About…
My name is Ariel and I live with a dog named Juniper. We are both landed on Duwamish land in so-called Seattle Wa. Find out whose land you are on here. Search for projects to support local tribal sovereignty. For those on Duwamish land you can pay real rent and support the petition for federal recognition of the Duwamish tribe here.
I started this website to host my portfolios and provide family and friends a place to stay connected with me as I reduce my social media time. In the future this website might facilitate new earned income opportunities.
I was born in Easton, MD in 1986. My mom and grandmother largely raised me and my brother. I am transgender or some other flavor of the day gender-expansive. I identify as Jewish in a late blooming, patrilineal and anti-zionist sort of way. I have lived in Western Massachusetts, Brooklyn, and Olympia, Wa.
I’ve been working in environmental education for many years with a focus on youth with barriers to education and employment. At the moment I am working on obtaining my Masters in Social Work and pivoting to focus more on aging and death in the trans life cycle. In general I have a commitment to anti-racist and decolonial futures, which I understand as a practice of lifelong learning and action in service to liberation.
You can message me with loving feedback, purchase inquiries, or for networking.
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The following was written during my training to work with life limiting illness and grief across the lifespan. It seemed relevant to share here.
My obituary
Rough,
like water,
on the bay,
in the wind,
“white caps,”
Granny would say.
Small toes at the water’s edge,
where I first met the periwinkle snails
clinging to the shore grass.
Mom said she could see straight
through to the bottom
when she was a girl.
It’s different now.
Full moon on Black Water
wandering.
I
found
myself,
on the edge
of the prairie,
three thousand miles away.
Here
Where
Now
I sing
my wild wide armed spins
and off key tunes.
A guest
calling on all the soft bodied creatures
who tell me:
“go slowly,
be soft,
you are home.”