Happiness, knowledge, not in another place but this place, not for another hour but this hour…
- Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass
My Story.
The Practice of Leaning in. Nadine means hope. Really, it does. It is the French name for Hope. It's a big name and it has taken me decades to own. It was too easy to lean out and not accept a destiny built upon hope. It is easier for many of us to lean out during these fraught and complex times. To lean in one must have the capacity to feel discomfort and accept grief. That is where contemplative practices are essential. A decade ago as my environmental work had me living like Cassandra and Sisyphus, I was lucky enough to find a practice that taught me to be present, sink into my body and plant my roots back into the earth. I found my beginner's mind and thus my imagination as a Tai Chi student and it saved my life. Tai Chi engaged my mind, body, and spirit while rooting me to "this place and this hour". It transformed my life's work into an an emergent living practice that flourishes as I discover and practice leading by following. Have you had similar experiences? How do you make meaning of your experiences? What is your story? Did anyone show you or teach you to lean in? My origin story begins with a naïve understanding: I was told I had saved lives by being born, which taught me to lean in with no limits, no self-protection, and no ward off (as we say in taiji).
Pattern Hunting: In the Beginning, the universe showed me patterns from the time I can remember. I could viscerally feel connections between the physical and the quantum, and yet I had no vocabulary for those feelings and knowings. As a kid I assumed everyone had trees as friends or could talk to their dog who seemed to comprehend my feelings. I watched injustices and cruelties take place amongst my neighborhood pack of friends, and then I saw shocking images of murders and war scenes on the black and white television in the den. I bore witness to the collective grief over the assassinations of civil rights leaders and the Vietnam War. I wanted to fix all this -- save lives and the planet, and generate peace and love for all beings. I couldn't separate me from them.
I now understand: I am an empath and took it all into my body which broke my spirit. What does a young person do when there is no vocabulary and most adults had a laissez fair relationship to justice. I chose a radical course of study -- the interdisciplinary field of Communication Studies and proceeded to get two degrees. I learned to see media, a tool of capitalism and fascism, wield its sword across the globe as nations and individuals control and transmit information to suit their greed and desires. Early on my mission was to create and share literacy skills to help us critically respond to this manufactured reality with too much power and a tentacular force driven by technology that still has the potential to run away with itself. Was the medium the message or the message the medium? Questions still entirely relevant today as AI is here for better or worse, and policymakers call social media businesses out on their social impact and accountability. By graduate school my focus was on visual communications and how landscape painting and photography contributed to conservation. My master's thesis was the first academic work to document top down, bottom up collaborative community-based processes to support Federal Wild & Scenic River designation.
Teaching and Learning. I am a teacher and a student, it is ever thus. I have spent time as a journalist learning to write, report and shape stories, but mostly I have spent my days living the praxis--the intersection of theory and practice. I am: a) the "client" working inside government and the non-profit management world; b) the "consultant" serving the public and non profit sectors by designing strategic communication strategies to build coalitions and create collaborative stakeholder processes to shape public policy and design programs; and c) the teacher in the classroom creating community-connected learning environmental studies courses to build bridges between theory and practice.
My work has resulted in 100's of publications, white papers and market research studies, as well as multi-media reports and diverse events and retreats to support dozens of private and public sector clients including government, NGO, higher ed and non-profits. Dubbed an "intrepreneur," the Public Relations Society of America and others have recognized my work. In Seattle I was part of the fastest growing women-owned consulting firm from its inception. In Vermont I served on the Cross-Cutting Technical Work Group of the Governor's Climate Change Commission. Prior to the polycrises of climate change; biodiversity losses; and social justice, human health, and well-being becoming the most pressing and urgent problems on the planet, I co-chaired an international communications working group on Acid Rain for the New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers Conference.
My teaching includes college courses on social marketing, sustainability, as well as teaching six semesters of the Senior Practicum in the Environmental Studies Program at Middlebury College. I spent four semesters co-teaching The Perennial Turn, as well as three semesters teaching my own Environmental Studies course Approaching Sustainability from the Roots. In the fall of 2022, I went back inside the nonprofit system to experiment with a new position, Communications Director for the Northeast Wilderness Trust. I am currently working on a book project while I begin to accept new clients to support the individual and the collective through community engagement, and coalition and strategy building to address the polycrises mentioned above.
