"O" lays down some lyrics as we wait for banquet at Cedar Rock, 2009.
Sunday, June 30, 2013
NCOBS throwback: My name is "O"
"O" lays down some lyrics as we wait for banquet at Cedar Rock, 2009.
Remote signal faded, yet transmission strong... ...
All:
It has been quite the time passing since my last writing...
Summits Beyond is now officially back in production with lots brewing for the summer!
I hope you will be interested to dust off this ole' web address and entice yourself to follow along with the latest "what's the what"with me and those associated with Summits Beyond.
Lots of Program Administration on the professional side of things. Outdoor Action at Princeton is in full-bore swing as we prepare for Frosh Trip.
Several friends have been able to visit Chateau Kshon in Hopewell, and it's been great!
Recent guests include:
As Summer carries on past its own height (as in, the equinox was nearly a week ago), the heat swelters on in New Jersey, but so too do the adventures up ahead. Stayu tuned for trip reports from:
Well now, the Summer/Fall trips list should keep me quite busy. What adventures do you have planned? Backpacking Europe? Learning how to knit? Maybe Alpine summits in New Zealand? Perhaps learning a new language? Adventures await around every corner...
See you there,
Kevin Shon
It has been quite the time passing since my last writing...
Summits Beyond is now officially back in production with lots brewing for the summer!
I hope you will be interested to dust off this ole' web address and entice yourself to follow along with the latest "what's the what"with me and those associated with Summits Beyond.
Lots of Program Administration on the professional side of things. Outdoor Action at Princeton is in full-bore swing as we prepare for Frosh Trip.
Several friends have been able to visit Chateau Kshon in Hopewell, and it's been great!
Recent guests include:
- Alexis Jean Cymbolin
- Kelly Biasiolli
- Sheamus Burns
- Mike & Lauren Neuvel
- Jim Madison
As Summer carries on past its own height (as in, the equinox was nearly a week ago), the heat swelters on in New Jersey, but so too do the adventures up ahead. Stayu tuned for trip reports from:
- regular climbing trips at the Gunks in New York
- new adventures in surfing (my next new sport!)
- sea kayaking around the greater NYC area
- 2 weeks of Outward Bound work in July
- a Fall trip back to Patagonia, objective: Cerro San Lorenzo
Well now, the Summer/Fall trips list should keep me quite busy. What adventures do you have planned? Backpacking Europe? Learning how to knit? Maybe Alpine summits in New Zealand? Perhaps learning a new language? Adventures await around every corner...
See you there,
Kevin Shon
Thursday, February 14, 2013
...and We're Back!
Summits Beyond is back on the scene and with significant updates. I (KMS) have recently started a full-time gig as Program Coordinator for an Outdoor Program of a University in the northern mid-Atlantic region. As this move takes me one step out of the day-to-day practice of facilitating courses, it is an amazing step in the direction of fostering student growth and leadership, and being a part of an long-standing outdoor program of high quality.
Expect to hear some noise from Summits Beyond as this new "peak" invites new vision, new creation, new discovery, and of course, new insight that comes from learning - and learning the way we know best: Experientially.
Glad to be back,
Kevin Shon
Founder,
Summits Beyond
Up Next: Trip leading Adventures in Florida...
Expect to hear some noise from Summits Beyond as this new "peak" invites new vision, new creation, new discovery, and of course, new insight that comes from learning - and learning the way we know best: Experientially.
Glad to be back,
Kevin Shon
Founder,
Summits Beyond
Up Next: Trip leading Adventures in Florida...
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Images of Experience and Education.
Good People,
Summits Beyond has traditionally been a way for me to express my thoughts and adventures as I attempt to make greater sense of my world and my life as someone who is committed to intentionally living outside of my comfort zone searching for growth and development; both at a personal and community-based level.
