Albright ’72: Beautiful Dreamers
With the arrival of commencement season, Vermont Public Radio commentator Charlotte Albright ’72 reflected on her Bennington commencement ceremony 45 years ago.
"For our processional, [music faculty member Vivian Fine] composed - well, maybe “compose” is the wrong word. Let’s just say she climbed a small tree and, precariously perched, played Beautiful Dreamer on her violin – while we graduates performed, too, by ambling casually toward the Common, murmuring about what it felt like to be graduating. Our percussion instruments: pots and pans.
"Sounds very 70s now, but 45 years later I realize how lucky I was to go to a school where curiosity was fostered and experimentation celebrated. Vivian Fine was right. We were dreamers, and I hope today’s graduates can still hear variations on that same theme, even though our teacher - who died in 2000 – will no longer be perched in that flowering tree."
Bennington's 82nd commencement dinner will take place on Friday, June 2, with an commencement address by NAACP President and CEO Cornell William Brooks.