The Neurological Underpinnings of Belvedere Part 1

Bret and I moved here February 2008 and immediately began building our home in Belvedere. We stood on the land where our house is now and Josh Goldschmidt said to me, "You gotta like people if you are going to live here." I knew I wanted to live in Belvedere from the moment our realtor, Jim Duncan told me about it. I immediately saw I could live connected to people and to nature, and the design had amazing child and nature potential. To me, it was The Answer. To what? . . . I am about to tell you.

Then began the interviews with the press. So interesting. Erika Howsare of Cvillian and the Abode called me New Urbanist. I had no idea what that was. It seems it is a design approach to living where houses are close together and in connection with shared green spaces. It was walkable. Its design allowed people to walk to area restaurants and shops in the Town Center. Street design was shifted to focus on pedestrian population as well as cars. I was something, I was New Urbanist. Then came the discussion about LEED and "green." So I researched labels and criteria for environmentally correct building. This EarthCraft focus seemed to be what everyone wanted to talk about. But that is not what attracted me to Belvedere.

I knew that humans are hardwired to connect, and that our culture does not do a good job supporting this notion. Just the statistics from the study Hardwired to Connect are daunting:

• Scholars at the National Research Council in 2002 estimated that at least one of every four adolescents in the US is currently at serious risk of not achieving productive adulthood.
• According to another recent study, about 21% of US children ages 9 - 17 have a diagnosable mental or addictive disorder associated with at least minimum impairment. These rates appear to reflect actual increases in these problems, not changes in methods or rates of treatment.
• Despite increased ability to treat depression, the current generation of young people is more likely to be depressed and anxious than was its parent's generation. Source
• High levels of anxiety, or neuroticism, are not only problems in themselves, but are also associated with major depression, suicide attempts, alcohol abuse, marital problems, and a wide variety of physical ailments, including asthma, heart disease, irritable bowel syndrome, and ulcers.

The study details the rise in suicidal ideation, depression, anxiety and disease in children over the last several decades despite a rise in material wellbeing. It states:

. . .US young people not only appear to be experiencing sharp increases in mental illness and stress and emotional problems, but also continue to suffer from high -- we as a commission believe unacceptably high -- rates of related behavioral problems such as substance abuse, school dropout, interpersonal violence, premature sexual intercourse, and teenage pregnancy. p. 9

The study also says that while children are 50% less likely to die from unintentional injuries, cancer, and heart disease since 1950, they are 140% more likely to die from homicide or suicide (which is the third leading cause of death of youth in the country). Again, I quote:

More and more, what is harming and killing our children today is mental illness, emotional distress, and behavioral problems.

Our neurological systems are designed to need contact and social interactions with other human beings of multiple generations. I found this study through a seminar I attended by Allan Schore, one of the leading thinkers in the science of attachment. Part of my training is to help people understand their attachment styles that are divided up into secure, insecure, and disorganized attachment. More specifically, it is how our early connections affect our health and perception. It is a well researched scientific field starting with psychoanalyst John Bowlby.

In his latest book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell writes about how it was precisely this social connecting that supported the health and wellbeing of a whole town in Pennsylvania. The first chapter relates the story of a population of Italian immigrants that did not have much heart disease, the leading killer among adult populations in the United States.

In Roseto, virtually no one under 55 died of a heart attack, or showed any signs of heart disease. For men over 65, the death rate from heart disease in Roseto was roughly half that of the United States as a whole. The death rate from all causes in Roseto, in fact, was something like thirty or thirty-five percent lower than it should have been.

What was the secret of this populations health? Researcher found out it was not the diet, the physical exercise level, the soil, or anything else. The secret lay in the village culture of the town:

What Wolf slowly realized was that the secret of Roseto wasn't diet or exercise or genes or the region where Roseto was situated. It had to be the Roseto itself. As Bruhn and Wolf walked around the town, they began to realize why. They looked at how the Rosetans visited each other, stopping to chat with each other in Italian on the street, or cooking for each other in their backyards. They learned about the extended family clans that underlay the town's social structure. They saw how many homes had three generations living under one roof, and how much respect grandparents commanded. They went to Mass at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church and saw the unifying and calming effect of the church. They counted twenty-two separate civic organizations in a town of just under 2000 people. They picked up on the particular egalitarian ethos of the town, that discouraged the wealthy from flaunting their success and helped the unsuccessful obscure their failures.

