About

On the record, I’m an applied peace researcher and evaluator based in Seattle, USA. I support mission-driven organizations engaged in the work of just peace. For more info, click over to Ripple – Peace Research and Consulting LLC. Off the record, if you ask informally over coffee, I’ll tell you that I am …

A global nomad. I’ve lived in so many places – including México, Kosovo, the Philippines and Singapore – that my identity has become global. I adopt easily to almost any culture, yet I don’t feel that I fully belong to any of them. I returned ‘home’ ten years ago to Seattle, but I still feel like an outsider looking in. I’m often confused by what I see – and I process my messy musings on this blog, where peace often gets personal. 

I work globally, and I focus this blog on my own USA. Sometimes it gets messy.

A life-long seeker of peace and justice. I’ve had a passion for relationships between people groups since long before I knew what to call it. That may sound noble, but I assure you it has led to just as many failures as successes. I notice the health (or unhealth) of inter-group relationships everywhere I go. My challenge is to discern which ones I should actively work on, and which ones I should simply pray for. Because I am also …

A person of faith who no longer knows what to call herself. Religious labels are tricky under the best of circumstances, and in the current political climate they are toxic. I would simply say that I am a follower of Jesus Christ and a work in progress…but that doesn’t roll off the tongue very easily in conversation. So you can call me almost anything you like, as long as it honors the Creator.

An obsessive writer. I attempted my first publication at age 8 – a limited edition called ‘Space Creeps’ as a special gift for my Dad. At best, this obsession manifests itself in the recent book Making Peace With Faith: The Challenges of Religion and Peacebuilding, and in my other publications. At worst, it shows up in the form of excessive to-do lists and cluttered piles of handwritten chicken scratch that even I cannot read.

A wife and step-mom. A water sports fanatic. A person who knows the grind of chronic health problems. An off-the-charts introvert. An island-dweller, at least for the time being. A girl who’d like to add poetry to her repertoire, but never finds the time.

If any of that resonates, feel free to contact me. Tell me something about yourself…either on or off the record!