I haven’t posted here since 2018. Much has happened since then, both in my life and across the globe.
So much has been unfolding… In this post, I will share some of what I have been learning, working on and discovering. I will also share a bit of what is to come…
In the past 6 years, my career path became more defined to a specific sector- regional food systems- as always an entry point for engaging with community. I went to grad school and obtained a Master’s of Sustainability Science with a concentration in Agriculture and Sustainable Food Systems. I studied how communities relate to food, how our global industrial food system has impacted how we organize in community, and the impacts and fallout we see in our ability to care for and nourish each other when the power has been given to larger forces that are not looking out for our neighbors and loved ones. I learned about systems and tools for building resilient, regional, community food systems. I spent years building strategic plans, designing workshops and engaging the nuance of our food systems, exploring the scale at which resources, economy, and society come together to find balance and sustainability. I then went on to run a non-profit focused on alleviating hunger while a global pandemic increased food insecurity. During this time, I saw the important role that story telling and leadership have in transformational change. Through talking about the people we served as our neighbors and encouraging the community to be there for and with each other, I saw that people want to build community, people want to collaborate, collectively impact and build support for their neighbors. It was inspiring to see people come together to create more infrastructure, to prepare food for each other, to drive food to their neighbors door, to come together to plan for the needs of their community. I was at the heart of a bustling, thriving community. People were motivated by caring for each other. People were motivated by each others needs.
Love is a Response to Need
In the past two years, I began to participate in a community/retreat center focused on healing the body, mind and spirit. One of the things they teach and practice there is focused on the Skills and Principles of Loving. One such principle is Love is a Response to Need. If there is a need that is expressed, people are able to show up with love. If we don’t express our needs, how can people show up to meet them? As I found this place and began doing deeper work on myself, I began to connect the dots and explore what it looks like to show up for each other and ourselves in the sector of our emotional resources. When it comes to doing cultural change work, doesn’t it always come back to caring about each other?
For me, it’s always been about “we need each other”. My main fascination with Anthropology has been to understand our desire for belonging. Isn’t that the central idea behind community? Behind how the ecosystem functions? We need each other. In child abuse prevention work, it was that we need each other to build social constructs that protect children, to stand up against abuse, to become more aware and educated, to engage with our children. In food systems work, we need each other to share resources, to teach skills, to grow food for each other, to support each other. In social justice issues, we need each other to show up in understanding, compassion and willingness to learn and change how we relate to each other. We need each other.
Now 6 years later, I have come back to the heart of the lesson that was there all along…
We Need Each Other
There is so much impact we can have when we show up as the declaration “We need each other!” There is power in being a part of, in belonging, in caring, in co-creating a world where my needs and your needs matter. We need each other to show up in all the aspects of our human journey. We need each other when we are afraid, we need each other when we are facing grief, we need each other to celebrate, we need each other to heal. We need each other to create a world that works for all of us.
What’s Now? What’s Next?
I want to bring these conversations, truths and opportunities alive in our communities. This is what AnthroPerspectives has always been about- conversations that help us connect to ourselves, each other and to our role as co-creators of the world we live in. So I am revamping this blog. I am also launching the AnthroPerspectives Podcast to get into all sorts of conversations about our humanity. To tell and listen to stories that create an impact on each other. More details coming soon…
For now, as far as “career”, I am a non-profit and food systems consultant working to build capacity within several organizations. I am always open to opportunities for collaboration. I also run community workshops focused on health, wellness, and community building through an organization called Mindful Community in Saratoga Springs, NY. And I am starting a training this fall to become a somatic practitioner/embodiment coach. There is a lot percolating and transforming in me. I will definitely write about some of it here, but for now I want to say the following:
I am committed to and enlivened by creating space for all of us to explore and play, space for healing and joy, space to shape the world according to our need for each other. I want to create opportunities to connect people with themselves, the earth, their food, each other and to the heart of life itself. I am a catalyst for transformation, a builder of connections and a fosterer of community. I am so committed to the journey we are all on with each other.
Over the years, I have journeyed both personally and professionally through various aspects of human culture and systems. From writing, to ethnographic research, to cultural change work, to food systems work, to social justice work, to embodiment work…to my journey of life through pain, healing, relationships, singing, dancing and being- it’s all connected. It’s all centered around engaging with our journey as humans, what shapes us, motivates us and connects us to each other. There is an orientation in me around the impact we have as brothers and sisters of life, as co-creators of our shared journey. I look forward to unearthing the threads of how it all weaves together as I continue to offer myself in service to community.
Stay tuned…
