2023 Summer Faculty

Vance Blackfox + Manuel Retamoza

Co-Teaching Sessions: Indian 101

The general population knows very little about the Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island– even the most basic topics are often grand mysteries. This, of course, is by design, as the colonial project has prioritized the complete erasure of Native people for centuries. Indian 101 is a time to learn some of these basics and to cultivate a foundation for standing in solidarity with Indian people across the U.S., as we all work together to dismantle longstanding systems of oppression.

Vance Blackfox is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and currently serves the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America as the Director Indigenous Ministries and Tribal Relations. Vance is also the founder and director of Other+Wise and the founder of Blackfox Institute.

Pastor Manuel is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, is a first-generation Mexican American, and senior pastor at St. Andrew’s San Diego, CA. Manuel serves as Program Director for the ELCA Youth Ministry Network Extravaganza, VP  American Indian and Alaskan Native Association of the ELCA,  Co-director of the Western States Youth Gathering 2023, and on the advisory board at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary.

Jason Mahn

Teaching Sessions: GIFTED – The Eco-Politics of Gratitude

“Gifted”–we use the term to boast of special talents or a high IQ, usually to get higher wages or a special classroom for excelling students. Yet Lutherans and other Christians think of everyone (and all creatures) as gifted and graced in the deepest sense of these terms; together we are called to practice generosity, gratitude, and abundance in a culture of competition and individual merit. Come share your own stories of good and bad gift-giving and gift-receiving and reflect on the eco-politics of gratitude.

Jason Mahn is an author, public speaker, father, spouse, chicken caretaker, and wanna-be follower of Jesus. He teaches religion and directs the Presidential Center for Faith and Learning at Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois. 

Maren Haynes Marchesini + Dane Ueland

Guest Musicians

Dr. Maren Haynes Marchesini serves as Director of Worship & Music at Hope Lutheran Church in Bozeman, Montana. Maren is a choral director, cellist, vocalist, composer and scholar with broad-ranging musical interests. She holds a PhD in Ethnomusicology from the University of Washington where she focused on megachurches, gender, and ritual (specifically at the former Mars Hill Church), and she continues scholarly work in Christian music, ethics, and community, including a current research project at Holden Village. Maren and Dane Ueland are longtime bandmates who have played together for nearly 15 years, and they look forward to reuniting at Holden Village to lead music.

Dane is a songwriter and composer with a tenor/baritone vocal range. He performed as a vocalist and guitarist with the Seattle Rock Orchestra for several years, and has performed with Seattle bands including Lemolo, OK Sweetheart, Cloud Person, and Kaylee Cole. 

Erin DeBoer-Moran

Teaching Sessions: Linoleum Block Printmaking

Explore the process of printmaking. You’ll have the opportunity to make individual prints and contribute to a larger community art piece. No artistic background or prior skill required!

Erin DeBoer-Moran is a St. Paul based artist and maker who studied studio art at The University of Minnesota. Currently, she helps worshipping communities create beautiful art together. Erin’s linoleum prints and commissions so far have ended up as album art, beer coasters, worship imagery, and fine art prints.

Mary Campbell

Teaching Sessions: People on the Move – Migrants, Refugees and Internally Displaced People

Join Mary to learn about global migration, current US immigration challenges and opportunities for engagement.

Mary Campbell currently serves as the Program Director for AMMPARO, the ELCA immigration strategy. She is a life-long Lutheran who has served internationally in El Salvador in the Department of Human Rights of the Iglesia Luterana Salvadorena. 

Laura Mariko Cheifeitz

Teaching Sessions: TBA

Bio coming soon!

Glocal Musician Educators

Guest Musicians

Glocal Musician Educators are a group that creates music influenced by global themes in communities throughout North America the Caribbean and beyond. Through their intentional diversity—including representation from many countries, denominations, and several cultures—the group embodies ways to stand in mutual solidarity while amplifying marginalized voices.  The musicians embody what it means to be Glocal—simultaneously global and local—so we can accompany one another across cultures, even in our own neighborhoods.

Sara Olson-Smith + Brent Olson

Co-Teaching Sessions: A Pastor and an Anarchist Walk Into the Forest

Our grand cultural narratives, many rooted in particular readings of Scripture, perpetuate an anthropocentric dominance that has led to the abuse and misuse of creation. But they also offer narratives of kinship, mutual aid, commoning, and reciprocity with creation and other humans. Together, we’ll consider how we might write new narratives to build more just, verdant, connected worlds. We’ll weave scripture with anarchist thinking and practice to reframe our relationships with each other and with the non-human world in order to bring renewed commitment, joy, and hope.

Sara Olson-Smith is a pastor at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Davenport, Iowa. She is the author of recent Bible studies in the Women of the ELCA’s Gather Magazine. In her writing, teaching and pastoral work she weaves together God’s ancient stories in scripture with contemporary struggles, movements, and hopes.

Brent Olson is a professor of Environmental Studies and co-director of the Institute for Mountain Research at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah. His teaching and research is centered on the stories we tell about nature and their implications for our relationships to each-other and the non-human world.

