Dick Vander Woude

I joined the teachers’ revolution of the 60s, expecting to work for a just and honored profession. Colliding symbiotic values fomented into the experiences that defined my future. The established order asked us to comply and compromise. Idealism required us to accommodate pragmatism while never compromising our passion for justice. Mine is a story about choices. Choices that took me from school teacher to teacher advocate, from the teachings of John Calvin to the philosophy of Baruch Spinoza, from conservative to the progressive/left. A path guided by inculcated values, influenced by social and political events, molded by mentors and interrupted by tragedy. Along the way I met great teachers, organizers, philosophers, policy makers, writers, and presidents. Born into a conservative rural, Iowa family, I was inspired by Bobby Kennedy’s promise of withdrawal from Viet Nam and his passion to fulfill Martin Luther King’s vision of a just society. But Bobby was gone and with him much of the hope he had inspired. Flying away from my safe, predictable life as a teacher near Lake Okoboji, I hoped to embrace a new life as an organizer. Today, as I reflect on life’s lessons, I believe that justice, mercy, and humility should guide the organizer’s mantra: “Educate, Agitate, Organize.”