Alpha_Alternative_School_1972–2012-Yumpu

Flannery Fielding
“I always appreciated the
opportunity that ALPHA offered
for self-directed learning.”
I was already at ALPHA as a baby since my older sis ter was there and our
fam ily was a part of the com mu nity, but I still dis tinctly remem ber going
in with my mom to sign up to attend as a stu dent. Sit ting on a bench in the
main hall, it seemed so big.
flannery fielding
ALPHA 1977 to 1985, ages
4–11. Studied Nursing at
Ryerson University and
University of California, San
Francisco. Works as a Nurse
Practitioner in Palliative
Care. Creates art, sings, and
plays the ukelele.
I always appre ci ated the oppor tu nity that ALPHA offered for self-directed
learn ing. That trans lated into a lot of read ing for me. At home, I read
Nancy Drew, the Nar nia books, Madeleine L’Engle. At ALPHA, I read whatever
I could get my hands on. The book I remem ber best was some kind
of pic to r ial ency clo pe dia with pic tures of chil dren suffer ing from ter rible
dis eases of mal nu tri tion. There was a pho to graph of a kid with corneas
clouded and shiny blue that was awful and some how thrilling. The
down side of that free dom to do what I liked was less expo sure to math and
other sub jects, and I think that worked to rein force my sense that I wasn’t
good at math or French. Still, I have fond mem o ries of hang ing out in the
back cor ner of one of the big rooms on the third floor, a room the big kids
used for art—it had a loom and a pot tery wheel—lis ten ing to music on
an 8-track some one must have donated. I learned all the words to Kenny
Rogers’ The Gam bler, most of the songs on Break fast in Amer ica (Supertramp!)
and we played Michael Jackson’s Thriller album over and over
again on this lit tle turntable.
I think most kids at ALPHA had a sense of supe ri or ity about the free dom
we had—to learn, to play, to be our selves—although for me and my friends,
that even tu ally trans formed into a kind of dread about what we might be
miss ing, how hard it was going to be for us in the “real world.”
From ALPHA I went on to two differ ent alter na tive junior high schools
and then to a “reg u lar” high school, which was ter ri fy ing at first but turned
out to be eas ier to adapt to than I expected (although I never really got the
hang of home work.) Drama was the one sub ject in high school where I truly
felt at home. I seri ously con sid ered fol low ing my dad’s path into the atre
and even audi tioned for the National The atre School. After high school,
I worked in Toronto’s the atre com mu nity for a num ber of years as a performer,
tech ni cian, and gen eral par tic i pant in the scene. Through another
family connection I began travelling frequently to Central America,
volunteering with medical groups and studying Spanish.
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