Hundreds of people from around the world have participated in Quillwood Academy events. Read some of their testimonials below.
Quillwood has introduced me to a community of courage and sensitivity, a community that dares to look baldly at the world we inhabit. We want to examine the decisive contradictions we inhabit, and Eric has offered himself as a fine host. With Quillwood he serves as a guide for the intrepid. What person do we want to be in our present condition? Given our precarity, how can I move forward towards a society organized around care? How can I inhabit this moment fully, regardless of the dissonance surrounding me? Hmmm… perhaps it’s that very awareness of dissonance that serves to illuminate. We are feeling our way forward, but not blindly, nor alone!
Carol F.
Having participated in several online study and discussion groups offered by Eric Garza, I am pleased to share my positive regard for Quillwood. During these times of increasing (epidemic levels) of uncertainty and existential risk, I was seeking a venue for civil discourse, without recourse to magical thinking in all its disguises. I found that Eric possesses the skills needed to host and gently support wide-ranging discussion of a range of environmental and social topics relating to the perils of our time. As a result of his skillful and professional demeanor, discussions emerge within a context of trust and candor. I have formed correspondent friendships with several other participants from a variety of countries. Being a sailor, I will use a nautical metaphor to describe Eric’s service. Even seasoned captains resort to the use of a harbor pilot when they are about to embark on a difficult journey, to navigate particular shoals and hazards as they are leaving port. Eric serves such a role, seeking navigation aids (books and authors) that may be helpful and, better yet, is determined to allow each participant to learn to navigate more effectively after the formal study session is complete.
Bernie Amell
When I discovered Eric and the Quillwood Academy, I was in deep need of others who were seriously concerned about environmental and social collapse. It was a great relief to join Eric’s groups and receive his passion, knowledge and wise perspective about the unfolding polycrisis. Eric has a skillful and open style, keeping groups on task while creating safety and leaving room for everyone’s voice. Quillwood Academy has been a meaningful refuge for me in this difficult time, offering support, friendships and insight as we face an uncertain and frightening future together.
Carla Brennan
I found my way to Quillwood during the pandemic. There is poetry here, and book discussions. There is deep listening. Talking about hard things, often taboo elsewhere, is normalized. It’s soul-soothing to have this place to connect with others who get the gravity of our predicament. Under Eric’s gentle, structured guidance, space is held for exploring all that is unraveling, how we got here, and to live into one of the central questions of our time: how might we transform in order to deeply adapt?
Donna McClurkan
I have just finished my third Quillwood Academy study group and am looking forward to future offerings. In a time when it is difficult to talk openly and honestly about the systemic Hot Mess of converging hot messes that have become the measure of our lives, Quillwood Academy, in the person of Eric Garza, offers safe refuge, profound conversation, and consequential companionship. So much so, indeed, that it is difficult, come the end of each course, to say goodbye to what has magically become a tight knit community of old-soul friends. Eric’s personal and academic background, teaching experience, and passion for identifying and practicing the skills and schoolings needed to traverse a world that is increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous give rise to a distinctively meaningful and intimate learning environment. I have come to trust him wholeheartedly as a discerning subject scout, a top-notch facilitator, and a very good human being.
Bart Robinson
Eric creates spaces that allow for intentional and deep learning; the pressure of black-and-white thinking gives way to a slower, richer consideration of complexity. He is a skillful listener and patient facilitator, drawing from his broad reading and experience to guide conversations. Through my participation in several of his recent book groups, I have learned from him and from my fellow participants as much as I have from the excellent material we read. I look forward to participating in future offerings!
Kathryn S.
Eric’s reading group was just what I needed – a chance to get together with a group who wanted to think and discuss a profound and consuming concern at a high level of analysis, with appropriate emotional realness, and with the time and continuity to dig into the depths it deserves. Indeed, he was generous with his time, for example adding a special session to look into an unresolved matter I had raised (‘spiritual bypassing’ and ecological hope). Though at times I wanted Eric to ‘lead’ the group in a more directed way, I found over time that he was truly facilitating growth in perspective for those ready to grow – creating a strong yet expansive container, and seeding it with suitable elements we could focus in on effectively.
Nate Binzen
Meeting Eric Garza on the road to the apocalypse has been a comforting experience. Participating in his reading group for the book Ishmael by Daniel Quinn caused the foundations of ‘reality’ to quiver. Throughout my unlearning process Eric has been a sensitive and knowledgeable companion. Above all, his events offered me the necessary tools to help me recover from the shock of collapse and feel ready again to be a good company for those of us who’ve embraced ‘the moral obligation to die well’.
Mara “Mariam” Robledo
Eric is a consummate educator, adept at bringing to light, through thought-provoking questions, the essence of a book’s meaning, both implied and revealed in its narrative tale. He is a skillful facilitator, and I particularly enjoy the ease with which Eric enabled our discussions to take surprising and interesting turns. He has a wealth of knowledge without ever, and I emphasize ever, being pedantic. A rare gift. I am delighted to join Eric and Quillwood Academy again for two upcoming offerings!
Dr. Alexandra Ellen Appel