Bio

(Updated August 3, 2020)

I love rivers, and I love life. I yearn for justice and mutual liberation. These are the longings that animate my work as a writer, activist, and public speaker.

Descendent of settler-colonialism though I may be, I have witnessed and experienced many kinds of violence within the colonial paradigm – which has convinced me that colonialism, though less bad for some than for others, isn’t good for anyone. I am a member of the No Dakota Access Pipeline (NoDAPL) Political Prisoners Support Committee and an avid participant in the inter-cultural, Indigenous-led Water Protector movement. I am also the matriarch to a boisterous family that has come together through unconventional means.

Currently, I serve as an ordained minister in the Unitarian Universalist tradition and an ordained deacon in the Old Catholic tradition. Previously, I have worked as a playwright, performance artist, mystery shopper, chef’s helper, child/adolescent therapist, advocate for the end of family violence, and anti-war lobbyist – sometimes simultaneously.

As an alum of the Hollins University Children’s Literature program, I have had the opportunity to learn from some of the continent’s most beloved authors, with Susan Campbell Bartoletti as my mentor. With this training, I went on to receive the Archibald Bush Artist Fellowship, which catapulted me into life as a professional author and playwright, having plays produced in New York (Off-Off Broadway), Chicago, Standing Rock, St. Paul, and various Pride Fests in North Dakota. My writing has been featured in On 2econd Thought, Cairns Art Journal, We’Moon Anthology, Eager for English, Arts Dakota Exhibition, and others. I am also a former columnist for the Prairie Independent newspaper and have edited two volumes of poetry, essays, and rants by survivors of childhood abuse/neglect, published by the Alliance for Children's Justice and entitled Authentic Voices.

As a screenwriter and co-director, I have had films featured at such venues as the Human Rights Film Festival, Standing Rock Film Festival, Fargo Film Festival, and North Dakota Human Rights Film & Arts Festival.

I am honored to have received the Emily Award (UND Children’s Writers Conference), Arc of Justice Award (ND Human Rights Coalition), Prairie Peacemaker Award (ND Peace Coalition), Courageous Love Award (UUA/Side with Love), the Love Without Fear Award (Abused Adult Resource Center, Bismarck, ND), Shirley Henn Award for Critical Scholarship (Hollins University), Historical Theology Award (UTS of the Twin Cities), and a few others.

I hold an M.A. in Somatic Counseling Psychology from Naropa University, an M.A. in Children's Literature from Hollins University, and an M.Div from United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities.

Reviewers describe my work:

 

“An outstanding creative writer” – Susan Campbell Bartoletti, Newbery Honor Awardee

“A life force” – Bonnie Palecek, co-founder of ND Council on Abused Women’s Services

“Boldly outrageous” – Bonnie Torrance, director, Pinwheel Modern Dance Company

“A living example of the Gandhian philosophy” – Rae Abileah, former national coordinator, CODEPINK Women for Peace

“The world does indeed seem more peaceful” – Chicago Tribune 

"I thought I was in New York!" – Michelle Steinwand, Founder, WomanSong