It’s just sitting there, that “thing with feathers,” as described by Emily Dickinson, singing, waiting out the storm, asking nothing of that which inside it dwells. So sweet it is, so patient. So constant. But what’s the extent of its influence? What’s the best way to use it? Is it at risk? Does it run out? And just how is it actionable?
Helen Batchelder is a Hartt School (& J P Chapman)-trained vocalist, an historian, lecturer, and a fiction and non-fiction writer. Formerly the managing editor and content writer for The Protocol Journal of Botanical Medicine, she’s written on topics ranging from pharmacognosy to the internal pathways of pain. She’s served the town as a private tutor and the school as a title 1 tutor in special education. Most recently, Helen has given lectures on 19th century American Art, pre-18th century native habitation of central Massachusetts, and the philosophical yearnings of our New England Transcendentalists, and will speak on Rachel Carson at the Wakefield Trust in Milton in February. You can generally find her at Fruitlands Museum.