A storyteller paints

Kate is a story teller, with a well of tales so deep she is rarely speechless. She is also a story-gatherer. She’ll ask old folks about their memories, kids about their dreams, and strangers about new recipes. More so, she’s a story seeker. Every weekend is an excuse for an adventure and every vacation is an opportunity to explore. She and her young son, who are urban food gardeners with a backyard full of chickens and fig trees, have meandered under the streets of Paris, taken the overnight train to Venice, ridden camels through the Moroccan dessert, farmed millet and peanuts in the fields of Mali, gotten soaked by Canada’s Niagara Falls, sifted for shark’s teeth in the Chesapeake Bay, read books preceding each adventure and written stories upon each return.

“I’ve been a writer since my 10^th grade teacher told me I was a good writer,” she explains. “But I didn’t think it was a possible career choice. Everyone’s a ‘writer’. But I’ve finally figured out a way to be a storyteller, which is the most fun kind of writing.”

As for painting, she says she wished she had more time. “I like the idea of being a painter, with a paint-splattered easel and an air of whimsy, but I don’t prioritize my time well enough and I while away my afternoons in the garden. The Create for Recovery campaign is a good reason to block out a chunk of time to do something that brings me so much pleasure.” Kate says she had planned to paint portraits of her chickens (which she refers to as “the girls”), but the energy and intensity of the Women’s March on Washington in January was so impactful she wanted to paint the march.

“It was one of the best experiences of my entire life and one for which I will be forever grateful,” she says.