Emily Atkinson

Teaching Sessions: Shibori Indigo Dyeing

Learn the traditional Japanese methods of using indigo to dye fabric, including binding, clamping, tying, and stitching. The first session will be an introduction with basic methods and small items, then as the week goes on utilizing more complicated methods and larger pieces, including pillow cases, table runners, and wearable items. Possible later sessions may incorporate dyed fabric into other projects, such as quilting, jewelry, and clothing.

Emily Atkinson is an artist and educator who received her BFA from Texas State University and a Masters in Art Education from Texas Tech. She currently coordinates the visual art and drama curriculum, materials, and professional development for military-connected schools in the US and around the world.

Joshua McGuffie

Teaching Sessions: Foundations of Environmental History + Ethics in a US Context

This series will move briskly from a discussion of North American environments before European colonization to the foundation of US national parks and forests and then to a focus on the Columbia River in the 20th century. The series will conclude with a look at contemporary environmental justice movements. Each session will be divided roughly in half, between historical and ethical content, in order to give participants tools for interpreting and addressing present-day environmental challenges.

Joshua McGuffie will complete his PhD in the Department of History at UCLA in May 2023. His research focuses on biology, medicine, race, and the environment. Joshua is a pastor and has served parishes in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and in the Episcopal Church. He currently serves on the Bishop’s Commission for Climate Change in the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles.

Glocal Musician Educators

Guest Musicians

Glocal Musician Educators are a group that creates music influenced by global themes in communities throughout North America the Caribbean and beyond. Through their intentional diversity—including representation from many countries, denominations, and several cultures—the group embodies ways to stand in mutual solidarity while amplifying marginalized voices.  The musicians embody what it means to be Glocal—simultaneously global and local—so we can accompany one another across cultures, even in our own neighborhoods.

Kendra Mohn + Erik Gronberg                                                   

Co-Teaching Sessions:  TBA                                                                               

Rev. Dr. Kendra Mohn has served as a parish pastor for 18 years in a variety of contexts in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). She currently serves as Lead Pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Fort Worth, Texas. Dr. Mohn holds a PhD in Biblical Studies with an emphasis in New Testament; her academic research focuses on ancient masculinity and the Roman Empire as context for the New Testament.

Bishop Erik K. J. Gronberg was elected by the Northern-Texas Northern Louisiana Synod/Mission Area in April of 2016. Prior to his election, he had served as Lead Pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Fort Worth since 2010.  He holds a PhD in Leadership Studies from Dallas Baptist University. Erik’s area of academic interest is adaptive leadership in crisis. 

E.N. West + Joey Lopez

Co-Teaching Sessions: From Landlords to Land Stewards: Lessons from the Faith Land Initiative of The Church Council of Greater Seattle

The Faith Land Initiative of The Church Council of Greater Seattle accompanies, facilitates and convenes faith communities in King County, Washington to faithfully and equitably steward land and other assets toward acts of dignity restoration and community-based stewardship of land. We will share lessons we’ve learned over 3 years in this work, with the intention of informing, motivating and inspiring faith leaders who may find themselves leading their own faith communities through discerning faithful land stewardship.

E.N. West, affectionately known as “E” (they/he), is a community organizer based in Seattle, Washington. They organize faith communities around equitable land stewardship as a Co-Founder and Faith Land Organizer of the Faith Land Initiative of The Church Council of Greater Seattle. E also serves as Co-Director of Surge Reproductive Justice

Joey Lopez (he/him) has a passion and purpose for building collective power and channeling that power towards collective liberation.  Joey lives into his purpose as a facilitator, trainer, and community organizer at The Church Council of Greater Seattle. 

Kaethe Schwehn

Teaching Sessions: Creative Writing Through the Epistolary Form

The epistolary form has served to connect humans to one another and to the world for centuries. In these sessions we’ll look at a variety of letters: Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, Martin Luther King Jr’s missive to white religious leaders, Lenny Duncan’s letter to the ELCA. We’ll examine poetic epistles to lost sisters, rich Gentiles, forgotten friends, estranged parents and we’ll marvel over some particularly scathing letters to the editor. Then participants will be invited to write their own letters: to themselves, to lost loved ones, to political/institutional leaders, and to God.

Kaethe Schwehn is an author who teaches various creative writing courses at St. Olaf College. Her first book, Tailings: A Memoir, about living at Holden Village from 2001-2002, won the 2015 Minnesota Book Award for Creative Nonfiction and her chapbook of poems, Tanka & Me, was selected for the Mineral Point Chapbook Series. In addition to holding MFAs from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and the University of Montana, Schwehn has been the recipient of an Academy of American Poets prize, a Minnesota Arts Board Grant, and a Loft Mentor Series Award.

The Limber Celtic Union

Co-Teaching Sessions: Trad Music Play

NOTE: Interested folks please bring your instruments this week! Learners and listeners of any ability can attend any or all daily session/s for easygoing tune-playing and -learning with each other and these instructors, who have decades’ experience teaching this music on their instruments and stirring ensembles’ fun. The week will feature a faculty concert plus many added chances to enjoy playing this music together, including for community (contra, square, family) dancing led by expert dance callers. Plan to learn some great tunes and their human backstories, enjoy growing how you play them with others, and relish the connections music-making creates!