I will also say that this blog has become, as of late, more of a space to give brief updates on the latest "status update"/whereabouts related to me and my surroundings. This format no longer works for me. My hope is that you, my friends and community who follow my whereabouts internetically will be able to stay abreast to my happenings via in-person contact, letter writing, or phone conversation.
Summits Beyond strives to reach its next evolution: A forum to present both personal stories of others, as well as my own in which people (and other creatures) are finding growth on the edge of their comfort zone and realizing those "summits" in our lives that define our direction, mission, purpose, and self-realization*.
"What does it all mean?"
Well, Summits Beyond will soon begin interviews, essays, presentations, and photo journalism highlighting life on the edge, life in progress, and lives of learning all in the name of better understanding the world around us, our community, and what it all means...
Stay tuned for a new look, and new twist, and an additional purpose as this web log transforms from personal digressions to a newer, community-based site designed specifically to build a sense of community while embracing the unknown.
We hope this entry finds you well, contemplative, and ready for the summits beyond...
In Adventure,
Kevin Shon
Editor-in chief
SummitsBeyond.org
Summits Beyond has traditionally been a way for me to express my thoughts and adventures as I attempt to make greater sense of my world and my life as someone who is committed to intentionally living outside of my comfort zone searching for growth and development; both at a personal and community-based level.
I will also say that this blog has become, as of late, more of a space to give brief updates on the latest "status update"/whereabouts related to me and my surroundings. This format no longer works for me. My hope is that you, my friends and community who follow my whereabouts internetically will be able to stay abreast to my happenings via in-person contact, letter writing, or phone conversation.
Summits Beyond strives to reach its next evolution: A forum to present both personal stories of others, as well as my own in which people (and other creatures) are finding growth on the edge of their comfort zone and realizing those "summits" in our lives that define our direction, mission, purpose, and self-realization*.
"What does it all mean?"
Well, Summits Beyond will soon begin interviews, essays, presentations, and photo journalism highlighting life on the edge, life in progress, and lives of learning all in the name of better understanding the world around us, our community, and what it all means...
Stay tuned for a new look, and new twist, and an additional purpose as this web log transforms from personal digressions to a newer, community-based site designed specifically to build a sense of community while embracing the unknown.
We hope this entry finds you well, contemplative, and ready for the summits beyond...
In Adventure,
Kevin Shon
Editor-in chief
SummitsBeyond.org
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Hold the pose...
Good people!
Hello, yet another entry at Summits Beyond. The title hopefully conjures images in the mind of meditation through movement, Sanskrit sweating, and enlightenment. Yoga. This really serves as a working metaphor representative of my transition back to Northern Virginia life after stepping up by stepping back from Outward Bound for a little bit. I was yearning family connection, weekends, friends and respite, so I hung my expedition hat on the rack for a bit and am working on settling in to a routine here in the ole' NOVA. I do find that although transitions are usually tough for me, this one (yes, is tough but) is equally filling with hope. Whewwww.....
With some time and space to breathe, I have started two new ventures in employment, and am actively searching for what my "Grad School by 2013" campaign will look like. I plan to be in a master's program by 2013, somewhere at some point. Either Outdoor Education, or Counseling- but I DIGRESS.
It is amazing to "hold the pose." I didn't think that coming back to Manassas would be challenging, but it completely is. I find my centered-ness off. I find my focus pulled by strange left-field doubts from time to time... "can I do this thing?" "Should I have left the woods?" "How do I build relationship with folks in society?" I am usually a pretty rock solid thinker. My time in valleys and mountains and glaciers and forests has made me pretty mentally strong, yet it is the concrete jungle that is getting me out of my comfort zone. My comfort zone is being pushed, not by the physical environment, but by the mentalscapes I now encounter in Manassas. Reconnecting my social network here, finding new employment, seeking new professional self-views? I am in a redefinition process. It is so new and so much and so full-on that this adventurer is enjoying sweating it out in process of redefining me and my world outside of the Outward Bound paradigm. Of course OB is like family to me. Of course I love the place. Of course I still instruct there. I am also enjoying the exploration of who I am by being in such a familiar place that is ironically so new and foreign to me.
