A Visit to Black Mountain
by Joe Lewis

"Walking down this dusty road...pine trees and fishing holes everywhere... I don't even like to fish." Jacob Moore, a lanky, fourteen year old, had only been in the foothills of Black Mountain for five hours and already he was bored. He loved his Aunt Nan and Uncle Ted, but a four week long visit was just too much. This was the summer of 1948, and he wanted to be back in Raleigh with his friends. "I'm going to miss half of all the serials at the movie house," Jacob mumbled to himself as he walked on.

But in the twinkling of an eye his boredom was gone. Jacob heard the sound of a motor rumbling behind him. As he turned to look, he saw a huge black thing that looked like a two-eyed bug racing around the corner toward him. He jumped to the side of the road as the thing sped past. As it did, he could see that it was no giant insect at all, but some sort of car. Through the dust he could see that it was long and very low in the back and had a lot of windows. He started to run after it to get a better look.
At the top of the second hill, he stopped in his tracks. "Now what is that?" Before him stood a dome the size of a small barn. It was made of what looked to be thin white wooden or metal slats. It wasn't solid, for he could see through the triangular spaces. "But what happened to the car?" wondered Jacob.

He kept running until he saw the strange car again over the next hill. A short man with white hair was working on it. "Mister, is this thing yours?" asked Jacob, breathless but excited.

"It sure is, son. I designed it myself. What do you think of it?"
"It's swell, really swell, sir."
"Why, thank you. The name's R. Buckminster Fuller, but my friends call me Bucky."
"My name is Jacob Moore."
"Well, welcome to Black Mountain College, Jacob Moore."
"Why does your car have only three wheels?" Jacob asked.
Bucky laughed and said, "It's easier to park. Think about it." Then Bucky looked at Jacob seriously and said, "Jacob, if you would like to see Black Mountain College, meet me tomorrow beside that long building." Pointing in the distance he continued, "That's our studies building. Be there at nine sharp, and I'll show you around."
Jacob beamed. "Gee, thanks Mister."

"Just call me Bucky," smiled the inventor, as Jacob ran off to Aunt Nan's and Uncle Ted's.

The next morning Bucky and Jacob drove away from the studies building in Bucky's Dymaxion Car. "You know Jacob this isn't the first Dymaxion Car, this is number two. The first one was completed on July 12, 1933, of all days, it was my birthday. I had that car in my mind a long time before 1933. I'm sure you know how it is Jacob, sometimes it just takes a while to get your plans drawn up just right before you're ready to move on to the project phase."

The inventor went on to explained that the strange dome Jacob had seen in the field the day before was another invention of his. He called it a Geodesic Dome. He explained the many uses he envisioned for this structure as they drove. It could be used as a house or an office. Larger domes could be used for sporting events or military facilities. He knew that people would be able to use the domes for many purposes. Bucky explained that one advantage of the dome is that it is relatively inexpensive to erect. Another advantage he said, is that a dome is amazingly strong.
Leaving the Dymaxion Car, Jacob and his new friend walked into a building which had a stage and a piano. With his head, arms, and most of his torso hidden under the lid of the grand piano was a slender man to whom Bucky called, "What are you up to now, John?" John emerged wearing a flat top haircut, a white shirt, and a thin black tie.

"Oh, just adjusting a bolt in the piano," John replied. "I've been practicing a piece of music. Please listen, I'd like your input." As he started to play, Jacob was bewildered by the sounds he heard. It didn't sound like piano music at all, but instead a series of tinks and plunks. Still, the sound was interesting and pleasant. When he finished playing, Bucky and Jacob told him how much they enjoyed his music. John thanked them and held out his hand to Jacob, saying, "I'm John Cage."

As Jacob took John's hand, Bucky said, "John, allow me to introduce you to the newest student at Black Mountain College, Jacob Moore."
"I'm pleased to meet you, Mr. Cage. Do you mind if I ask a question?"
"Questions are encouraged here."
"Why does your piano sound so different from other pianos?"
"Well, Jacob, let's take a look." Inside the piano Jacob saw metal bolts, bits of rubber and some wooden screws placed between the piano strings. Jacob looked up quizzically at Mr. Cage.

"Those things between the strings are what gives this piano its different sound. When I play I feel I am in control of a percussion orchestra. I call this a 'prepared piano' ", explained Mr. Cage.

At that moment another man sprang into the room wearing tight black pants, a tee shirt, and no shoes. As they all turned to look at him, John smiled and said, "Jacob, I would like you meet a good friend of Bucky's and mine, Mr. Merce Cunningham."

They shook hands and then Mr.Cunningham took a step back and asked Jacob, "Are you a dancer?"
"No, sir," Jacob replied.
"If you would want to learn please let me know."

Before Bucky and Jacob said good-bye to John and Merce, Bucky explained that not only did Mr.Cunningham dance, but that he also developed dance performances for other dancers. "In other words, he is a choreographer. Sometimes John will write special music, and even before Merce hears the music, he will develop the dance steps. When they are ready for a performance, they will bring their individual art forms together for the first time. They are both performing in a piece by Erik Satie for the college tonight. Maybe you could bring your aunt and uncle."

Uncle Ted and Aunt Nan came to the performance that night. They both enjoyed the new music and dancing. From that night on Jacob was at Black Mountain College almost every day.

One afternoon Jacob sat on a wooden porch and shared an apple with a man by the name of John Dewey who was an educator and a philosopher. Mr. Dewey sat in a chair made from Birch limbs. As they talked Mr. Dewey asked , " What is this thing I'm holding in my hand ?"

