourself and that you had taken a
personal loss.” Here is an example of the caliber of people at
Desert Star Community School. This family was willing to try to
compensate me in some way for my efforts out of the goodness of
their hearts. It touched me deeply and was one more reminder of how
special our community is.
We’ve all heard the saying that it isn’t the destination of the
journey that matters so much as how well you travel it. Sometimes
things are not what they seem. People thought our little school
wouldn’t make it through the first year but we not only made it, we
are thriving. Just like the concert day, we had a dark cloud that
seemed would shut down the show. Some ran for cover. Some protected
our “stage” and kept us from being struck by lightning. It was
really a beautiful thing. The spirit of our heart song as a
community kept the performance going planting the seed sprouting our
success. Our unique Desert Star Community School now has its own
campus in Cornville serving the entire Verde Valley. School opens
September 4, 2007. For more information contact:
www.desertstarschool.org.
For more information or to advertise in the
Sedona Verde Valley Times print publication, please email Rita
Livingston, Publisher at
publishersedonaverdevalleytimes@webtv.net
Visit the SVVT
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