I am part of many teams outside of the classroom, including a local arts collective and a community garden. And as much as I love Chicago, I live to travel.

The SAUNA Collective

The Society Against UnNecessary Activities (SAUNA) is an arts collective that I co-founded in 2010. We're a group of artists, writers, and educators who gather for a monthly salon to share, collaborate, and get feedback on our recent work. 

In 2014 we finally went "public" and participated in our first art fair: the Ravenswood Art Walk (left). That year also saw the publishing of our first book under the banner of SAUNA Media. In 2015 we participated in both the Printer's Row Book Fair and the New York City Poetry Festival.

Merchant Park Community Garden

We started Merchant Park Community Garden in 2011. It was developed as a "backyard for all of us," and has since become a successful NeighborSpace endorsed by our alderman. 
From a mere 20 plots, we've grown to over 50. This year we've been able to add a gazebo and composting station, and will be using our funding from NeighborSpace to add communal fruit trees and a permanent water supply.

My Kickstarter video (left) won Chicago Greening Network's 2012 award for "Best Use of New Technology."

Travel Destinations

Like I said, I live to travel. Every other year, my husband and I travel internationally. Our longest trip was to Asia, where we spent 6 weeks exploring Hong Kong, Thailand, and the southern region of China. In the past couple years we've also made it to Iceland and Romania. Our most recent international vacation, though, was chaperoning seniors on their Spring Break trip to Italy, France, and Spain. Not a bad gig if you can get it!

Of course, we love to travel locally, too. We have friends and family all over the country, and like to visit them as often as we can. This summer we joined friends for a trip to Nashville, where we viewed the solar eclipse and enjoyed the music scene. 

One thing I'm noticing about my map, though, is that I haven't yet gone south of the equator...hmm...