My Journey

Finding meaning in life, creating a just and peaceful world, healing and wholeness, and connection with the natural world have been continual themes throughout my life.

As a child, I spent my summers in the woods and waters of northern Michigan.  On a trip to Isle Royale when I was seven, I fell in love with Lake Superior, and in 1980 made my home by its shores.  These forests, streams, waterfalls, rocks, and the great lake continue to ground my spirit on a daily basis.

At the age of twenty, I developed a life-threatening heart condition which drastically altered my life.  It gave me a deep understanding of mortality and the preciousness of life, but also raised in me questions of meaning and purpose.

In college, I studied philosophy, hoping to find the answers I was seeking there, and discovered a deep affinity with the works of Albert Camus, whose ethic has guided my understanding of how to live decently in the world and prompted an ever-deepening search for justice.  I went on to pursue the study of political thought and ethics in graduate school.  Along the way, I became involved in the environmental, peace, co-op, and feminist movements.

As a young faculty member at the University of Minnesota Duluth, I taught political philosophy and Women’s Studies, and was privileged to be part of the founding of the Women’s Studies program at UMD.  At the same time, I was able to be a part of the growing feminist movement in Duluth, where so many ground-breaking feminist organizations have been established. I found community through women’s music, and have been making music with the same friends for over thirty years.  In the works of Adrienne Rich, Audre Lorde, Susan Griffin and so many others, I found my truths given voice.

Being with my mother in her dying and death, I learned the profound power of grief, but also my capacity to be with people in their dying.  I became a volunteer with hospice, through which I have been honored to share in this sacred passage with many and their loved ones.

In my thirties, I became a mother to a beautiful son.  Motherhood has been the most rewarding experience of my life, opening in me a capacity for deep and unconditional love. Always an adventure, a challenge, an opportunity for growth, it is a source of deep and abiding connection and inspiration.

When my son was a year old, I suffered a cardiac arrest, which ultimately led to my receiving a heart transplant a few years later.  The years in between brought many lessons of their own, which I eventually wrote about in Journey of the Heart: Spiritual Insights on the Road to a Transplant.  Writing that book opened many new opportunities in my life, as I began giving lectures and workshops on spirituality, and taught courses on women, religion, and spirituality at UMD.

In the years since, I have continued my work as a teacher, scholar, researcher, administrator, author, and activist.  I have been privileged to teach and learn from committed and engaged students, who have gone on to do so much to bring healing and justice to the world.  I am grateful for all the ways they have informed and enriched my life.

I retired from UMD in the spring of 2017, and have gone on to new pursuits.  My own life experiences, my work with students and in activist circles, my studies of the histories and lives of oppressed peoples, as well as my study of health and healing, have shown me the vast extent of trauma and its effects on health and well-being.  I have been trained in both Somatic Experiencing(TM) Trauma Therapy and Indigenous Focusing-Oriented Therapy and Complex Trauma.

My spiritual direction practice coalesces the knowledge, experience, and training I’ve had over the past forty years.  I am excited to be able to be a companion and spiritual midwife to people who are seeking their spiritual path and truths, as well as facilitate healing in those who have experienced trauma.

I began writing my blog, “Gleanings,” in the fall of 2021, and since then also have become a regular contributor to the Feminism and Religion blog. Exploring the F-word in religion at the intersection of scholarship, activism, and community. (feminismandreligion.com) I also co-hosted and contributed to the Spiritual Directors International webinar on feminist perspectives on spiritual direction: Feminist Perspectives on Spiritual Companionship and Direction - Self-paced online course - SDI Companions.

When I was retiring from UMD, and grieving the loss of a place to do my work in the world, a dear friend said to me that I would continue to do my work, but now with the wider community. I am delighted to be doing exactly that.

Publications

Books

Making Waves: Grassroots Feminism in Duluth and Superior. St. Paul:  Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2016.

Rebellious Feminism: Camus's Ethic of Rebellion and Feminist Thought. New York and London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.

Journey of the Heart: Spiritual Insights on the Road to a Transplant. Duluth, MN:  Pfeifer-Hamilton, 1997.

Liberty, Equality, Sorority: Origins and Interpretations of Feminist Thought: Frances Wright, Margaret Fuller, and Sarah Grimké. New York: Carlson Publishing, 1994.

Sarah Grimké's Letters on the Equality of the Sexes and Other Essays, Edited, Annotated, and with an Introduction by Elizabeth Ann Bartlett. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988.

Chapters in Books

“Feminist Parenting as the Practice of Non-domination: Lessons from Adrienne Rich, Audre Lorde, Sara Ruddick, and Iris Marion Young,” in Heather Jackson, Lynn Comerford, and Kandee Kosier, eds., Feminist  Parenting, Toronto: Canada: Demeter Press, 2016.

"Beyond Either/Or:  Justice and Care in the Ethics of Albert Camus," in Eve Browning Cole and Susan Coultrap-McQuin, Explorations in Feminist Ethics:  Theory and Practice. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1992.

Articles

“bell hooks: Feminism as the Transformational Work of Love,” Women, Gender, and Families of Color. Online Special Edition: “Honoring bell hooks’ Legacy: Humanist, Feminist, Public Intellectual, Social Critic, and Educator”. January 13, 2023.

“Women’s Studies: 30 Years of Transforming the Academy,” IDS Newsletter, Fall, 2012: 1-5.

“Encountering the Dark Mother in the Woods,” Sacred Journey 61 (3), Summer 2010: 31-35

"Take Back the Night," Minnesota NOW Times, Summer 2003: 8

 "Aftershocks," Minnesota Medicine 85 (4), April 2002: 16-18.

  "Make of Our Hearts One Heart," Minnesota Medicine 84 (12), December 2001: 14-17.

  "Holy Ground," Sacred Journey 52 (4), August 2001: 25-29.

  "Stand Upright: The Sacred Journey of Sarah Grimké," Sacred Journey 51 (3), June 2000: 28-34.

  "Spiritual Issues Confronting Seriously Ill Patients," Guidance and Counseling,  Special Issue, Spring 2000: 38-42.

   "Wonder in the Classroom," Thought and Action, Fall 1999: 47-56.

   "Gratitude: The Heart of Grace," Sacred Journey 49 (6), December 1998: 37-40.

   "Liberty, Equality, Sorority:  The Contradictions and Integrity of Feminist Thought," Women's Studies International Forum, 9 (5) October 1986.

   "The Contradiction Between Liberalism and Feminism -- Or Why Ayn Rand Is Not the Ultimate Feminist," Quarterly Journal of Ideology, Special Issue, June 1984.

Publication Links

Amazon Author Page

Minnesota Historical Society Press: Making Waves

Palgrave MacMillan: Rebellious Feminism

Demeter Press: Feminist Parenting

Memberships

Spiritual Directors International (https://www.sdiworld.org/)

Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute (https://traumahealing.org/)