The amazing story about Alice Wetterlund!
Nov 23rd, 2009 by Elma Lena Porobic
My dear colleagues,
I could not resist the temptation to draw your attention to the story about one of Karen’s students, a sophomore art major named Alice Wetterlund, that you may read on the page XLIV in the book Karen gave us. I was almost touched to tears while reading this passage, because I was confronted with such a tremendous source of energy and power of written word. I felt I was there with Alice, we became one, her voice my voice, carried over the hubbub of Henry Street. I felt her excitement rushed through my veins end exploded in such a wonderful moment of true happiness and bliss. I cast off all my fears and anxieties, social customs and expectations, flooded with a feeling of revelation. Alice did what Whitman hoped for; she raised her voice above the simplicity and restrains of our everyday lives but also above herself. She spoke for herself, for you and me, for everybody, just as Whitman did. I felt the spell of the poetry spilled all over the place.