1. Some might call me an Xennial, but I put myself solidly in Gen X territory.

2. Some things I love:

cedar trees, birch, lakes, swimming in the sea, gnarled branches, hammocks, fuzzy socks, moss, lichen, chipmunks, softness, warmth, fiddleheads, silence, bird song, ink, charcoal, cuddles, small power tools, ratcheting screwdrivers, wind patterns in the sand, mountain ranges, silliness, healers, laughter, meandering conversation, prisms.

3. I was born and raised in Portland, Oregon and now live in a small town an hour outside of Boston in Central Massachusetts.

I have also called home: Washington state, California, New York, Virginia (DC Metro Area), Italy.

I love home, but my most electric and creative self comes alive during travel. Some places I’ve savored: Benin, Egypt, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain.

4. I am very indecisive. I am also very intuitive. The combination of being afraid of commitment (indecisiveness) and following my gut (intuition) can lead down some interesting paths.

5. Sun/Moon/Mercury: Cancer | Rising: Virgo
Translation: My Cancerian superpower is nurturing space for creativity to bloom in myself and others. My Virgo superpower is being ruthless (but kind) in editing, and organizing systems (that are best left for someone else to maintain).

6. My full name roughly translates to a poem:
child
of the tree
of the sea
of the rock

I discovered this by accident in my early 40s, and I love how closely it aligns with where my artistic interests lie.

8. If I were a millionaire, I would invest in trees, native planting, homegrown edible gardens, and the arts. Since I am not a millionaire, I invest in trees, native planting, homegrown edible gardens, and the arts.

Same thing, smaller scale. 

9. Talking about myself makes me uncomfortable, so I talk about things that matter to me instead. Can you tell?

10. Literally 99 percent of what I know I learned from plants, mark making, writing, and noticing the little things that most people seem to bypass. Like worms. And little bee battles. And ants carrying their dead. And the way trees reach out for air and sun.

That’s the stuff of life…

11. I love, love, love the play of light and shadow. If I’m walking and suddenly I stop, whether in the house or out and about, it’s probably an arresting display of light and shadow. That, or I forgot something and am about to retrace my steps…

12. I tend to be time-blind but season-aware. The calendar is almost meaningless to me.

For that reason, I forget a lot of birthdays and holidays. Which I sort of feel bad about, but I mostly accept as part of who I am now. (After fighting against it with the best of intentions and a lot of shame for years and years.)

13. This used to be a 25 Things list x Bingo Card. That made number 13 a FREE SPACE! What is free to me? Abolition. The work did not end in 1865. I look to Angela Y. Davis and bell hooks for shared language around the current abolitionist movement. Melt ICE. End policing. Dissolve the military. Invest in community programming, food, shelter, health, and systems of care.

For me, it is ultimately world-building. What could be more exciting to awaken and encourage artivism? We are ending all forms of violence, coercion and surveillance and supplanting it with community care and creative expression. Yes!!

14. My voter registration is Green-Rainbow Party and I will always vow to vote my conscience or not at all. The existing political binary is harmful to the people and to the planet. We need third parties and wise councils. As is credited to Chief Seattle, “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors. We borrow it from our children.”

15. I like the rush of feeling moderately afraid when trying something new and then doing it anyway. The “doing it anyway” often takes a long time… sometimes years. But when I get there, the sense of growth and unknowing delights me.

16. I work part-time at my local library. It looks like a castle! I’m in the reference section, helping people register for free community offerings, use the computers, and find books they might like to read. I also organize the monthly art shows.

This all makes me very happy.

17. I was diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis when I was 19. I experienced eczema (eternal itchiness and discomfort) for most of my 30s. My auto-immune system is not kind to me. I do not remember ever feeling energetic. Just because I look young doesn’t mean I have energy or that my body feels pain-free and healthy. I get so tired of people telling me to savor health and vitality that I have never felt. Please people, let’s not make assumptions or judgements about how others feel or identify!

18. The minute someone asks me my “favorite” anything, I freeze. Superlatives shut me down.

19. Some authors I love: AA Milne, Mary Oliver, Sadeqa Johnson, Veronique Tadjo, Robin Wall Kimmerer.

20. Some genres I love: historical fiction, poetry, experimental essay, multi-generational (epic) fiction, memoir, graphic novels, mystery, modernized fable.

21. I bake a mean loaf of sourdough. I don’t even like bread, but it is gooooood. I learned this when I asked my family for a bread-making book and they bought me a sourdough bread-making book without realizing it. After some initial fear and resistance, and a couple months of trial and error, I got the hang of it!

22. I am an alum of the University of Washington, with a dual degree in Business and Communications, and a Certificate in International Studies in Business. Because my programs tended to be heavily left-brained, I sprinkled in at least one unrelated-to-my-major imperative-to-my-balance creative class every quarter: theater, art, kid lit, etc. If I could be anything in the world, I would be an eternal student. I looooove the buzz of a college campus and the intensity of learning something new all the time.

23. I picked UW without ever having been to Seattle because I fell in love with two things: pictures of the cherry blossoms in the quad and the number of libraries on campus.

24. Here’s what I wanted to be when I was a kid: a veterinarian by day, a theater actress by night, a novelist (writing from an attic room overlooking trees) by weekend. And a mamma. My dreams were very, very busy.

25. Here’s what I am: a mamma to identical twins, a guardian to a dog. A professional artist and poet whose studio looks out at the trees. An occasional speaker and teacher. A slow and steady gardener stewarding the land. A person who augments her indie creative career with library and university work. 

Still busy. But very, very glad for the breadth and fullness of what life can be.