I was encouraged a month or so ago to run for the board of WORT 89.9fm, a community radio station that’s called Madison, Wisconsin home for fifty years now. I served on the board before, from 2011 to 2014, but after some thought decided I’d be willing to serve again. With that, I began the process of filling out the application for a listener/sponsor seat on the board and arranging with Nate, the news director, my opportunity to be interviewed to share my experience and thoughts on WORT’s future. I was looking at the proposed questions earlier today and it got me thinking.

One of the questions on the list is– Do you have experience serving on a non-profit board, or in another leadership role? It made me laugh. I’m a 54 year old organizer, activist, educator. Where do I begin with a question like that? It made sense twenty-five or thirty years ago for me, but today there’s so much history to share and not the time in any quick radio interview to do it. It reminded me too of friends encouraging me some years ago to share more of my history and maybe write my memoir or autobiography of my life as an activist/organizer/educator. Well, this isn’t a book, but it seemed a good time to share a few of my favorite experiences along the way. I hope that readers of this blog will ask questions, share their experience and use the things I’ve done to build their own dreams.

I began to really become conscious of the problems in the world as a student at UW-Stevens Point in the early 1990’s. This farm girl was suddenly in a bigger world and it became clear that life wasn’t fair. Early on I became the Gender Issues Director for the Student Government Association. I began to see the extent of the problems being faced by women like myself on campus, how many were being raped, feeling unsafe, and dealing with discrimination at work and in the classroom. I also got to work alongside the Multicultural Issues Director. My eyes began to open to issues faced by students of Color, people with disabilities, and members of the LGBTQ community. Racism, sexism, hetero-sexism, and ableism where all there. Once my eyes were opened there was no closing them again.

I got involved with lots of groups and organizing efforts on campus, across campuses, and with the larger community. Environmental Council was one of the first. Each spring break we’d walk roughly 200 miles from Stevens Point to Glen Haven, Wisconsin raising funds for raptor rehabilitation through the Eagle Walk. Walking those miles, meeting people, and just seeing Wisconsin in a different, slower way helped me get grounded in the struggle. I began to understand the place I call home in a different way.

I was also a part of the anti-corporate, pro-democracy movement of the time. A small group of students were beginning to come together from across the country and we were organizing Democracy Teach-Ins at local, state, and national levels. Again, my eyes were being opened. I was learning about the impact of how we live on our ability to continue to exist for generations to come. I was seeing other options for my own life as well as for all of us as a society.

Around this time I joined in the struggle against the proposed Crandon Mine, a state-wide struggle that brought together Natives and non-Natives, students, workers, sportfishers, and so many others. It connected me with many mentors, most notably a number of Native people including Walt Bresette and Andy Gokee. They helped me see the world in a way that made so much more sense. They taught me about the idea of the seventh generation, that concept that we aren’t just acting for today, but for those coming seven generations from now. It’s thinking and acting like this that makes it possible for us to protect the earth and ourselves.

During this time, I worked with Walt and a crew of other Native and non-Native folks to organize the Protect the Earth Walk. We started on the shores of Lake Superior on the Red Cliff Reservation and walked over 300 miles to Madison. We walked and talked with folks along the way and learned so much as we educated and did our best to engage people in protecting the earth.

In the midst of that walk I took a break to go to Tennessee where I interviewed to work for Save Our Cumberland Mountains, SOCM. I got the position and it began my life as a professional organizer/activist. While with SOCM I had the great honor of being the organizer for an amazing team called the stripmining issues committee. Because of their amazing knowledge and commitment as well as our work together building a mass movement, we were able to win a years long fight and protect more than 62,000 acres around Fall Creek Falls State Park from mining.

While with SOCM, I also got to work with some amazing people working to stop clearcutting and learn under the guidance of media guru, Jane Wholey, as she led SOCM’s media work during a fantastic campaign which included bringing in reporters from around the state, flying them over clearcuts, and hosting a large event on a clearcut. We changed media’s understanding of the issue and made some major pushes toward positive legislation in Nashville.

After a few years, I came back to Wisconsin where the Crandon Mine fight was continuing. I got involved again along with trying to start a Riverkeeper project in the Fox Valley with my friend Jeff. Jeff and I had a lot of great ideas and made some good connections, but we didn’t have the money or the skill at the time to build a nonprofit organization. We eventually moved on and I became the statewide organizer for the Wisconsin Green Party. This was during the height of the Greens in the US as Ralph Nader and Winona LaDuke were running for President and VP.

