Poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer served as featured guest of WholeHeart’s recent Poetry As Portal event online. She and Holly Wilkinson conversed about poetry as “companion” or a “living presence” that can accompany us through our most challenging days, providing passageway into our own hearts and souls. Enjoy this recap of the June event!
Dru Roessle, of Danville, Vermont, brings deep insight to the WholeHeart board of directors and beyond. She works as a facilitator of groups and teams problem-solving some of society’s most intractable problems. Dru centers relational justice in the spaces she engages in, believing that we already have what we need to create just systems that are designed for care, reciprocity, and collective well-being. Enjoy this provocative, inspiring interview!
On the eve of a full moon, WholeHeart launched its newest program series, Poetry As Portal, featuring Julie Cadwallader Staub, a poet from South Burlington, Vt. More than 40 participants gathered on Zoom, March 25th, to participate in the event, part-poetry reading, part-conversation with the poet, and part-listening exercise for attendees to reflect upon their own lives.
What does it mean to live one’s life like a prayer? Heather Omand, of Huntington, Vt., is pioneering a different human way of being in the world as a Queer person, mother, partner, and caretaker of agricultural lands. Read about their insightful journey. Listen to their prose, “What Queerness Means to Me.”
What does it mean to be in deeper relationship with the land where one lives? Three friends spent last summer wandering in the mountains of Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, coming to know the plants/medicines growing on the land, preparing meals with the foods harvested, and learning to navigate the wind and waves off the coast of Maine. This story encapsulates some of their heartfelt insights gained.
Each day, the breaking news breaks us. And often not open, but into despair, disbelief and fear. There is much to be done, and mending what is closest to us is a place to begin to re-imagine hope.
This summer, a group of community members gathered on Tuesday mornings in Greensboro, Vermont for a WholeHeart Community Conversation called “Hope Reimagined.”
The word “leadership” can cover some tricky territory, inviting the questions: what makes a leader? Who are leaders? Is there a leadership club that requires certain qualities to belong?
Our Intergenerational Leadership Exchanges welcomes emerging and experienced leaders. We focus on leadership at the human being level, grounded in the belief that we are all we are all leaders of our own lives. Together, across generational perspectives and areas of interest, we make up the essential elements of our communities.
On September 30th, we will hold our third Exchange. Each gathering has a unique focus, inviting people to return each season or to come for the first time. This fall our focus and guide is the land itself at the Green Mountain Monastery.
“I can disagree with your opinion, it turns out, but I can’t disagree with your experience. And once I have a sense of your experience, you and I are in relationship.” Krista Tippett, Becoming Wise
How do we share our experiences and build community? At a time in our country when our differences in belief and opinion are dividing communities and families, many of us are wondering how to move forward and connect. Civil discourse and deep listening seem to be lost skills. Yet, the silver lining of our time may be that the divides are visible and the motivation to build/rebuild community is essential.
In celebration of gifts and gratitudes of the land, the community and the abudance of harvest, 40 people gathered at Jubilee Farm in Huntington for a night of nourishing food and conversation. This Friend & Fundraiser, A Taste of Courage, was inspired by and in support of WholeHeart's work to convene circles of authenticity, courage and wholeheartedness - in retreats, for work teams and in communities. . Running Stone Bakery and Krin's Bakery and local farmers provided the feast and everyone who came shared a part of themselves to make the circle whole. We shared poems and prompts, generous listening and table conversations - stories of generosity, astonishment and connections. In the beauty of the barn, surrounded by sawdust, sweet night air and budding friendships, we listened and collected words that resonated on butcher block paper as we ate together. From these exchanges and those little bits of writing, a community poem was created.
Each summer, I head to the ocean. Living in Vermont, I need crave time with the sea to recalibrate my heart, soul and perspective. For the past three summers, Hurricane Island in the Penobscott Bay, Maine, has been the destination to co-facilitate a Courage Earth retreat with Dave Oakes.
Before I was born, Anne Morrow Lindburgh wrote Gift of the Sea and each summer I keep discovering new gifts. This summer, fifiteen of us let go of mainland responsibilities and distractions to let island time work its way into our cells. Here are some images and reflections from Hurricane:
WholeHeart, Inc. is the fiscal agent for the Community Allies for Safety, Trust & Respect - a group of representatives from various local organizations and community members who support critical conversations and community celebrations. We believe that all people deserve to feel safety, trust, and respect in their lives and we are committed to making our greater community a place that stands by these values. This year we are asking the question: “What do you love about Hardwick (or your home place)?”
