Notes From July 2026 Convocation Address to Antioch, TSHE & WHiSTEP Students & Faculty

By Laura Radefeld

In the painting by Joseph Mallord William Turner- titled Snow Storm – Steam-Boat off a Harbour’s Mouth Making Signals in Shallow Water, and going by the Lead. “The Author was in this Storm on the Night the “Ariel” left Harwich), 1842.” Turner claimed he ‘got the sailors to lash me to the mast to observe [the storm]…for four hours’. The poet Paul Matthews brought this image in his address to students at the opening of Emerson College in Sussex, England, in September of 1995. I was a student in a Waldorf teacher training course, listening, and, unbeknownst to me, deep in my heart, in my soul, a seed was planted: an image, and a story, resting there for 30+ years, returning transformed, in a time of turbulence and unrest as a key to resolving deep questions. Paul Matthew’s sharing of Turner’s painting, his story, became a sense-maker, a spark to synthesize tumultuous complexity.

Lashing oneself to a mast, to stand in the elements of life, come what may, COME WHAT MAY, has served as an apt image in the life of this Waldorf teacher and administrator. A world at war has its reflection in every human soul, and so too in our diverse and fragile school community where lives have been deeply touched by conflict in the Middle East.

We held listening circles at my school last year throughout a season of conflict, with deeply trusting allies “at odds with circumstance,” as Theodore Roethke says. As parents, board members, and school leaders striving to remain connected, we lashed ourselves to the mast of a ship in a mighty winter storm; we stood, witnessing one another’s pain, digesting what had led to misunderstanding, abysmal disconnect, and a seeming lack of empathy. Striving for understanding and an end to our blindness, being forgiven, not being forgiven, forgiving. We held one another’s grief; and we listened. We held a painful process in our arms, in our hearts, and held on.

We are each vulnerable when the world is at war; we all carry a brokenness from the violence.

Simply standing with others, in community, in the midst of a great storm, much larger than our small community, being willing to take small steps or no steps, together, has been our task as community shepherds, peace finders.

What grew from this conflict was precious. Small steps towards becoming a true human being….

The “Aha!” moment was not “Now I know how to fix this” — the fruits were: we stood with one another — we just stood with one another and listened. And we were changed by one another by our listening.

I took Paul Matthews’ seed image into my heart, and it returned to me transformed and able to sustain a healing force for my community.

In July 2026 I shared thoughts with teachers in training in Wilton, NH Center for Anthroposophy and Antioch University at the start of their summer training, thirty-one years following Paul Matthews talk.

Entering the path of teacher training is a naive venture: job training—hah!—life training, soul testing, fool and hero making, going deeper, deeper.

When trust runs deep, when a community can sense together and act from trust, everything above the ground flourishes. Students and families flourish. We all flourish. We also suffer together, and that is so much better than figuring things out alone.

Students learn in a context. The way a faculty works together matters; how the parents relate to the faculty matters; how committed we are matters. How we hold ourselves matters. In the words of Rudolf Steiner, “What must live in us is a prophetic merging with the future evolution of humanity.”

Teachers are our guides and the stars we trust, by which we navigate our lives. With Turner lashed to the mast of the Ariel, there was still one standing, steering the ship, a pilot with hands on the wheel, sending up flares and navigating the shallows safely.

In finding our teachers, hearing their stories, taking the images they offer — we are blessed.

Gratitude for teachers, teacher trainings, for Paul Matthews, for Waldorf Education, for my school community, for Antioch teacher training, for the Center for Anthroposophy, for students, my colleagues, for Wilton, NH fills my soul as we celebrate this inaugural day 2026.

Laura Radefeld

Laura Radefeld has taught in six different Waldorf Schools from the Honolulu Waldorf School to Green Meadow; she has also taught in teacher training institutions including the Center for Anthroposophy, Sunbridge Institute, the Michael Institute in Portland, Oregon, Arcturus teacher training in Chicago and led the pedagogical eurythmy training at Eurythmy Spring Valley for many years. She is a member of the Pedagogical Section Council which works to connect Waldorf teachers in North America to the worldwide Waldorf movement and the deeper aspects of Waldorf Education.