About
I am an award-winning writer with a passion for changing the modern story of nature. In my work as a spiritual mentor, I help people reconnect with the Living Source inside themselves and all of nature.
I received a PhD in religious studies from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA, and have taught graduate-level environmental humanities, feminist studies, critical thinking, and thesis writing at Prescott College in Prescott, AZ, and Naropa University in Boulder, CO.
Nature advocacy started for me decades ago in Oakland, CA, where I founded a small nonprofit land trust to preserve a nearby creek. I have cleaned and restored various urban creeks, fed baby birds in wildlife rehab, propagated native plants for reforestation, and cofounded a local rights-of-nature group.
My first book, Kissed by a Fox: And Other Stories of Friendship in Nature (Counterpoint Press, 2012), won the WILLA Award in Creative Nonfiction. Tamed by a Bear: Coming Home to Nature-Spirit-Self (Counterpoint Press, 2017) is a spiritual memoir of my first year of listening to Spirit’s voice through shamanic-style journeys. The working title of my next book is Called by the Sea: Living in Connection with a Living Earth.
My partner, Tim, and I live on Maui, where we are delighted and sustained by the life in the sea. Maui and the other Hawaiian islands were illegally seized from the Hawaiian people, and we support efforts to restore Hawaiian sovereignty here. We are committed to mālama ʻāina, caring for the land.
Nature is personal; it is a place where trees or birds might say hello and where the great community of spirit includes lizard, lion, and lichen as well as the rocks and land that shape and nourish us all.