What supported the health of the Rosetans was their connection to each other in relationship and proximity. To me, Belvedere's design supports human connection: the narrow streets, the grid-design with alleys and narrow lots, the wide sidewalks, the shared green and public spaces. It allows for what is natural and healthy for humans to flourish as opposed to rural living the way I had been in Vermont. I felt very isolated and disconnected up there. I craved connection and community.

When Jim said "neighborhood" and "nature," I said yes! That is what I want. Proximity to nature also has many benefits. Combining close knit community connections with nature is a one-two punch for health. Part 2 of the neurological underpinnings of my neighborhood will detail just how nature supports human development and how Belvedere does and will do just that.

A Kid's Map of Belvedere

This map was drawn by a couple of kids who live in Belvedere. Mapping is one of the first things I do with children when connecting with nature. Kids see things differently than adults. Enjoy!
You can see what children like to focus on: the bodies of water, the woods, the high points, and the open spaces. Also, the kids have explored all the water tunnels in the neighborhood, naming each one.

Agnor-Hurt Elementary is Awesome

When families come through Belvedere, many of them ask me about Agnor-Hurt Elementary, the Albemarle Public School district we send our children to. I have just got say, Agnor-Hurt is awesome.

I did what many parents do before they move their family to a new town; I checked out the public schools. I went to greatschools.net and tried hard to "figure it out" from a distance. I made several visits to Charlottesville before making the move to see what the schools were like. I visited the Waldorf School, Cale, Merriweather Lewis and Agnor Hurt. I was very worried about my son in particular. All he knew was a small very sheltered life in Vermont. His public school there was 100 kids k - 8th grad, and he had been with the same kids since kindergarten. We moved in the middle of his third grade year. I chose Belvedere and Agnor-Hurt became our school.

At first, it was a little daunting because of the size; about 475 students preschool through 5th grade. There were about 60-65 third graders alone (three classes of 20-24 each). We were all overwhelmed with the amount of people in Charlottesville and the kids in schools. But soon, we realized many positive things about Agnor Hurt:

• The Diversity: Over 23 different languages spoken by students from 16 different countries. The children would never have had that exposure to the world if we had stayed in the Vermont. Nor would they have that kind of exposure if they attended private school or some other schools in the county.

• The Prinicipal: Michele Del Gallo is amazing. I have attended many of the PTO meetings and witnessed to her organizational and leadership skills. She has really brought the team of 45 teachers, 23 assistants, and 16 support staff together. The teamwork sounds incredible. It takes a talented leader to bring so many people together and have them work efficiently and keep the moral up. She is there for most every afterschool and evening event (and there are plenty!). She makes herself available to students, parents, and all her staff. She is very inspiring to be able to work with to improve the lives of children. She also has tremendous vision for the school.

• The Teachers: Almost half of the teachers in the school have advanced degrees. I have attended most every event I could and I have been impressed with the commitment of the teachers. The principal tells me the school is researching becoming an International Baccaluareate School because 28 of the staff members were interested in it. I come from a world that highly values homeschooling. I have listened to my friends say many bad things about organized schooling, especially public. While we all agree that the public school system does not work for everyone, I could not help but think that there is no way I could do as good a job as these teachers. They have played close attention to my son, nominated him for special programs, and helped him feel at home. There are many special supports in that school, from the Guidance Counselor Carol Fox who especially helped me make the transition mid-year with my son, to the in-school psychogist, to the Gifted and Technology teacher John Hunter. My son has already learned to make presentations in PowerPoint, something I only learned last year. I feel like this school is preparing my son for the bigger world.

• The Parents: The PTO is really amazing, a group of parents many of whom have multiple children and a job. We do many things to support the school and their events. The list is long: Choral Programs, International Dinner, Special Assemblies, Skate Night, Chik-fil-A night, Book Fairs, Martin Luther King Play, School Dances, and more. The fundraising that we do also supports the teachers. It is an amazing circle of support for the students.
  

