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.
Time has allowed me growth. Three years ago, around the spring equinox, the seed and love for WholeHeart were planted after attending a seasonal workshop. The listening circles were a powerful germination of sources that I remembered that I tucked away for some time. Time allowed for the cultivation and nourishment of the seeds planted so long ago to grow.
It was this time last year. I found myself at Bolton, laden in ski gear for maybe the third time. Brilliant sunshine and the warmth of fellow Unlikely Riders sharing greetings and Morning Light’s steamed dumplings. Jason and I waded through puddles and the mud of Spring Equinox. Sliding on snow - certain firsts you don’t forget. The rush of flying. The thin veil, the thrill between trust and control… I had learned just enough to feel somewhat confident I might not die, propelled by the new realization that I could indeed slow down later.
What is WholeHeart? Who is WholeHeart? Why love? For an organization who loves questions, these are the ones we keep revisiting to guide us. We keep turning to you to listen before we know where to move, how to jump, what to offer. Thank you for sharing your voices, your stories as we move into a new year of living together on the learning edge.
We are happy to share a few perspectives and responses on what is at the heart of this community work.
Moving from solo events to on-going communities of practices takes time and commitment. One of these offerings is our EarthCourage work, that has shifted from a 4 day event to a 101 day practice. What shifts when we commit to deepening relations over time? How do we welcome the whole, in these times of divisiveness? Here’s a taste of one reflective journey with Earth, written by co-facilitator, Paula Pedersen, from her perch in the Wisconsin landscape as she travels with summer into fall.