The ground I cherish. I have raised and continue to be raised by two amazing humans in their 20s who are pursuing their dreams and manifesting their visions. I am in awe of them as they create beauty in these complicated times. I share my life with Barry who can sing to me any time, any where. We live on five wild acres with a pollinator garden we take no credit for on a ridge, near a lake in Central Vermont.
Pattern Hunting: In the Beginning, the universe showed me patterns from the time I can remember. I could viscerally feel connections between the physical and the quantum, and yet I had no vocabulary for those feelings and knowings. As a kid I assumed everyone had trees as friends or could talk to their dog who seemed to comprehend my feelings. I watched injustices and cruelties take place amongst my neighborhood pack of friends, and then I saw shocking images of murders and war scenes on the black and white television in the den. I bore witness to the collective grief over the assassinations of civil rights leaders and the Vietnam War. I wanted to fix all this -- save lives and the planet, and generate peace and love for all beings. I couldn't separate me from them.
I now understand: I am an empath and took it all into my body which broke my spirit. What does a young person do when there is no vocabulary and most adults had a laissez fair relationship to justice. I chose a radical course of study -- the interdisciplinary field of Communication Studies and proceeded to get two degrees. I learned to see media, a tool of capitalism and fascism, wield its sword across the globe as nations and individuals control and transmit information to suit their greed and desires. Early on my mission was to create and share literacy skills to help us critically respond to this manufactured reality with too much power and a tentacular force driven by technology that still has the potential to run away with itself. Was the medium the message or the message the medium? Questions still entirely relevant today as AI is here for better or worse, and policymakers call social media businesses out on their social impact and accountability. By graduate school my focus was on visual communications and how landscape painting and photography contributed to conservation. My master's thesis was the first academic work to document top down, bottom up collaborative community-based processes to support Federal Wild & Scenic River designation.
Teaching and Learning. I am a teacher and a student, it is ever thus. I have spent time as a journalist learning to write, report and shape stories, but mostly I have spent my days living the praxis--the intersection of theory and practice. I am: a) the "client" working inside government and the non-profit management world; b) the "consultant" serving the public and non profit sectors by designing strategic communication strategies to build coalitions and create collaborative stakeholder processes to shape public policy and design programs; and c) the teacher in the classroom creating community-connected learning environmental studies courses to build bridges between theory and practice.
My work has resulted in 100's of publications, white papers and market research studies, as well as multi-media reports and diverse events and retreats to support dozens of private and public sector clients including government, NGO, higher ed and non-profits. Dubbed an "intrepreneur," the Public Relations Society of America and others have recognized my work. In Seattle I was part of the fastest growing women-owned consulting firm from its inception. In Vermont I served on the Cross-Cutting Technical Work Group of the Governor's Climate Change Commission. Prior to the polycrises of climate change; biodiversity losses; and social justice, human health, and well-being becoming the most pressing and urgent problems on the planet, I co-chaired an international communications working group on Acid Rain for the New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers Conference.
My teaching includes college courses on social marketing, sustainability, as well as teaching six semesters of the Senior Practicum in the Environmental Studies Program at Middlebury College. I spent four semesters co-teaching The Perennial Turn, as well as three semesters teaching my own Environmental Studies course Approaching Sustainability from the Roots. In the fall of 2022, I went back inside the nonprofit system to experiment with a new position, Communications Director for the Northeast Wilderness Trust. I am currently working on a book project while I begin to accept new clients to support the individual and the collective through community engagement, and coalition and strategy building to address the polycrises mentioned above.
The ground I cherish. I have raised and continue to be raised by two amazing humans in their 20s who are pursuing their dreams and manifesting their visions. I am in awe of them as they create beauty in these complicated times. I share my life with Barry who can sing to me any time, any where. We live on five wild acres with a pollinator garden we take no credit for on a ridge, near a lake in Central Vermont.