Here is a little bit about my background: I was born in Golden Valley, Minnesota and have lived in Minneapolis most of my life except for seasonal stints in the mountains of Montana, Washington, and North Carolina. I was raised Catholic, played soccer and basketball religiously, and read books like Victor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning throughout high school. I have a degree in Psychology and have been an educator all of my life. This teaching career has spanned the levels, getting to engage in the subject of Psychology with high schoolers, storytelling as a librarian with elementary school students, to my present role as a World Religion teacher with middle schoolers! I am a year-round commuter biker (yes, even through snowy and arctic Minnesota winters!), and in my free time I enjoy community singing, Tai Chi, wilderness adventuring, and growing a home and garden with my partner in South Minneapolis.
I joined the Midwest II Diamond Approach in 2007 and participated in the Ridhwan International Seminary Next Generation starting in 2012. I was ordained as a Ridhwan Teacher in 2024.
Since as early as I can remember, I felt a soulful stirring and attraction to the spiritual aspects of life. My Catholic upbringing certainly influenced that, as did the Lutheran college and outdoor camp I was a counselor at as a young adult. Early in my teaching career, I was invited to participate in one of Parker Palmer’s teacher formation groups. He is a Quaker sociologist and poet, and he created a method using the wisdom of the Quaker tradition to support teachers in bringing their whole selves to the classroom in order to better engage the whole selves of the students within the learning process. This experience awakened a level of soulfulness within me that involved an integration of my inner and outer life. My interests later turned toward a program offered by the Cultural Wellness Center where we learned various mindfulness practices. When I found myself resonating with those, one of the facilitators pointed me toward the Diamond Approach Midwest Group II, which I joined in 2007.
What really resonates for me within this particular path is the inner process of discovery and understanding which illuminates the truth of who I am and the world in which I live (and beyond!) I am also drawn to the inherent kindness that arises with the sincere and open-eyed curiosity of the heart that this teaching, the practices, and a community of fellow travelers activates. It is a kind of befriending that allows anything to be explored with compassion, support, and clarity as we make our sacred way homeward.