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(you can view more pictures from our year at this link)
Family and friends –
We hope that this finds you happy and healthy this holiday season!
While we have managed to avoid being affected directly by COVID, 2021 was a relatively quiet year for us. We find ourselves luckier than many in our community, including both of us being able to work primarily from home. We have started venturing out more now that we are vaccinated (and boosted), but we miss being able to exchange smiles in the grocery store and collaborating spontaneously in-person. We’ve stayed close to home this year, so while our travel stories are less exciting, we have been able to focus more energy on increasing our impact.
Susan Jane continues to inspire! Her forest collaborative work was featured in the New York Times - an exciting landmark in her career. Several international documentaries regarding forest and wildfire management included pre-pandemic interviews with her. In mid-year, SJ was recognized by the Oregon State Bar for her leadership within the environmental community. Susan Jane has been involved in shaping the Biden Administration’s forest policy in Washington, DC, although she hasn’t made it back to the Hill since the pandemic. On the litigation side, SJ has been focused on reversing several policies from the prior administration, and just recently scored a big victory with the defeat of the Jordan Cove liquified natural gas project in Oregon after more than a decade. Susan Jane continues to fight for owls of all kinds, iconic western landscapes, and native forests affected by wildfire.
Paul is very engaged in his efforts to align his antiracist community work with his professional work. Cinder now actively offers training and workshops to our clients to help them navigate the current movement to make the workplace more inclusive and equitable. Cinder has been offering monthly discussions on these topics for free over Zoom. In just 15 months, this work has become the fastest growing part of the business! Paul also facilitates several Equity Learning Groups for white people to talk about race, gender, and related topics - he's done multiple cohorts with Oregon Community Foundation and Mercy Corps Northwest. Paul still loves meeting new people and making connections in the community - in fact, he’s got some plans for more “networking for impactful change” in 2022. If you’re interested in learning more about any of these activities, Paul would love to talk to you about them! :)
We haven’t traveled much in the past year due to the pandemic. SJ’s parents joined us from Colorado in July for our second attempt to visit North Cascade National Park, but this time we were thwarted by fire (last time, COVID). We met in John Day just in time to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary! In addition to visiting Mt St Helens with SJ’s parents, we’ve taken a couple of long weekend trips around Oregon and Washington with the dogs, which has been a nice change of scenery. We’re looking forward to getting back to international travel, but we’re holding off on any specific plans for now.
Finally, both Indy and Niki are doing great. They spend most of the day sleeping in various soft spots around the house, broken up mainly by walks and barking at the mailman. If you’ve ever wondered what you’d like to be in your next karmic life, you could do worse than be a dog in the Brown household. They entertain us and each other... just enough to make us forget how annoying it is when they bark at the mailman while we’re on an important zoom call. After 2 years of the pandemic, the variety is appreciated. 😊
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