'A River Way of Life'
Hubbard
conference to attract followers
to Hanover College in March
Rivers
Institute plans one-day event
to feature speakers, displays,
MCHS student projects
By
Michella M. Marino
Contributing Writer
(March 2007) – Connie Frazier, an Advanced Placement
American History teacher at Madison Consolidated High School, did not
have to venture far to find the perfect example of utopian cultures
to teach in her class. She used the lives of the late Harlan and Anna
Hubbard of nearby Trimble County to “widen awareness for utopian
sustainable environments and different ways of life than the norm.”
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Harlan Hubbard |
The Hubbards forged a simple existence in Payne Hollow,
located along the banks of the Ohio River. There they lived for about
40 years with no electricity or other modern conveniences that most
of us enjoy.
Frazier had her class, consisting of 20 juniors, read Harlan Hubbard’s
book “Payne Hollow: Life on the Fringe of Society,” and then
invited local Hubbard friend and current owner of Payne Hollow, Paul
Hassfurder, to lecture to her students about the Hubbards. Hassfurder,
of Madison, spent many years helping the Hubbards in their later lives
and then inherited the Hubbards’ property upon their deaths.
“Paul Hassfurder has been extremely inviting to us,” Frazier
said.
Professor Robert Rosenthal, chair of the Department of Philosophy at
Hanover College and friend of the Hubbards, also lectured to Frazier’s
class. In all, her students heard five lectures about the Hubbards.
Once the time came to choose semester projects, eight of Frazier’s
students decided to continue with the subject of the Hubbards and their
unique way of life. Many of them plan to participate in an upcoming
Hubbard conference, scheduled for March 24 at Hanover College. The one-day
event is scheduled for 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and is being organized by
the Rivers Institute at Hanover College.
The event is open to the public for a fee of $30, or free for students
with an ID. Lunch may be ordered for an additional $8 or registrants
may bring their own lunch. A special Hubbard-themed dinner will be offered
that evening for $15 and includes a classical music concert performance
by Hanover College student Rajapark Phojanasupan.
Scott Russell Sanders will serve as the featured speaker during the
event. Sanders is an accomplished author of 19 books, all of which are
concerned with our place in nature, the pursuit of social justice, the
character of community, and the search for a spiritual path. Sanders
is a Distinguished Professor of English at Indiana University.
Several of the speakers who will make presentations have been inspired
by the lifestyles of the Hubbards.
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River Way of Life' Preliminary Schedule
Saturday,
March 24 |
“A River Way of Life” will include presentations
about the life and legacy of the Hubbards by Jonathan Greene, owner
of Gnomon Press in Frankfort, Ky.; Katherine Burger Johnson, librarian
in the Harlan and Anna Hubbard Archive at the University of Louisville;
Meg Shaw, Art Librarian in the Martin Luther King Library at the University
of Kentucky; and Hassfurder.
Frazier, who has lived in Madison for more than 20 years, had not heard
of the Hubbards until the last five years, although she has been interested
in sustainable environments and natural resources for quite some time.
Although she herself is interested in the Hubbards, Frazier is adamant
about the fact that the students’ projects are “completely
student driven.”
All of her students interested in using the Hubbards as their project
topic attended a recent program on the Hubbards given by author Don
Wallis at the Jefferson County Historical Society. The students have
until March 24 to complete their project, since they will be displaying
their work at the conference, titled, “A River Way of Life.”
Patrick Thevenow, 17, is one student who decided to continue on with
the Hubbards as part of his class project.
Thevenow and classmate, Toby Rogers, are producing a video consisting
of interviews of people who knew the Hubbards. The interview idea originated
with Thevenow’s father, who had visited Payne Hollow and the Hubbards
a few times during their lifetime.
“He thought it would be a good idea to interview people who had
everyday encounters with the Hubbards,” the younger Thevenow said.
Thevenow, who’s interested in making movies in general, just recently
started the project and has begun compiling a list of local people to
interview who knew the Hubbards. He plans on completing five to 10 interviews.
During the interviews, Thevenow will ask the interviewees to “share
any kind of story about the Hubbards including their daily activities
and encounters.”
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Scott Russell Sanders |
His plan is to make sure various types of stories about
the Hubbards will be passed on. Since Thevenow can never meet the Hubbards,
he hopes to be able to learn more about their lives through his project.
“I want to show others a different side of the Hubbards lives – things
they never knew, such as daily things about how they lived.”
Kavan Wright, 17, is another of Frazier’s students working on a
Hubbard project. Wright and classmates, Ralph Kendall and Kevin Tsoi,
are focusing more on the life of Anna Hubbard. They decided to look
into her life because “it’s the lesser known story,”
Wright said. “She’s not in his books, and she didn’t
write herself, but she was important to Harlan Hubbard and his life.”
Wright and his classmates are still in the researching phase of their
project and are unsure exactly the direction it will take. Wright thinks
they will create a tri-board poster presentation probably with an equal
ratio of pictures and information.
Wright read “Payne Hollow,” like the rest of Frazier’s
students, and has also read a book on the life of Anna Hubbard. But
he learned from Hassfurder’s lectures that Hassfurder does not
believe the book portrays her as he remembers her. Thus, Wright plans
on looking back through “Payne Hollow,” the book, and other
sources to reconstruct her life. His goal “is just to show how
important she was.”
Both Thevenow and Wright are interested in the Hubbards and sustainable
living but are not exactly sure if they would want to do it themselves.
“It’s really interesting because it’s almost like within
reach of today’s society, but it’s hard to reach that,”
Wright said. “Most people wouldn’t want it.”
Wright said he might like to try it out, but then again he says, “Maybe
not.” Thevenow believes he could maintain the Hubbard’s type
of lifestyle because he enjoys the outdoors, but he’s not sure
if he would want to continue it for the amount of time the Hubbards
did. He thinks Henry David Thoreau’s two years in the wilderness
would be a bit more manageable.
• Registration for the “A River Way of Life”
conference at Hanover College is available online at: www.riversinstitute.org.
Vendor space is available for $45, which includes registration for the
participant. Call Shelley Arvin at Rivers Institute at (812) 866-6846.
• Read more about Harlan and Anna Hubbard at our website: www.HarlanHubbard.com.