Welcome to Folklala.  On the blog, you will find crafts, ideas and stories.

I have a life long fascination with the way people express meaning (often through beauty) and the stories we tell (personal and social).  Currently, I am the Director of Learning Design and Co-owner of Archetype Learning, a learning and training design company that focuses on helping people and organizations share what they know and have a big impact. I am also a storyteller and community artist, who works with adults and kids to use stories to understand, heal, change, and create.  I was a professor of liberal arts at the Art Institute of Portland for ten years, where I taught writing, applied humanities and design thinking. I founded the ArtCare program at St. Anthony Foundation, a program that uses the arts to heal and empower low-income and homeless people in San Francisco’s inner city. My work over the years has given me the amazing privilege of reading and listening to literally thousands of people’s most dear stories — some traumatic, some wonderful, some banal, some beautiful. Now that I am getting older, I see how these stories are one of the great gifts of my life.  And they just keep coming, because I somehow have been lucky and crazy enough to keep making a living out of teaching and using stories.

I have two beautiful girls, a fun family, love being outside to hike, swim, ski, and garden.  I live in Portland, OR.

Thank you for your interest.  I love to collaborate and want to hear what you are up to.  You can learn more about my workshops and classes here.  You can go to my learning design company, at http://archetypelearning.com.

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