I am literally re-mapping not only my professional self, but my personal self as well. Reconnecting with my parents, some childhood friends, my partner, and my profession here is a lot to take on. I am excited to be doing so. It is not easy. So here I am. Here I stand. Sweating out my heart, my soul, and my whole self while trying to maintain values, focus, goals, what I want, who I want, where I will go, and how my future is being constructed in this environment where there are no dinner circles, hugs to say hello, quotes, morning meeting/duty, etc.
Not a mixed message. I have left what I now know to return to where I have come from. I am encountering all sorts of new challenges I never knew existed. I am sure it is going to be okay, it's like that initial turbulence at take off... I am trying to balance what I know, what I see, what I feel and where I am. Here I am... Holding the pose...
What inspires you to hold your "pose" ?
You can send reply to me through comments here, or through email, and I will post some of your responses here in the weeks to come...
Please pass on Summits Beyond to someone you know, especially if you think this Blog will inspire others to push their comfort to discover new growth.
In Adventure...
Kevin Shon
Hello, yet another entry at Summits Beyond. The title hopefully conjures images in the mind of meditation through movement, Sanskrit sweating, and enlightenment. Yoga. This really serves as a working metaphor representative of my transition back to Northern Virginia life after stepping up by stepping back from Outward Bound for a little bit. I was yearning family connection, weekends, friends and respite, so I hung my expedition hat on the rack for a bit and am working on settling in to a routine here in the ole' NOVA. I do find that although transitions are usually tough for me, this one (yes, is tough but) is equally filling with hope. Whewwww.....
With some time and space to breathe, I have started two new ventures in employment, and am actively searching for what my "Grad School by 2013" campaign will look like. I plan to be in a master's program by 2013, somewhere at some point. Either Outdoor Education, or Counseling- but I DIGRESS.
It is amazing to "hold the pose." I didn't think that coming back to Manassas would be challenging, but it completely is. I find my centered-ness off. I find my focus pulled by strange left-field doubts from time to time... "can I do this thing?" "Should I have left the woods?" "How do I build relationship with folks in society?" I am usually a pretty rock solid thinker. My time in valleys and mountains and glaciers and forests has made me pretty mentally strong, yet it is the concrete jungle that is getting me out of my comfort zone. My comfort zone is being pushed, not by the physical environment, but by the mentalscapes I now encounter in Manassas. Reconnecting my social network here, finding new employment, seeking new professional self-views? I am in a redefinition process. It is so new and so much and so full-on that this adventurer is enjoying sweating it out in process of redefining me and my world outside of the Outward Bound paradigm. Of course OB is like family to me. Of course I love the place. Of course I still instruct there. I am also enjoying the exploration of who I am by being in such a familiar place that is ironically so new and foreign to me.
I am literally re-mapping not only my professional self, but my personal self as well. Reconnecting with my parents, some childhood friends, my partner, and my profession here is a lot to take on. I am excited to be doing so. It is not easy. So here I am. Here I stand. Sweating out my heart, my soul, and my whole self while trying to maintain values, focus, goals, what I want, who I want, where I will go, and how my future is being constructed in this environment where there are no dinner circles, hugs to say hello, quotes, morning meeting/duty, etc.
Not a mixed message. I have left what I now know to return to where I have come from. I am encountering all sorts of new challenges I never knew existed. I am sure it is going to be okay, it's like that initial turbulence at take off... I am trying to balance what I know, what I see, what I feel and where I am. Here I am... Holding the pose...
What inspires you to hold your "pose" ?
You can send reply to me through comments here, or through email, and I will post some of your responses here in the weeks to come...
Please pass on Summits Beyond to someone you know, especially if you think this Blog will inspire others to push their comfort to discover new growth.
In Adventure...
Kevin Shon
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