• The Programs: Last year, the school put a lot of energy into math and the scores are there to show it. The following are quotes from a powerpoint presentation Ms. Del Gallo made at the beginning of the year:

"Agnor Hurt lead the division in math growth while maintaining our scores in reading on the 2008 SOL tests. We saw 15% gains in pass rates for each grade, bringing our overall pass rate in math up to 89.3%"

Here are some more quotes that are just amazing outstanding achievements for Adequate Yearly Progress reports:

• 100% pass rates for 3rd Grade Special Education Students, up from 42.9% the previous year.
• 100% pass rates for 4th Grade Special Education Studnets, up from 50% the previous year.
• 19% increase in reading for 3rd grade free and reduced lunch students, from 66.7% to 85.7%
• 52.5% increase in match for 3rd grade free and reduced lunch students, from 30.8% to 83.3% (check that out!!!)
• 49.3% increase in match for 3rd grade African American students, from 38.9% to 88.2% (another huge wow!!!!)
• 10.8% increase in math for 4th grae African American students, from 69.2% to 80%
• 40.4% increase in math for 4th grade free and reduced lunch students, from 33.3% to 73.7%
• 29.7% increase in math for 5th grade African American students, from 66.7% to 85.7%
• 10.9% increase in math for 5th grade free and reduced lunch students, from 68% to 78.9%

I would say some learning is happening in that school. All the local press has reported is that Agnor-Hurt did not make Adequate Yearly Progress. I say, What? This school has made more than adequate yearly progress, it has made outstanding yearly progress. In reality, they only missed that mark by 1% in the reading levels in free and reduced lunch students. Give me a break. There is definitely a story there should be told and Greatschools.net does not tell it.

Fourth grade for my son has been awesome. My son is a white. The scores for his population are extremely high (in the 95%). Gifted and Technology legendary teacher John Hunter joined the staff and he is a perfect match for my son. This incredible program will allow my son access to many special programs and the schoolwide programs are just as awesome. Here is the list from the beginning of the year:

• Framework for Quality Learning: every team will create an share a new unit
• Continue building strong home-school connections with families
• Adopt a sister school in Africa
• Continued emphasis on music and art
• Continue highly effective math strategies
• New Agnor-Hurt Literacy Plan
• Writing Across the Curriculum (this is awesome, we just went to the Christmas concert and the music teacher had students write essays if they wanted to be a narrator introducing songs. So creative.)
• 75 minute blocks for both reading and math
• Restorative/Responsive Classrooms
• Schoolwide celebration of every student's successes

I hope to make a difference in that school somehow, too, with nature-based curriculum. Every time Bret and I come away from that school we are in awe. So, don't let an outside report influence you if you are interested in that school. And go and visit for yourself. The school saying is, We Are The Dream. It is a pretty amazing place.

Celebrations . . .

Elizabeth, this post is for you. You have written to me that you love when I talk about the land, and you gave me more money than anyone at my fundraising event for my class for families and nature, and I watched you . . . you were rapt and attentive. Your attention never waivered as I talked about the years I have spent researching and teaching about nature. I celebrate you.

This day I am 46 years young and as a gift to myself I head out onto the land early. As usual, I am instantly rewarded for my effort. Unlike many people, I like winter. I like the cold, and the frost, and the snow, and seeing the trees without their leaves against the winter sky. On this day, before 9 am, I head down to the flood plain along one of the Belvedere loops. Almost instantly, my mood lifts as if someone had come beneath my anxiety and fear and gently shifted them into joy. The frost on the plants glistens in the sun like so many jewels. I remember in Vermont sitting in rapture at the glistening of jeweled snow in the sun. In my world, bad weather is rare; what is more common are bad gear and bad preparation. Oh for the glory of winter!

I run down along the trail jumping over icy puddles and streams. The flood plain opens before me and my heart flutters when I see the plants of the plain outlined in frost; it is an icy harvest. I frolic. I run down along the road to river and as I come around the corner I run into a huge pile of white feathers. White feathers? This is obviously a kill site and one whiff of the feathers tells me a red fox plucked his prey here. Not a swan; a chicken! A roasting chicken at that, but where from? I marvel at the pattern of red fox; I often find kill sites in the middle of the road from canines like the fox and coyote, and their scat as well. I run on with a handful of white smelly feathers. As I run, I smell the red fox here and there. Their scent is very musky, like a skunk. It is especially strong around the Zone.

The cold ground makes purchase on the steep hill up from the Zone easy. As I run home along the sewer line, they are there! Tracks! When I see the strong outline of raccoon tracks, every detail of their human-like front paw I whoop with joy, pitter pattering about looking at the patterns in the frosty mud. A broad wing hawk calls right beside me and I look up and marvel at the huge raptor just above my head. It flies off calling. I continue to explore the tracks, here raccoon, there deer, here some red fox. Whoop, whoop, whoop! My heart feels three times bigger.

