The Semester That Might Have Been...

This is the time of year for a certain persistent nostalgia, a vague regret for the semester that might have been. Well, it's too late for that semester, but it's not too late for the next. We sent Cardigan Bay, our peripatetic academic troubleshooter, out to the Coast last week, and he ended up discovering the transfer student's dream, the Midpeninsula Free University of Stanford, California.

Reprinted below, to give just a hint of the education you've been missing, are a few of the choicest entries from the MPFU catalogue. It's for real. Don't believe us? You can check it out for yourself. The address is P.O.Box 6691, Stanford. Phone 321-2300, extension 4341, afternoons only. Quarterly fee ten dollars.

4. T. S. ELIOT AS GURU

Mondays at 8 p.m.

Eliot pursued his self-development with diligence, and chronicled that pursuit with such precision and eloquence that he left us behind one of the most valuable records and manuals of the process of self-realization ever written.

Now, when so many are looking to the East for instruction and inspiration, it is well to remind ourselves that we have here in the West all (or almost all) we need to do the job.

15. IF YOU WANT TO KNOW THE TASTE OF WATER

Mondays at 8:30 p.m.

An extensive series of Zen meditations for the serious student. Each student is expected to do daily meditation on his own as well. Students are also expected to participate in whatever retreats and all-day meditation sessions that may be offered.

30. TO BE GENTLE

Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m.

The concepts and focus of this seminar are those attitudes and meanings which are brought to mind by such words as gentleness, communion, compassion, sincerity, honesty, sensitivity, and freedom. Although the "teaching methods" and course activities will be strictly experimental, they will, tentatively, include aspects of sensory awareness techniques, non-verbar communication, sensitivity and encounter and T-group techniques, music, dancing, massage, woodsing, and beaching.

46. TANTRA: THE YOGA OF SEX

Thursdays, time to be announced.

This course is to be patterned on the fourteen week specific discipline described in Omar Garrison's English translation of the Tantric learnings. Prerequisites for participation: adequate mastery of the Hatha Yoga physical positions and diaphragmatic breathing, purchase of the text, and an insouciant attitude toward group nudity.

62. TOUCH MARATHON

Special weekend seminar.

An intensive weekend of inter-personal confrontation using the techniques and perspective of the Human Touch Seminar. This weekend is intended for those who have had some experience in this or similar disciplines, and are interested in moving further with inter-personal feeling dimensions. Couples preferred.

8. TOWARD REVOLUTION

Mondays at 8 p.m.

Are you seriously interested in considering the possibilities for a second American Revolution? Are you willing to commit yourself to the hard work involved in such an effort? This will be an intensive seminar. Meetings will center around readings and each participant's understanding of what it means for him to consider being a revolutionary. Limited to 10.

17. AN INQUIRY INTO THE TAROT

Tuesdays at 8 p.m.

This will be a study of the Tarot and its related system of philosophy. A complete systematic study will not be attempted as to do justice to this would require individual effort of several years.

33. CLARETS AND THEIR CALIFORNIA COUNTERPARTS

Wednesdays at 6 p.m.

The appreciation of good wines is one of the arts of civilization, and always has been. We will be sampling wines from the Bordeaux region, as well as wines from California made from the same grapes. By careful comparison, we will learn what the differences are between clarets of different kinds and qualities. Course fee five dollars.

60. HIP ANTHROPOLOGY

Weekend field trips to Haight-Asbury.

The way to know the hippie scene is to be there. A group of 16 (eight men and eight women) will go to S.F. Friday evening. After a discussion seminar with some people who have been on the scene for some time, we'll crash at a Free U. pad. Saturday we'll work in one of the volunteer agencies. In the early evening, after eating dinner with the Diggers, we will have a seminar meeting with some people prominent in the hippie scene, discussing their thing. Sunday morning we will discuss what we saw and felt. After that, we can depart for home, or stay longer, as we choose.

73. THE HARRAD EXPERIMENT

Special project.

Some Free U. members are interested in starting a scaled-down version of Harrad College. Sign up if you are interested in working on this project and we will contact you.

75. COUNTER COUNTER INSURGENCY

Special project.

We will discuss the theory and method of U.S. military power, with particular reference to counter-insurgency warfare and the role of militarism in U.S. foreign and domestic affairs. Participants will be required to enroll in one or more courses in Military Naval Sciences at Stanford. The seminar will meet bi-weekly and consider specific methods for eliminating the military sciences from the Stanford campus.

10. TECHNIQUES OF MASSAGE

Mondays at 8 p.m.

The demonstration and use of various techniques of massage. People should bring one large bath towel, vegetable oil, baby oil, and rubbing alcohol (with glycerin) and some kind of plastic bottle.

21. THE HUMAN TOUCH WHO NEEDS IT

Tuesdays at 8 p.m.

Using non-verbal communication techniques, touch - trust - intimacy games, and a variety of group methods, we will explore what it means to be "persons together." A commitment to regular attendance and involvement is a must. Ten men and ten women.

41. SEMINAR ON THE FREE UNIVERSITY

Thursdays at 8:30 p.m.

A general course on the history, goals, and structure of the Midpeninsula Free University. The aim of the seminar will be for everyone to learn how to use the Free University to do their thing.

12. THE NEW ROCK MUSIC WORKSHOP

Mondays at 8 p.m.

The function of the workshop is to write rock lyrics and music. We shall discuss our own work as well as that being played by heads and rock bands in San Francisco, America, and Great Britain.

19. ACID YOGA

Tuesdays at 8 p.m.

Now we have a powerful new instrument for psychic investigation--LSD--and it seems of utmost importance to explore fully the ways in which LSD may be used to accelerate spiritual progress. And that is what we will do.

Don't attend if you want to buy dope (we don't deal). If convenient, please bring a rug, incense, candles, etc.

31. THE ART OF GIVING AWAY BREAD

Wednesdays at 7 p.m.

In this seminar, the subtle consequences of freely sharing fine bread will be investigated. It is to be a group participation seminar with practical laboratory (kitchen) training. Whole wheat bread baking will be done and the instructor's previous experience in giving away bread will be described. Mr. Walter E. Reynolds (B.S. in E.E., M.S. in Engineering Science) gave away about 1000 pounds of home baked bread per week last summer.

35. MAGICK

Wednesdays at 8 p.m.

Information, experimentation, and discovery in multimedia present-time creations; the manipulation of visual images, illusions, rhythms; and the energy of spaces. Members may participate in actual rock-dance lightshow presentations.

57. INTRODUCTION TO THE I CHING

Day and time to be announced.

A one-day elementary exposition of the I Ching: When to consult the oracle, how to throw the coins, etc.

67. THE TAO TE CHING AND CHUANG TZU AS MANUALS FOR SOCIAL REVOLUTIONARIES

Special weekend seminar.

What does the Tao Te Ching have to tell us? An attempt will be made to relate mysticism and political radicalism, and consider the perennial problems of good government and social living. We will spend two days pondering such things in some secluded place. Come, or don't come, it's all the same.