"Why an apple of course," Jacob replied.
"Take a good look at it, Jacob. What is an apple?"
"Well, sir, it is food."
"Good!" he said. " Who needs food?"
"People do, sir," was Jacob's answer.
"Right again, " Mr. Dewey said. "Tell me this: what part of this apple do people need most?"
"The fruit, for a pie and things of that nature. Am I right?" Jacob asked.

Mr. Dewey replied, "Your answer is partly correct, but for only the few people who will eat the apple pie now. What about tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow? For when that apple pie is gone , it is gone. The most important part of this apple, Jacob, is its seeds. For if we plant these seeds today, we will grow trees that will provide food for many people years from now. Students are like seeds. As they develop they take their knowledge into the future. The question is, will they use their knowledge to benefit only a few people in our society now. That would be like baking a pie from our apple. Or will they choose to use their knowledge free from the worries of fame and fortune to teach others to become problem solvers? Problem solvers usually teach others how to solve problems and so on. That would be using the seeds of our apple.

"Remember to keep yourself aware of the needs of others in this society of ours, for, Jacob, you are an important 'seed'."

As the weeks went by, Jacob met two wonderful artists, Anni and Josef Albers. Anni and Josef had to leave their homeland of Germany when the Nazi Party took control of Germany. As a result, they had to leave their teaching positions at a famous school of architecture and design called the Bauhaus.

Josef Albers allowed Jacob to draw in one of his art classes. He asked Jacob to close his eyes and with his finger draw in the air. Another time he had Jacob draw a person, but he had to look only at the model, not at his paper. When Jacob finally got to see his finished picture, it looked like a ball of string. It was great fun, though. In another class of Mr. Albers's Jacob and the other students studied the bodies of insects, and how colors worked together using different materials. Jacob could now take an object in his mind and change it in size, color or texture. When he first did these things in Mr. Albers' class, he said to Jacob, "Your long journey as an artist has just started."

Anni Albers taught a weaving class. Jacob had never seen so many different colors of string and yarn. She showed him how to work a foot loom. It was amazing to watch her hands and feet work together. Her weavings were very beautiful works of art. Some nights Jacob would have dinner with the Albers. They would take their pie out in front of their small cabin after dinner and talk the night away.

One day during lunch Mr. Albers told Jacob that if he ever wanted to become an artist, he should study philosophy, religion, and sociology as well as art. "For your creative visions and discoveries will be an outgrowth of serious study," he said.


Eventually it was time for Jacob to return to his home in Raleigh. As he looked back over the past four weeks, he thought of how lucky he was. He had seen a car of the future and Geodesic Domes. He had tried his hand at acting, dancing, drawing, weaving, and farming. He had heard experimental music and wonderful poetry readings by Langston Hughes and Robert Creely. Most importantly, he had made new friends who were willing to share their ideas and wisdom with him and who showed interest in his own thoughts and ideas.

Jacob looked out over Eden Lake from the porch of the dining hall. He thought about Raleigh and his friends there. In Jacob's mind, things were different now. When he returned home the town would look the same...no cars of the future, no people living in domes. Raleigh seemed so out-of-date now, so plain and unexciting.

Here, right here, new things were always going on. New ideas were carried out, at least the folks here were trying. It was like the future was being born here. "I feel like I'm in a time machine, and I don't want to go back to the old ways of anything. I have seen something of the future and I want to be a part of it. I am not sure how I will be a part of it, but I will, and that's all that matters for now," Jacob thought to himself.

As Jacob started his ninth grade year that fall, he did so with the open eyes of Anni and Josef Albers and the attentive ears of John Cage and the enlightened mind of R. Buckminster Fuller.

He remembered the advice given to him by all his friends at Black Mountain College. As a result he did try new things and made new friends. He even decided that year to become a fine arts painter. Jacob started a young artist club after school. The more he practiced his art work, the more ideas he seemed to get, so many that Jacob had to kept all his art related ideas in a big blue notebook that Aunt Nan and Uncle Ted gave him.

He used a little of his paper route money to purchase art supplies. The rest of his money always went into the bank for college. He hoped mightily that he could go to Black Mountain College when he graduated from high school.

Today Jacob Moore is a teacher and painter in Sebastapol, California. He is sixty-three years old. He did attend Black Mountain College for four years just before it closed its doors for good in 1956. That summer of 1948 is as clear in his mind as the big crystal that use to sit on John Dewey's oak desk.

In the spirit of Black Mountain College, Jacob always starts his classes with this message: Value your uniqueness and develop your abilities to the fullest. Learn to appreciate the teachings of all those around you, for everyone is a teacher, just as everyone is a student.



--1999


Author's Notes

My interest in Black Mountain College started in the fall of 1974 when I was a graduate student at the Antioch College. I felt a closeness to Black Mountain College, after having attended two somewhat experimental colleges. Black Mountain College, North Carolina (1933-1956) was started by a handful of brave people, with the idea that a quality college could operate using a less conservative form of college government representing students, faculty, board members and the local community. Black Mountain College should hold a seat of honor in the history of American education.

A note concerning a few dates and facts: John Dewey was not at BMC during the summer of 1948. Mr. Dewey did visit Black Mountain College on more than one occasion, however. Langston Hughes visited BMC in 1949, not 1948. Last, R. Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion Car was not at BMC.

I took these historical liberties in order to introduce readers to the wonderful array of individuals who did visit and or teach at that very special college. Also I wanted to enliven the summer of 1948 as seen through the eyes of my fictional character Jacob Moore.

On a final personal note, I met John Cage at Wright State University after a piano performance during the late seventies. I asked him if during all his travels if he had experienced a community with a similar "spirit" as that of BMC. He told me he had at a small liberal arts college in the Boston area.

For more information: joseph.lewis43 (at) yahoo (dot) com (author's e-mail).