Happiness, knowledge, not in another place but this place, not for another hour but this hour…
- Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass
My Bio in Brief.
I am a disrupter, translator and bridge-builder. To be human is to be cloaked in skin that gives me a pass in this patriarchal archetized civilization. My inquiries are rooted in the "we" of unity and holism. I question why the colonized human extracts all the nutrients from themselves and from all Nature. In addition to the places my mind and body grieve and find peace in unison, I am located in Vermont where I serve: as an advisor, a tai chi chuan student and teacher, and always a student of Nature. I study Daoism for its empty vessel that holds the paradoxes of this era. My most important job has been to raise two humans who are working in service to change the story. My always is to create as many ripples as possible in this privileged western life to which I was born. I also consult as well as teach courses as a lecturer at Middlebury College in Vermont, where my nickname is "both/and" and where I bring mycelia social and metaphysical networks to my esteemed students and colleagues. I can be found puzzling on and embracing the mystery in the woods, in the garden, on a boat, and in any water.
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 I am still learning how to live with this name. It is easy to lean out and deny a destiny built upon hope. These fraught and complex times mean many of us are leaning out, away from each other and further away from our kin in the ocean, soils and forests. To lean in means discomfort and grief. That is where contemplative practices are essential. A decade ago as my environmental work had me living like Cassandra and Sisyphus, I was fortunate to find a practice that showed me how to remember to inhabit my body and plant roots back into the earth before I took care of everyone and everything else around me. I found my beginner's mind and imagination as a Tai Chi student and it saved my life. Tai Chi helped me heal the fissure between my heart and mind, which then meant I discovered my spirit. I began to root into "this place and this hour". Tai Chi 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. My connection between the quantum and the physical was visceral, 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 talk back with their eyes, sounds, and touch. 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. 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 worked as a newspaper journalist where I learned to write, report and shape stories. Mostly I have spent my days living the praxis--the intersection of theory and practice. I can be found inside the system and outside the system, and my favorite place is in the classroom creating community-connected learning 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 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. I recently spent time inside the nonprofit system to establish a new program as Communications Director for the Northeast Wilderness Trust. I am currently working on a book project and am back both consulting and teaching at Middlebury College.
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. My connection between the quantum and the physical was visceral, 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 talk back with their eyes, sounds, and touch. 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. 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 worked as a newspaper journalist where I learned to write, report and shape stories. Mostly I have spent my days living the praxis--the intersection of theory and practice. I can be found inside the system and outside the system, and my favorite place is in the classroom creating community-connected learning 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 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. I recently spent time inside the nonprofit system to establish a new program as Communications Director for the Northeast Wilderness Trust. I am currently working on a book project and am back both consulting and teaching at Middlebury College.
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.