Happiness, knowledge, not in another place but this place, not for another hour but this hour…
- Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass
The Practice. If you look closely at the photo below I am with my taiji family in the space between, the empty center. I began the practice of Tai Chi Chuan nearly ten years ago. Committing to a contemplative practice engaged my mind, body, and spirit while rooting me to "this place and this hour". My life's work is becoming an emergent living practice that flourishes because I lead by following.
My story begins with a naive, yet noble ambition; I was going to save lives, and maybe the world.
Pattern Hunting. The world was always showing me patterns from the time I can remember. I could viscerally feel connections between the material and the spiritual, and yet I had no words for those feelings and knowings. What does one do with that? I could not narrow down to one field of study, so chose the interdisciplinary field of Communication Studies, and proceeded to get two degrees. At first saving children from television and mass media was the motivator; saving the innocent from manufactured realities with too much power and a tentacular force driven by technology that had the potential to run away with itself. Was the medium the message or the message the medium? Questions still entirely relevant today. By graduate school the work was to save non-human beings from human beings. Growing up I spent every summer with hills and forests, and along the oceans' edges. I was never inside until I was forced back into my wooden school chair each September. Capitalism has wielded its sword across the globe and even as a child I could only see and feel injustices mounting. I bore witness to the collective grief over the assassinations of civil rights leaders. I wanted to save lives and the planet, as well as generate peace and love for all beings. I couldn't separate me from them. I now understand that I am an empath and took it all in personally. I kept reading and studying. My master's thesis at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication 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. With three decades studying and working in environmental communications as a cultural translator and story teller, my most recent work is in higher education where I am committed to mentoring students on contemplative practices and community-connected learning. After grad school I spent time as a journalist learning to write, report and shape stories. I am: the "client" working inside government and the non-profit management world; and, the "consultant" offering up strategic communication strategies to build coalitions and design stakeholder processes to shape public policy and design programs. My work has resulted in 100's of publications, white papers and market research studies, as well as multi-media reports and events for 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 public affairs 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 Climate Change becoming the most pressing and urgent problem 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 currently co-teach The Perennial Turn, teach my own course Approaching Sustainability from the Roots both of which are in situated in the Environmental Studies Program. I teach Tai Chi Chuan: Practice and Philosophy and I work with the grant-funded project New Perennials at Middlebury College.
Service to Community. One of my guiding principles is to be of service to my community. I am on the Board of Directors at the Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op where I chair the Communications Committee and serve on the Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) Committee. My place is New England where I live on the unceded lands of the Abenaki and Mohicans.
Where does your story begin? Where is it today? What guides you?
Let's explore you together.
My story begins with a naive, yet noble ambition; I was going to save lives, and maybe the world.
Pattern Hunting. The world was always showing me patterns from the time I can remember. I could viscerally feel connections between the material and the spiritual, and yet I had no words for those feelings and knowings. What does one do with that? I could not narrow down to one field of study, so chose the interdisciplinary field of Communication Studies, and proceeded to get two degrees. At first saving children from television and mass media was the motivator; saving the innocent from manufactured realities with too much power and a tentacular force driven by technology that had the potential to run away with itself. Was the medium the message or the message the medium? Questions still entirely relevant today. By graduate school the work was to save non-human beings from human beings. Growing up I spent every summer with hills and forests, and along the oceans' edges. I was never inside until I was forced back into my wooden school chair each September. Capitalism has wielded its sword across the globe and even as a child I could only see and feel injustices mounting. I bore witness to the collective grief over the assassinations of civil rights leaders. I wanted to save lives and the planet, as well as generate peace and love for all beings. I couldn't separate me from them. I now understand that I am an empath and took it all in personally. I kept reading and studying. My master's thesis at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication 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. With three decades studying and working in environmental communications as a cultural translator and story teller, my most recent work is in higher education where I am committed to mentoring students on contemplative practices and community-connected learning. After grad school I spent time as a journalist learning to write, report and shape stories. I am: the "client" working inside government and the non-profit management world; and, the "consultant" offering up strategic communication strategies to build coalitions and design stakeholder processes to shape public policy and design programs. My work has resulted in 100's of publications, white papers and market research studies, as well as multi-media reports and events for 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 public affairs 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 Climate Change becoming the most pressing and urgent problem 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 currently co-teach The Perennial Turn, teach my own course Approaching Sustainability from the Roots both of which are in situated in the Environmental Studies Program. I teach Tai Chi Chuan: Practice and Philosophy and I work with the grant-funded project New Perennials at Middlebury College.
Service to Community. One of my guiding principles is to be of service to my community. I am on the Board of Directors at the Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op where I chair the Communications Committee and serve on the Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) Committee. My place is New England where I live on the unceded lands of the Abenaki and Mohicans.
Where does your story begin? Where is it today? What guides you?
Let's explore you together.