Mount Airy Learning Tree

Mt. Airy 25th Anniversary, Continued...

The genesis for the MALT idea was in the "free university movement of the '60s" when low-cost, ad-hoc and anti-establishment programs began to appear on college campuses. "The idea was 'anyone can teach, anyone can learn,'" Bloom explained.

That might be true, but seeing it come to fruition was no easy task. Bloom, Ewing, who is still on the Board, Henning, Vaughan, Reed, Lefkowitz, Sue Beetle - now the President - Carolyn and David Hale, Gayle Koster, Nya Patrinos, Rob Harting, Robert Rossheim, Ralph Warshaw and John Wineland were the first organizing committee. Interestingly, the committee included some teenagers. Henning found the locations.Lutheran Theological Seminary has hosted classes since MALT's birth.

"The idea was 'anyone can teach, anyone can learn...'"

The first catalog described Mt. Airy Learning Tree as "...an organization offering ungraded classes by and for residents in and near Mt. Airy. It provides opportunities for each of us to share ideas, information and skills with others. Courses that encourage exchange among people of different ages, that reflect the backgrounds, experiences, and skills of Mt. Airy and that focus on issues of community concern are of particular interest. Mt. Airy Learning Tree depends on the generous resources not only of the people of Mt. Airy but also on its civic and religious organizations."

The 17 courses indicate the interests of the times, but are also curious for the similarity to classes of today. Titles were: City Council of Philadelphia, Electronic Games, Finding A Job, Home Plumbing Repair, How to Finance A Small Business, Introduction to Personal Computing, Issues in Early Childhood Development, Making Changes (a support group for women facing personal or career changes), Mt. Airy: A Pioneering Community, Planning and Publicizing, Railroads and Mt. Airy, Repairs, Riding Like the Experts, Talking About Books, Tutoring Basic Reading Skills, Women As Super Heroes in Comics, and Writing.

Worth noting was Personal Computing was co-taught by "...Scott Anderson, a seventh-grade student at Abington Friends School...who is familiar with the operation of the APPLE computer; and by Bob Rossheim, a computer consultant convinced of the benefit and fun of home computers." Repairs was a practical class with "...participants making minor repairs to Weaver's Way Food Co-op and the WMAN office..." Women As Super Heroes in the Comics was co-taught by "Nya Patrinos, a student at Masterman, who reads the comics regularly, and Barbara Bloom, who has just rediscovered them." All courses were $15 unless noted, but people who could not afford the fee were still encouraged to attend and pay what they could, or donate time to organizing the next session of classes.

"Teaching is an opportunity to share something that has been very meaningful to me personally, and to affirm my beliefs out loud..."

MALT mailed 12,500 brochures, the most by a local community organization. A year later, WMAN and EMAN decided to publish a local newspaper, Mt. Airy Times, now the independent Mt. Airy Times Express. The MALT catalog became an insert three times a year, with MALT paying for the postage, thereby providing the means for the first distribution of the paper.

Since 1993, more than 70,000 have been sent to residents in the region by bulk mail, as well as being dropped off at various distribution points. In 1999, www.mtairylearningtree.org was born, offering the catalog online, with class updates, forms to suggest classes and to submit registration. While MALT is still geared primarily toward adults, there are some classes for young adults and kids.

Many teachers have developed loyal followings. Josh Mitteldorf first appeared in the Fall 1983 catalog teaching yoga. He has taught ever since.

"I had taught a weekly yoga class in Boston," he recalls. "Just the previous year, I had moved to Philadelphia to get married, and had no place to teach here. But I knew Barbara from a counseling network, and when she told me about her project in my neighborhood, it was just the right opportunity for me. Yoga has been a quiet foundation of my life for almost 30 years now. Teaching is an opportunity to share something that has been very meaningful to me personally, and to affirm my beliefs out loud, to remind myself why I practice yoga."

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