About

You ask: “What do we build?”

But let’s start somewhere else. Let’s ask the next question.

The next question is the domain of both resilience and creativity. It invites us to try on alternative approaches. By asking the next question, we return to a place of cultivation, of generativity, even when (especially when?) we believe we have gotten ourselves hopelessly stuck.

Let’s ask this together:

How will we build into our way the very values we want to bring to life in the world?

How will we embody what we dare to imagine?

What I Do

I design rich, active learning environments and facilitate conversations that draw on the collaborative capacity of people and teams. My diverse approaches are grounded in reflective practice as we come together to articulate our purpose and the values driving us. I seek to cultivate the relationship-oriented leadership skills of students and teams, engage questions about our shared future, and create opportunities to put innovative ideas to work. With a commitment to mentoring emerging leaders, my current focus is on improving educational equity and drawing voices from the margins to the center of every critical conversation.

Where I Do It

Writer, dancer, leader, learning designer. For much of my career, I have worked in higher education and in experiential learning environments. I serve as a Unitarian Universalist lay minister as well the host and emcee the monthly poetry/spoken word showcase at Epicure Café in Fairfax, Virginia. As poet and founding slammistress of Vermont’s first poetry slam, I have shared my work in venues all over the U.S. I also write on topics of equity and inclusion in higher education.

Mentions

“Poetry and Politics: How One Freshman is Turning Spoken Word into Activism” by Dixie Downing, Schar School of Policy and Government

“Here’s how graduate students can truly take advantage of their summer break” by Beth Luberecki, Washington Post Express, May 6, 2019.

41 thoughts on “About”

      1. you know, i still think of you now and then, and it always makes me smile. i have some really good memories of time spent with you, and i’ve always wanted to be in contact with you again. one of my all-time favourite photos of my time in slam is the one of you smiling a huge glowing smile as you perform in front of a packed house in chico. thems was the days, sister.

        so, my email is bigpoppae@brokenword.org, and i would love to share stories of the last, oh, ten years? hit me up!

  3. I have nominated you for The Very Inspiring Blog Award because your blog inspires me!
    If you choose to accept this award, here are the requirements:

    1. Display the award logo somewhere on the blog.

    (image: http://patticlark.wordpress.com/2012/05/18/very-inspiring-blogger-award/)

    2. Link back to the blog of the person who nominated you.

    3. State seven things about yourself.

    4. Nominate 15 other bloggers for the award and provide links to their blogs.

    5. Notify those bloggers that they have been nominated and of the award’s requirements.

    Reply

  4. …saw your playing at marriage comment and related strongly to that. haven’t seen anyone else express that. a tricky aspect of singularity pour moi as well.
    came here out of curiosity RE u and got fed by your writing. u b amazing.
    thx Rascal
    (iz fun u got a love Bug)
    [u should be gettin’ paid fer ur writin’]
    {paid well, that is}

    Reply

  10. I just happened upon your blog by chance because I have a blog on Word Press. Well, its not actually a blog per say, its a place for me to collect various journal entires and autobiographical short stories for agents and those involved in my world somehow to view freely. …anyway, your work is fantastic. I dont usually read through blogs of any sort nor do I take the time to look at multiple pages of any site come to think of it. So….thank you for your words.

    Reply

  14. I’m glad you dropped to like one of my poems, because now I get to follow yours. Thank you! You write beautifully and your poetry merits the awards. Great project for the soul, too. Looking forward to reading all of your work.

    Reply

  16. one thing i feel guilty about is depriving my wife of the chance to be a mother. if our marriage weren’t such a mess, i’d consider adopting. but i know that any child of hers or ours would have to contend with a serious amount of religious indoctrination, and wouldn’t want to put him or her through all that. i hope you’ve got a decent support network to help you raise your child. i imagine it can be a tough gig at times.

    Reply

    1. I appreciate that you’ve put some thought into whether or not you want to be/should be parents. We are not entitled to children no matter how well plumbed we are. It is such a huge decision. And there are a thousand ways other than parenting to be connected, to serve, to be part of family and community.

      Reply

      1. well that was easy. really, reading this evening i notice the terrific tensions you bring to a vortex of language – what I tend to I guess “feel for” in reading – that the breadth (or many aspects) of our experiencing occur meshed. It is noteworthy.

  21. I really appreciate these bits and pieces of the day to day that you frame so well for us to take in. thanks for the reminders of how humane we can be despite it all, cheers, dirk

    Reply

    1. Paying attention is both simple and hard. It seems to be the source of gratitude. I usually want to find the big lesson or the judgment in things. It’s good to remember to look closely at what’s right here. Thanks for reading and for the words!

      Reply

  23. I know you’ll never take me up on this, but I so admire your blog, and I nominated you to participate in a quotation challenge. Even if you don’t participate, here’s the link to my post explaining it:

    https://dearlilyjune.wordpress.com/2015/10/20/in-others-words-in-which-its-a-very-belated-day-three-of-the-three-day-quotation-challenge/

    And here’s what I said about your blog (in case you don’t want to go to mine to read it!):

    The author of Smirk Pretty–I’ve rarely been as inspired reading blogs as I have been reading her 100 Things I Can project. Again, as she references texts regularly on her site, this should be more a yawn than a stretch for her.

    Reply

    1. So strange. I logged out to look as a user, and you’re right — the familiar follow button is gone! I’ve added another button in the sidebar so it should be clear now. Thanks so much!

      Reply
  29. Pingback: Blogger Highlight-Smirk Pretty

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