Weekend Retreat at Wintergreen Resort, Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia
“National and Ethnic Identity within a Global Workplace” with John W. Davis, Jr.
Mike Brown, D.C. Humanity Project

On July 21-23, all WIP interns were invited to a retreat at Wintergreen Resort – in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia – on the subject of “National and Ethnic Identity within a Global Workplace.” In past years, the Washington Internship Program held this annual weekend event at Georgetown University’s Bellarmine Retreat Center in Pennsylvania, on Chincoteague Island, and at Colonial Williamsburg, among other locations, but Wintergreen offered a combination of mountain climbing, canoeing, swimming in the lake as well as both indoor and outdoor pools, an athletic center plus a spa, volleyball, miniature golf, and free shuttle-bus transportation up and down the mountain. Interns stayed in fully furnished condominiums on top of the mountain (with private kitchens, living rooms, bedrooms, and balconies) that WIP reserved on the resort, and everyone came together for lectures and meals in a beautiful mountain lodge that WIP rented for collective activities.

Wintergreen is both a ski-area during snow season and a breathtaking summer haven in warm weather. WIP reserved picnic tables at the lake for an outdoor picnic on Saturday afternoon, and all meals were provided at no cost to the interns as was round-trip bus transportation (with films shown during the ride) to and from the resort. Speakers included John W. Davis, II. of Howard University and Mike Brown of the D.C. Humanity Project. A former Marine in Iraq, Mr. Brown talked about his assimilation of that experience within a black Moslem context and Caribbean background. Dr. Bayer addressed the topic of “Individualism in the West Versus Communalism in the East” along with the implications of this cultural divide for a global future. While American-style individualism fosters freedom and creativity, it also contributed to the decline of marriage and family. By contrast, Asian collectivity strengthens friendship and communal solidarity but often at the expense of promoting excessive uniformity and intolerance. Interns illustrated these matters with stories from their own experience. On outdoor porches amid the tree-tops and inside the lodge around a stone fireplace at sunset, interns from different countries discussed the impact of travel and dislocation on their own lives. The relationship between identity and career choice was explored in this idyllic setting away from the hustle and bustle of Washington. Time for contemplation, exercise, and a feast was enjoyed by all.

Washington Internship Program Retreat 2006 at Wintergreen Resort in Blue Ridge Mountains of West Virginia

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