The truth be told.

I’ve been getting a lot of questions lately and I thought I’d lay out my current status for all you curious cats. This is a good summation of how I've been spending my time here in earth. For the past few years, after taking a long awaited leap out of the comfortable nest of Bellingham, WA, I have been bouncing around this planet, fulfilling my previously suppressed nomadic urges. Focus has not come easily but it feels closer than ever.
I left WWU in spring 2007, where I had been studying environmental journalism and science. After being bitten by a strange and wondrous Costa Rican travel bug and being fed up with massive, impersonal science lecture halls, I took a somewhat random job offer to nanny for a family on the Hawaiian Island of Kauai. As the 5 weeks of the originally planned time frame neared an end, I watched the calendar with dread. I did not want to leave.
One morning, after toying with the idea of pushing my plane ticket back, I woke up and decided to stay. I’d never felt more sure of anything in my life. I knew I wanted to get to know the rich island culture, learn to catch waves, and eat fresh fruit everyday. So I decided to stay for the rest of the summer…then the fall as well…and the winter…maybe the spring?
11 months later, I had learned to surf, could easily navigate the 25 square mile island by hitchhiking and could understand a bit of dakine pidgin. Sure, maybe it sounds like I was a surf bum, but that island taught me more about myself, work ethic, culture, friendship and life than I had gathered from the previous 22 years. I also performed an internship with Save Our Seas, a local marine conservation organization where I learned that I never want to try to write, edit, photograph, and design a publication entirely by myself again. EVER. I made some amazing friends and will never deny that my time on Kauai changed me forever.
I love that small volcanic rock in the middle of the Pacific with all my heart…but I had to leave. It was for my sanity. After feeling the suffocation and claustrophobia of “island fever,” I increased my work load and started stuffing my piggy bank with travel funds. I worked hard as a server and tour guide to buy a digital SLR and a plane ticket from Quito to Panama City from Guatemala City back home to Seattle to catch my darling Jasmine‘s wedding. My 2 month journey was fast paced but filled with wonderful moments with great friends. I loved the freedom of traveling solo but felt a lack of purpose (except while volunteering at the phenomenal Bilsa Biological Reserve in Ecuador, of course.)
Back in the Pacific Northwest, I transferred to the Evergreen State College where I immediately started to scheme how to use an academic disguise to travel…but I also completely clicked with the school’s innovative curriculum and style of teaching. I learned more in 3 months at Evergreen than 3 quarters at WWU. I studied with the interdisciplinary Environmental Health program, where I learned how toxic chemical’s abundance are taking a toll on human health and our environment. I realized I could combine my passions for environmental science and human rights. I finally began to feel focused as I saw my commitment to better the world begin to mesh in both realms of the environment and humanity. With overwhelming scientific proof, the fact cannot be denied that the environment affects our health as much as our existence affects the environment. We are not separate.

I became interested in the issue of Agent Orange after studying how chemicals can have severe adverse health effects and I began searching for international examples. I was drawn to the issue because of it’s severity, the lack of public knowledge, my own country’s disregard for responsibility after the Vietnam War and perhaps the fact that 40 years after the initial application babies are still born with deformities. I don’t think that is a fair existence. (If you want more info about Agent Orange: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_Orange

So as I write, I am en route to Vietnam, where I will be doing an independent research project about the adverse health effects of Agent Orange and what scientific studies could be implemented to remediate the dioxin that still contaminates the once pristine jungles of Southeast Asia.
On Tuesday, I’m flying into Hanoi where I will meet with the Veteran Associate for Victims of Agent Orange and visit the Dioxin research laboratory. I’ll then make my way south where I will work with the Hue Medical School and their studies on this issue.My ultimate goal is to raise awareness about overlooked environmental issues and to reiterate the point that the years gone by do not simply dissolve. You cannot bury the past.
I owe much appreciation and thanks to my family and friends who have helped me struggle through this challenge. I’ve received an amazing amount of support from my friends and family who have given me so much to be thankful for. I could not possess the courage to pursue my passions if it were not for your love and encouragement. I am so lucky to have an incredible network of friends and family that never fail to stand behind me and my endeavors.