Photo © Eric J. Smith: 50th Birthday sunset, Monument Valley, Navajo land, Arizona, 2022

Hi! I’m Amy Lee.

Are you seeking understanding, connection, something more?

Me too.

I try to use words to connect people to ideas and futures that honor the truths that we all belong, and that there is enough. For each of us, for all of us.

I am humbled in my work, over and over. I know that, with few exceptions,* binaries are a fantasy. I refuse to reduce myself or another person to a “flat” version of the fullness I know we all hold. (I fail, and judge myself and others, all the time.)

* Binaries are seductive, reductive, if sometimes true: like, killing and hurting people is bad. When it comes to how we choose connection, care, and community, I embrace expansive possibilities, not this-or-that thinking and being.

Reflections in Motion

Featured

The Dog (and People) Park

Every four years in Washington, D.C., January offers a transition of some kind; I landed on Capitol Hill in the last days of the Clinton administration. Harley, my Newfoundland buddy, loved those cold winters.

Nonviolence in Practice

My work and my life focuses on the practice of using words as bridges, not landmines. That means de-weaponizing ideas, as much as choices in language.

Multifaceted Multifaith Monovision

Growing up, people thought it was weird that I wasn't just this (Christian) faith, or that one... that there were a number of religions in my family and my world.

Lessons from a Broken Foot

Scene: Thanksgiving table, full of old and newer friends, Santa Barbara. Fresh squeezed pomegranate martinis with a cheese course gave way to a perfect turkey and tasty sides, and delicious pies.

What’s in a color?

What does the “Aragon” crayon look like to you?

Becoming Amy Lee

I was well into adulthood when I found out that my name was literally pulled out of a hat.