I run on home to celebrate. Today is my birthday and I give myself a gift of going outside. I say I am 46 years young. Not many would say I look like I am approaching 50. It is nature, I say, nature and fun and kids, and following my passions. I recently came across a book by Byrd Baylor, one of my favorite children's authors called I'm In Charge of Celebrations. I quote:

Last year
I gave myself
One hundred and eight
celebrations --
Besides the ones they close school for

This remarkable small book details how we can celebrate our lives all the time in many small ways.

I celebrate the frost and sun
I celebrate the fox and his kill
I celebrate the raptor and her call
And the tracks in the mud
I celebrate the trees without their leaves
against the November sky
And I celebrate you Elizabeth, for believing in me

Mitakuye Oyasin

Kate

Community Development and New Urbanism

"We are really about community development," Frank Stoner said to me when I began asking him more questions about his world. I do think that Stonehaus is not your typical "developer." I am very new to this idea of building infrastructure. Most of my training in community development is about supporting a culture that supports optimal development and therefore health for human beings, especially children. I almost cried when I listened to introduction of Malcolm Gladwell's new book Outliers when he described how the health of a community in Pennsylvania stumped researchers. This very close knit community with Italian ancestry did not have heart disease. After thorough and strenuous analysis, the researchers decided it was the community design that supported their health: houses close together, three generations under one roof, constant social interaction from the front porches and in the streets. This community design supported the health of that community. I wanted to telephone somebody at Stonehaus and say, Read That Introduction! I have been telling Stonehaus from the beginning they have something special. Yet, New Urbanism is not exactly a real estate success story, at least not yet. Why Not?

I am in North Carolina as I write this. This morning I ran around a New Urbanist project called Southern Village. It is remarkably like Belvedere except for the landscape; it is too hilly for people I think to really interact on the street. Not as comfortable to preamble about. Its town center seems to be thriving with a natural food store, cinema, and many little restaurants, shops and services. There is a public school there and now a big park next to it with a soccer field. Fabulous. There are nature trails and I see children in the forest as I run past making dens and playing in the creek. Ah, this is great! Tiny little pocket parks sport small but very interesting play equipment. This is what is possible and I dwell in that. This development is about 10 years old.

Back at the house where I am staying I make remarks about Southern Village. Out come the criticisms. It's Boring. The people there are all the same, white upper middle class. There is no diversity. So, I start to clean and pack to get ready to go home to Belvedere, I begin to sort out how to make communities more diverse. We talk about this in Children In Nature Design Symposiums. How do we design to decrease the culture of fear we live in, the fear of difference? There is no common watering hole where we all come to get water and mingle. Another criticism: The community did not develop until it had programs that attracted people. In other words: The infrastructure was nothing without the people. So, how to build it so they will come (to paraphrase a line from Field of Dreams)?

I am very hopeful and also very aware of the edge upon which Belvedere sits. Somehow, there is something unkown and very important that sits just beyond the edge of my awareness at the moment. I need more information then I put it all inside me and turn it around like a tumbler on a lock. I know I can find the right combination. I just need all the information. Can you help me? Post a comment and tell me what you think I need to know. Belvedere is not like Southern Village in many ways. I just need time, input, and the co-creation of others to find the right mix.

Family
Friction
Fire

A Wilderness Skills Class

Offered by Earth Connection School of Wilderness Survival and Ancient Skills

Learn The Way of Making Fire Without Matches!

3:30 – 6 pm
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
At the Fairview Swim Club grounds
Belvedere Boulevard and Free State Rd.
Charlottesville, VA 22901

This class will cover a little bit of the history of making fire from rubbing sticks together. We will also use the Bow and Drill technique in teams to actually make fire. Different Native stories about the origin of fire and a firm talk about fire safety will conclude the class.

A parent or guardian must attend for each family and be responsible for the kids that they have brought. All ages are welcome! 5 and under is Free! All materials provided by us. Hot dogs provided (you may also want to bring a snack).

Fees: 1 person $35; 1 parent + 1 child = $45; each additional child $15

For information in the Charlottesville area contact Kate White: 434-996-2002, katercst@gmail.com

To attend this class: Visit our website at www.earth-connection.com/familycourses.htm and read though our information, then click on our Family Course Application, fill out the form and mail it to us with the tuition. We need to receive your applications and tuition at least 7 days before the class. Once we receive an application, we then send out class information and detailed driving directions.

