The Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) recently asked me a few questions about what I think about stuff and things, and then actually printed them! I guess I'm still surprised when professional- type folks seem interested in what I think.

…

There are certain things that have a particular timing, pace or rhythm that is not negotiable… things like sunsets, tides, seasons, and in today’s case, clarity and healing.

I’ve taken some time off from teaching due to an RA flare…

Today is the 1st day of Kwanzaa!

If you don’t already know about Kwanzaa, I encourage you to check it out and maybe think of folding a bit more meaning and purpose into the last week of the year…

It's that time of the year… I could remind you to slow down, to take breaks, to savor time spent with friends and loved ones… but that’s stuff you already know.

Here’s something happening that you might not know: t…

I had planned to be out of town this weekend, but at the last minute, I changed my mind. Yes, I could have cleaned my house (I hate coming home to a messy house), packed my car, and driven to…

Lately, I've found myself feeling as if the whole world is burning down around me. There's a whole lot of uncertainty, anxiety and suffering happening out there, from the personal to the political. The things I got accustomed to rely…

"Capitalism is straight up  behaving like a suicide machine. What would it look like if we rewired this suicide machine to be part of the process of healing ecosystems and supporting life?" 

This quote was taken from a conversation between…

Resting is essential for optimal learning to occur.

Yes, you can just push through and keep chugging along... but if these classes have taught you anything, then you know about the nature of diminishing returns. That's why I schedule…

“What if water wasn’t just a chemical substance, but alive, a being with agency in its own right? Surely an absurd proposition from the perspective of materialism, which believes only those with big brains can feel and think – but…

Whenever you think you know something with certainty... think again. The world is full of nuance. Like a plume of smoke or eddies in a stream, everything is constantly moving and changing and flowing into infinite possibilities.

With infinite possibilities…

One of my current favorite writer/philosophers is Bayo Akomolafe. He has this thing about doors and cracks that has me thinking...

Doors grant access, they are predictable and do not interfere with the logic of the system. Cracks, on…

If you want to reimagine the world you need to reimagine how you are in the world.

That's what these classes are about. Thinking big and wide and deep, and then acting super-locally through self-awareness, exploration, and our connection to…

Winter sunrises are magical.

First of all, they happen late enough that I have time to get out to see them happen.

Second, the gradual growing and emergence of light builds it's own sense of suspense, turning to awe once…

"Cost of living" implies that simply existing has a financial burden. It normalizes the idea that basic human needs—such as shelter, food, healthcare, and education—are commodities that must be bought, rather than fundamental rights. In a more just and ideal…

I started reading a book called Hospicing Modernity by Vanessa Machado de Oliveira, which is fundamentally affecting how I think about things... in a fascinating and positive way. It is making me question how our culture educates and teaches us…

I have been distracted lately with taking on more work, more social activities, agreeing to more volunteer tasks, plus a new puppy! Being constantly busy can be fun for a while and wonderfully distracting, and eventually exhausting, leading to lack…

“If you don't change direction, you may end up where you are headed.”

Featuring Charles Eisenstein, Directed & Edited by Ian McKenzie

So I recently returned from the annual Landscape Architecture Conference, and I now know that Halloween weekend in Minneapolis is a Thing! I also learned a bit about how your internal attitude changes your world.

The conference is driven by…

Living in a body with RA has taught me a lot about the limits of force and the usefulness of surrender. 

I used to think surrender meant losing, failure, quitting, a total collapse of will and effort… something to be…

I saw this on a protest sign this morning. The protest was in the next town over, in Manlius, NY, which is 15 minutes from my home.

1^st Response:  feeling the wave of shock and fear crawl through…

Contrary to what most folks think, listening is not a passive intellectual exercise. It's an active, embodied skill, that get stronger with practice. 

Our culture values talking over listening. We attend to those who speak up, we praise those who…

The world is changing around us at an alarmingly fast rate. 20 years ago, I was drawn to landscape architecture because I believed through this discipline, I could help protect nature and connect people to the environment and each other. 

…

 "I am going to be your last teacher. Not because I'll be the greatest teacher you may ever encounter, but because from me, you will learn how to learn. When you learn how to learn, you will realize that there…

I don't know about you but I've got a number of balls in the air. I can juggle a bit, but I'm not great at it, and I also have a limited amount of energy so I need to be…

So, as an American person living inside a light brown body for 5 decades, I have experienced innumerable incidents of bias, micro-aggressions, and overt racism, and I've also been accused of not being black or Latina enough, and I have…