Mike was the dean of the Western College of Miami University, in Oxford, Ohio when I was there. He assembled a remarkable team of educators and staff built around his vision for interdisciplinary education.
Lyrics
We were all so beautiful
Once upon a time
Full of hope and anxious for our fate
Living in the moment
Walking through so many doors
We heard his challenge
always to be more
He spoke of community
The issues of the day
Finding yourself
together and alone
History and culture
Finding roles that we might play
His vision slowly grew to be our bond
He called for us to always go beyond
Like seeds in the wind
We each went on our way
Setting roots and stretching for the sky
Casting our own shadow
Making our own mark
Still connected to that special place and time
The bones of the earth may slowly wear away,
taken by water wind and time
All that remains is the magic of our mind
What we found shared and applied
The next time I saw him
Thirty years had passed
He said Are you teaching
And I just laughed
I never fit the system
You know thats not my path
So you can tell me what’s next he asked
I hope to write the songs and stories of my life
He listened close just like he often would
And as he turned to go
on with that his busy night,
He cocked his head and said, they better be damn good
The bones of the earth may slowly wear away,
taken by water wind and time
All that remains is not what we attain
All comes down to what we have to give
Mike showed us how to live
We were all so beautiful once upon a time