I'm an author, an arborist, and a proud 2020 grad-
uate of the Municipal Forestry Institute (MFI).
Finding myself at MFI was a little surprising, as my
longtime first career was in writing and editing.
I love putting words on paper—er, on laptop
screen—and always will. Since age 30, I've written
eight books, including works of history about
female jet jocks, heroic housewives, girls who
gain self-esteem from sports, and women in 17
th
century New Amsterdam (Manhattan). I published
a biography of a man who compiled the greatest
book ever about Manhattan in the early twentieth
century. I wrote two period suspense novels.
My husband—also a writer—and I lived for a stretch
in a tiny cabin in the woods, north of New York City.
We called ourselves the slipper people, because
all day long we hunched over our computers in
casual attire, churning out the next bestseller. We
never had to go out. It seems sudden now, but
it must have come upon me gradually—the real-
ization that there was a whole green world out
beyond my cabin door. We had six acres (2.4 ha)
of woods, a wealth of sugar maples, jack pines, a
venerable magnolia. Living in the woods changed
me. But even with all that, arboriculture repre-
sented a completely different direction than I ever
imagined traveling when I started out as a writer.
I went to work for a tree company that operated in
the five boroughs of New York, embracing a new life
that would include delicate lindens, craggy honey
locusts and soaring oaks. I exchanged my laptop
and notebooks for a hardhat and a reflective vest,
inspecting urban trees and making sure construc-
tion companies didn't kill them. Shadowing the work
crews who toil among the city's trees, I monitored
the soil beneath tree roots and the gnarled, beefy
roots themselves, always with the goal of making
the New York neighborhoods an Eden of branching,
breathing species. I took a new, hands-on look at
grand old trees, street trees, leaves and seeds and
stems. My career led me to business development at
major tree care companies. Still, I kept on writing.
When I first arrived at MFI in February, 2020 on
Alabama's Gulf Coast, I found myself feeling a
little out of place. Was I an arborist or an author?
I could see the beautiful Gulf waters and the dol-
phins breaching on the horizon. Was I myself
a dolphin out of water? It turns out I needn't
have worried. The experience was fantastic,
and I learned so much about leadership through
both classes and late-night conversations.
I wrote about my MFI experience for the May/June
2020 issue of City Trees, and afterwards went on to >>
I exchanged my
laptop and notebooks
for a hardhat and a
reflective vest...
imagined traveling when I started out as a writer. , and afterwards went on to >>
laptop and notebooks
for a hardhat and a
reflective vest...
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