Earth Connection is a school of primitive skills, wilderness survival and self sufficiency offering weekend courses and custom weekday courses throughout the year in Northern Virginia. Earth Connection is now in the twelfth year of continuous operation. Our specialties are Friction Fire Making and Wild Edible Plants. We also teach a variety of other subjects such as Tracks and Sign, Basketry, Primitive Tool Making, Hide Tanning, Wilderness Survival, Organic Gardening and much more!

Earth Connection School of Wilderness Survival and Ancient Skills

Belvedere Updates (the poop and scoop)

Too much is happening in my life to spend time sitting at the computer, so I apologize for not writing much. We have lived here 3 and half months now. Somehow, I want to feel more settled than I do. It takes a long time to feel "at home." Here is the news as far as I know:

The Neighborhood
We are going to get two new neighbors this month! The house behind us went under contract, and the house two doors down. I have heard that one more townhome needs to be sold and then the townhome row will be finished. Yay! I am so tired of looking at the unfinished homes. Hauser has lowered the price of the homes in Belvedere so if there are readers out there lurking and looking for good prices on homes, have a look.

The Construction
The home across from my house and the one next door are almost complete. Great, I am so glad. I have not liked living with all the construction although I knew that I would be living with all this. The guys are totally friendly and it is lovely to see the homes completed. The one next door to me is huge, definitely a party house, with a wet bar next to the kitchen. I walked in there the other day to see what the workers have been doing. They had finished installing a most gorgeous kitchen with this little room off of it that had places for glasses and wine bottles above a little sink. My grandparents had one of those. But to be honest, the construction noises and mess are really grinding. Bret and I agree that it causes constant "low level stress." Sorry Stonehaus. Luckily it doesn't last long in the scheme of things (like the rest of our lives), so for families considering buying into Belvedere, it isn't that bad. Just prepare yourself and you can always come over here and be comforted.

From listening to my neighbors, I would say Eagle is doing a great job supporting the Church Hill homes that have punch lists. I have not heard where they are going to build next although I know they are discussing that.

I have been following Stonehaus's efforts to find funding for the Town Center. Apparently there is interest in that project because of the apartments that are projected to be built. This is something we all want here in the neighborhood so that is one of my biggest concerns besides getting more neighbors! It seems to me that Belvedere is still unfolding in a good way, only slower because of the credit crunch and recession. The carriage house units with apartments above them are a big interest to people who want to work out of their homes.

The Land and other Ambiance
The other day, three hot air balloons made their way directly overtop our house, and many have chosen to land in our neighborhood. I love this. Those balloons are really amazing. I often sit outside with the birds, too. The bluebirds are really wonderful. This last month, flocks of starlings were here although I think they have moved on. The trail system is continually being worked on. The other day I popped out of a trail only to find a interesting group of workers starting up a strange type of riding mower machine that is good at cutting trails. "Hey," one guy yelled to me, "are you Kate?" "Yes!" I said back, pleasantly surprised. This guy read my blog! Thanks Sean. It is fun to be a land steward. "Is this the Zone?" he asked. "No, the Zone is over that way!" I said, pointing north and west. I gave them an overall orientation right there on the spot. There are still areas of trash that need to be cleaned up, too.

The overall vision is still holding, at least as far as I can tell. There is playground planned for across the street from me on the green lot that is part of Fairview. The swimming club and Stonehaus have some agreements that I am not clear on, so I can't speak to them. I am looking forward to having more children here. We are not using the Village Green much except for kite flying and dog walking. Several four wheel vehicles decided it would be fun to tear up the land behind the village green one night and one truck got stuck. I also see evidence of fourwheeling on the flood plain, and we have heard hunters, too, shooting. I would like Stonehaus to look into these things and impose fines on people if they are caught. I am often down on the flood plain, and hearing the gun shots is not encouraging.

The trail system is lovely. I often run down to the fields next to Dunlora and back. This is called the greenway on the Belvedere trail map. Every time I am out on the land I encounter deer and sometimes other animals, too. I always find a nature treasure to bring back home. I just wish I had more time to explore.

That's all for now. I have started working out of my carriage house. I am massage and craniosacral therapist and specialize in the perinatal period. I will post separately about my work as a therapist and an educator. I have a lot going on in my work life and I want Belvedere to benefit from that.