Dawn

I celebrate myself and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.


Dawn embodies Walt Whitman’s proclamation; she is a poem of self-acceptance. Her delight, her ease, her gently ebullient presence charms me. I hadn’t seen her in person since 2018, when she came to Portland to facilitate a workshop on burnout with Katie Loncke. We stayed in touch by phone and text, and now, much to my surprise, she has moved to Portland! 

Most of her work is online, so she can live anywhere she likes. She teaches meditation and has a website that describes her background and interests. She has lived in the California Bay Area for about fifteen years, so I was eager to hear why she chose to move to Portland. She was looking for a less expensive place to live with a progressive community and some time for quiet introspection. She says you can have too much community—a crowded calendar, a web of connections that exhausts more than it replenishes.

She came for tea, and I offered a spontaneous photo shoot so she could have some new photos for her new life. (Two extras.)