It is not that there is no wish to meet the deeper needs — it is that healing cannot be divided or measured by department. The confusion is compounding. (from Nora Bateson’s poem, “Hallway of Hallways”)
In the mid-seventies, I applied to the interdisciplinary department of Family and Community Studies doctoral program at Columbia University, intentionally submitting a poem in lieu of the formal application at the suggestion of the beat poet Allen Ginsberg. My soon-to-be mentor Paul Byers, (who had a working relationship with Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson) convinced admissions not to pass on me while my application was “not familiar” he urged them to accept me on probation.