Origins
I am named after my maternal great-grandmother Sarah/Sadie/Surah who immigrated with her Jewish family from Eastern Europe to New York and my paternal great-great-grandmother Leona who live in Louisiana and was of Western European Christian settler descent. On my mother’s side I am a descendent of people who lost family members in the Holocaust. On my father’s side I am a descendent of people who owned enslaved people from Africa.
I was the first in my blood lineages to be born in California where I was raised on 12 acres of Nisenan-Mewuk land in the Sierra Nevada Foothills in Northern California in a house built by my parents.
I identify as a white, queer, Jew, from a middle-class family who has lived the majority of my life rurally. I focus my life energy on healing ancestral ruptures from land, village and culture. I am drawn to this work to heal the ruptures in my own lineages and reckon with how my people have hurt other people.
Today
I currently live, work and study on Lisjan, Ohlone land in the S.F. Bay Area. In the spring of 2021, I completed my Masters of Social Change at Starr King School for the Ministry focusing on Jewish relationships with land and Indigenous people on Turtle Island. I have a bachelor’s degree in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems and a minor in Sexualities Studies from UC Davis.
I am an organizer and educator with Jews on Ohlone Land, have been initiated through a land-based spiritual group called Tree of Life, and have worked for several non-profits in the Jewish and environmental sectors.
My dream is to be a vital part in the tapestry of generations long healing towards healthy culture. My dream “day job” in healthy culture is to be on the governance council and support collectives in balancing the needs of the whole with the needs of individuals. My dream “night job” in healthy culture is to instigate breaking all the rules laughing under the stars at midnight!
What are your dream day time and night time jobs in healthy culture?