“They call it ‘walking the plank’ but the challenge depends on which century you were born into. For me, it’s in the woods, dusted with spring snow, & my footwear will determine the level of danger. Luckily, no one is forcing me to do it. I’m a free agent. Free to walk the plank, or slip off into the forest. I’m not one to run with the herd so probably, I’ll disappear, rather than face someone else’s binary. I moved to Vermont back in the 80s, so excited to get lost and learn the ropes, under all kinds of adverse conditions. No one coddled me, or protected me from what was inevitable, living life in a rural state. That’s how we got strong. That’s how we stayed independent. That’s how we proved our worth. If you got yourself into some trouble, you’d have to get yourself out, and not be a crybaby. I started out in Burlington as a waitress & climbed the ladder, next taking tickets at a movie theater, then, classified ads for a newspaper. My music career was out on the plank, being buffeting by high winds and more popular forms of music, like punk. I didn’t really know who I was, and was hoping mysticism & new age book stores would solve that for me. And relationships. One winter I camped out with a farrier in Hanksville, & worked for the legit side of a drug dealer’s cover. But flying under the radar, and getting in and out of your own disastrous messes, was the norm back then. One night, at Hunt’s, in the ladies room, I had an epiphany. I was young, I was passionate, I was hungry for love and yet my biggest go-to was something more akin to God. I might have been drunk, or stupidly cruising the scene, but in the stall at Hunt’s, Burlington’s most popular nightclub at the time, I called out with all my heart for truth and the support of my spiritual team. Call me crazy, but I was walking the plank every day, searching for a more elevated, less self-destructive approach to being human. Now we are all in the stall. The intoxicating music of contemporary culture is throbbing all around us, and we must make a decision who and what to listen to.”