In 2003, I found my true love. I was hired to take on the coordinator role for a new organization in Madison called the Grassroots Leadership College. I worked for the GLC for its nine year life. The organization ran on the idea that everyone is a learner, everyone is a teacher, everyone is a leader. That idea still defines my life and work. Together we provided adult education in community organizing and leadership development to more than 500 people and supported the development of over 120 community projects, many of which are still active and impacting Madison, Wisconsin, and other places as well today.

As the GLC was nearing its end, politics was heating up with the Walker administration and Act 10 in the state capitol in 2011. My experience coordinating leadership and community organizing trainings for adults was well known. When the TAA became aware that their legislative action was going to be far more than they’d anticipated and that it was time to occupy the Wisconsin State Capitol, they also knew that they had to take action to keep the occupation non-violent. They called me for help. My friend Jeff and I organized the first non-violence training and within the upcoming days I was able to call on trainers that I knew and we quickly had a team of 25 people who created the Peaceful and Prepared flyers and trained thousands of people of the weeks in the capitol in the basics on non-violence and staying safe.

During this time I also volunteered with Labor Radio and served on the WORT 89.9fm board of directors, working on the personnel committee, as the board secretary, and affirmative action/ equal opportunities representative, among other volunteer efforts.

After the occupation of the capitol and the closure of the GLC in 2012, I was exhausted. I needed to get out of the highly political Madison and into a new place. By 2014 I left for Minnesota and the directorship of Toxic Taters. Toxic Taters is a small organization that was just starting as I took over the director role. It’s role is to address pesticide issues. We started big and it continues that way today. We took on RD Offutt (RDO) the largest potato grower in the world. During my time we began the days of action against McDonald’s that continue to happen nation-wide, as well taking legislative action to protect Minnesota waterways, people, and land within the impacted areas, and worked to stop expansion of RDO in Minnesota.

In 2017 I opted to follow another dream, to work at a university. I left Toxic Taters for the University of Minnesota- Morris. I worked at the Center for Small Towns coordinating internships across the state, including building new relationships with the tribes and connecting students with internship opportunities on the reservations until my position was discontinued in 2020.

When my position ended I came back to Wisconsin. First, I landed in Poynette where I took on the directorship of a new organization that was to be dedicated to mentoring youth, however, after finding out that several board leaders were using the organization to draw children into their church and prevent homosexuality, I left immediately. Thankfully, my friend Ben needed some help with his organization, The Memory Project. I was able to jump in to work with him while I figured out my next steps.

A seizure behind the wheel ended my time in Poynette. I needed to live in a community where I would have access to public transportation and be able to walk and bike since I was giving up my drivers license. I headed back to Madison.

Back in Madison, I briefly directed Solace Friends which was just launching at that time. I was and remain excited about the idea of the organization, to provide housing and support for terminally ill people who are homeless. However, it didn’t take long for me to discover that I’d never gotten over being worn out from my years as an activist/organizer/educator/nonprofit director. Trying to manage what would become the home for Solace Friends, do large amounts of fundraising and promotion, and guide the development of the organization was more than my body could handle. My seizures were impacting my every day again. I had to leave for my well-being.

In 2022 I was searching for my next work adventure and took on being a substitute special education assistant at Madison elementary schools. This led to my decision to become a special education teacher. I would eventually teach at Mendota Elementary for several years before deciding that the school district wasn’t the place for me despite my love for my students and all the great teachers and staff I worked with.

Now, I continue to teach. These days my role is working in early childhood education at Madison College’s Early Learning Center. I love it! I continue as an activist, helping out through Family Farm Defenders, occassionally getting to read for Labor Radio, and just showing up here and there at events and rallies. I also stay active just doing the work of creating community in fun ways like volunteering at the zoo and with Madison Community School and Recreation’s (MSCR) pontoon program, judging each year for History Day, writing this blog, working on my children’s book, and just helping out where I can.

What I’ve shared here is just some of the highlights. There is so much more that has made my life and taught me so much. It’s changing over time as life does. I welcome the stories of all my readers and encourage those of you who know me to add in the bits that you remember and that I missed!

Thank you to everyone who is doing your part to make our world and our communities healthy and sustainable for the generations to come.