FARMINGTON – A University of Maine at Farmington professor will be traveling to Bhutan next week, to begin a nine-month teaching assignment in the small Buddhist country in the Himalayans.
Gretchen Legler, professor of creative writing, was named a Fulbright Scholar in July. Being recognized by the Fulbright program is an achievement in itself, but being awarded the chance to travel to Bhutan is even rarer; since the program’s inception in 1946, only one other individual has received the Fulbright Award to the country, which is relatively inaccessible to foreign visitors.
As part of the Fulbright Program, which is sponsored by the federal government to “increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries,” Legler will teach at the Paro College of Education in the western part of the country. The professor and writer said she will be teaching basic first-year academic skills, including writing, to college age students training to be teachers.
She hopes to learn about happiness.
Bhutan has a unique barometer, Gross National Happiness, which measures the country’s well-being through a survey system and, in turn, is used to set public policy. Legler said she’s interested in studying Bhutan’s culture and its approach to the concept of happiness then contrasting it with American values. She believes the subject, in addition to interesting UMF students upon her return, will form the basis for a new book.
Legler has written “On the Ice: An Intimate Portrait of Life at McMurdo Station Alaska” (Milkweed Editions, 2005), which won an award for environmental creative writing from the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment, and “All the Powerful Invisible Things: A Sportswoman’s Notebook” (Seal Press, 1995). She was a visiting scholar at the Cambridge University Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge, England and a grantee of the National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs: Antarctic Artists and Writers Program Fellowship.
She will live and work in Bhutan until mid-July of 2012. While the state language is Dzongkha, numerous Tibetan dialects are spoken throughout the country, which has selected English for use throughout its government and 11 post-secondary schools.
“This is an unbelievable honor and opportunity,” said Legler. “I am delighted to have been selected by the Fulbright Program and to be able to challenge myself to grow as a writer and an educator while I learn about the spiritual and cultural legacy of the people of Bhutan.”
No doubt, both you and the people of Bhutan will be richly blessed! Congratulations, Gretchen and Ruth!!
Congratulations and well done!
May you learn a lot about happiness, Gretchen. Say hello to Mt. Everest for all of us Mt. Bluers.
That photo is confusing, Gretchen. Are you now living in a chicken coop? Your happiness is sure to increase as you enjoy a larger window. Though you will be giving up the charm of your very own place….
How exciting for you! And what a great way to learn about a new (very old) culture. Cute pic, too.
Hello and congratulations. I have a request to have a conversation with you either while you are still in residence in Paro, or shortly after your return. I wish to give you in return a listening ear!
I am also planning to go to Bhutan, however, I have only just began the process of looking for grant money to do so. As a specialist in domestic violence, I hope to go there for less than one year to be of service there in this work. ( Domestic violence is a good term for multi-generational households, but in this field we have expanded our vocabulary to encompass the more accurate terms of intimate partner violence and relationship violence, as well as domestic violence to cover all situations that follow relationship patterns).
There is one shelter for women in ‘Bhutan that is relatively new. I hope to write a grant to cover my expenses and travel to and from Bhutan, and for room and board there in Thimpu, in order to volunteer my services at the shelter, share what I have learned over twenty years of this work, and learn from the Bhutanese culture and how they hold such problems and how they address them in their cultural context.
I want to give back to the country that gave me an adopted family member who is unofficially adopted, in his thirties now, his biological parents deceased, and whom we consider a member of the family (though we have visited with and stayed with his family in Jakar…he is a Khenpo from Lhodrak Karchhu Drastang).
I am at UC Berkeley, and although I have not announced this as yet, I hope to qualify for a grant to do this work, give notice to UC, and travel to Bhutan just about the time you will be leaving Bhutan. I would be leaving after a very satisfying effort on the part of myself and colleagues here to put a mandatory educational program in place for all new graduate and undergraduate students on relationship violence which involves a video of actual students who have had this experience in their lives and overcome it, and a discussion with people who have been both survivers and perpetrators and what they have learned in order to become advocates for nonviolence. One of the queens in Bhutan has begun a countrywide healthcare campaign that includes addressing what we commonly hear called domestic violence, (a term in multigenerational Bhutan which may fit well, just as it does in India for instance). Hearing about her journey from Bhutanese has inspired my desire to join in and give back from my work to a country that has much to teach us all.
I would love a conversation with you about what your insights are about this most amazing country, as you return to the States. If you decide to travel before returning home, I highly recommend Bhutanese friends who run Skykingdom Adventures, based in Los Osos, California. Owner Karma Dorji was recently called to lecture on Bhutan at the Smithsonian in Washington. He and his family live in both cultures admirably, and are highly sensitive, immersed in as their own culture, as well as American culture, and are respectful of the at times fragility of cultural exhange between Westerners and Bhutanese.
I am just beginning my quest for funding, and would even like to bring a little funding with me for whatever project the shelter deems a necessity for them, as I begin researching where to find the funds, and talking to the Bhutanese involved to chronicle their needs. I don’t speak any of the languages, but know that it is quite easy to get by on English, though I assume I will use many interpretations in deciphering the emotional language of women I hope to be of service to there, as we all seem to need the choice of deeper expression of ourselves in our native tongue…
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I know that all kinds of people can come out of the woodwork when you involve yourself in something that gets you notoriety, so please forgive me for publically requesting this conversation. I can be reached through UC Berkeley’s Office of Student Development.
Tashi Delek,
Pepper Black (real name)
UC Berkeley
PO Box 7222
Berkeley, CA 94707
Congrats, Gretchen! Well-deserved. Yes, please do take some pics of Mt. Everest–and document all your travels so we can read about them! —Cynthia Brackett-Vincent
Hello,
I trust you had a wonderful adventure in Bhutan. I will be arriving in Bhutan in February in my desire to volunteer in the country’s first domestic violence shelter. I am in touch with Health Volunteers International, and I would very much enjoy a conversation with you if your time permits.
Thanks ahead of time for your time and consideration,
Pepper Black
(510) 867-9616