The Limber Celtic Union: Portland-area musicians George Penk (fiddle), Jesse Schafer (cello, guitars, mandolin, tenor banjo, ukuleles, bass), and Jeff Kerssen-Griep (guitar, bass, percussion) share and teach lively, mighty fiddle music from Ireland, Quebec, Appalachia, New England, Scotland & beyond. You may have contra danced to Jeff and George’s band “Joyride” somewhere in the US or heard George fiddling on NPR’s “All Songs Considered.” Cellist Jesse’s superb string play on several instruments kindles this trio’s contagiously skilled energy and gracious, expert teaching. A treat!

Steve Wolbrecht + Ron Pangborn

Guest Musicians

While Steve Wolbrecht’s day job is in IT, his vocation is in music. He routinely serves as a substitute accompanist for Lutheran churches in the Tacoma, WA area, and has been serving as village musician at every opportunity since wintering at Holden from 99-00. Steve enjoys putting new twists on traditional tunes, adding jazz and modern elements to well-known songs and hymns.

Ron Pangborn, multi instrumentalist and worship leader, has been an active member of the Detroit musical community for over 50 years. As a drummer, he has performed or recorded with internationally known artists in multiple genres. He is the Music Director of Hope Community Church in Detroit, Michigan and produces podcasts and web content for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit. 

Saskia de Vries

Teaching Sessions: Visual Ethology

How do we see the world around us? This series will explore the mechanisms of our visual system, and how our brain creates our perception of the world around us. We will explore our own experiences and also those of other organisms that live in different ecological niches to appreciate the range of visual experience in our world.

Saskia de Vries is a neuroscientist at the Allen Institute in Seattle Washington. Her research has focused primarily on visual physiology, how the cells and circuits in our eyes and brain transform the visual world into perception. She’s a Ruling Elder in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and is active in her community at Northminster Presbyterian Church. She regularly preaches on the intersection of science and faith. 

Anjuli Shah-Johnson

Teaching Sessions: Embodied Journey

Join Anjuli for sessions created to encourage curiosity and wonder about our emotional body’s knowledge. Through conversations and experiential activities focused on physical sensation and nervous system messages as they relate to our emotional being, we will reconnect with our inner core wisdom. 

Anjuli Shah-Johnson is a somatic therapist who integrates teachings from the worlds of clinical social work and bodywork in hopes of walking alongside others in finding the paths that connect their body, mind and heart. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and a Licensed Massage Therapist with specialized training in utilizing therapeutic touch and craniosacral techniques to tend to folks who have experienced trauma and who hope to feel more at home in their lives, relationships and bodies. 

Kaethe Schwehn

Teaching Sessions: Creative Writing Through the Epistolary Form

The epistolary form has served to connect humans to one another and to the world for centuries. In these sessions we’ll look at a variety of letters: Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, Martin Luther King Jr’s missive to white religious leaders, Lenny Duncan’s letter to the ELCA. We’ll examine poetic epistles to lost sisters, rich Gentiles, forgotten friends, estranged parents and we’ll marvel over some particularly scathing letters to the editor. Then participants will be invited to write their own letters: to themselves, to lost loved ones, to political/institutional leaders, and to God.

Kaethe Schwehn is an author who teaches various creative writing courses at St. Olaf College. Her first book, Tailings: A Memoir, about living at Holden Village from 2001-2002, won the 2015 Minnesota Book Award for Creative Nonfiction and her chapbook of poems, Tanka & Me, was selected for the Mineral Point Chapbook Series. In addition to holding MFAs from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and the University of Montana, Schwehn has been the recipient of an Academy of American Poets prize, a Minnesota Arts Board Grant, and a Loft Mentor Series Award.

Earth Ministry / Washington Interfaith Power and Light

Co-Teaching Sessions: Faithful Advocacy for Environmental Justice

The religious community is an important constituency with a unique moral voice, and people of faith are well known for working together for the common good. Taking that action into the realm of advocacy can seem intimidating, and many people aren’t sure how to begin. In this workshop we will demystify the process of faithful advocacy, share examples of faith community engagement in current environmental justice campaigns, and provide tools for you to communicate your values to elected officials. You will emerge ready to share your story as a faithful advocate!

Earth Ministry/Washington Interfaith Power & Light (WAIPL) transforms faith into action for the well-being of communities and the environment. We organize people of faith to advocate for strong environmental policies and provide strategic guidance to religious communities working toward environmental justice. Our Greening Congregations program was the first in the country to help houses of worship implement sustainable practices, and our Faithful Advocacy program is on the cutting edge of empowering clergy and lay leaders to speak out on public policy issues. Learn more at earthministry.org

John Tirro

Guest Musician

John Tirro is Pastor of Worship at St John’s Lutheran Church (ELCA), in Knoxville, TN, and a composer of hymns, such as “To You All Hearts Are Open” (Holden Prayer Around the Cross, All Creation Sings). He has written hits for the pop end of Country radio (“So Much for Pretending” for Bryan White. “Imagine That” for Diamond Rio), as well as songs on best-selling albums by LeAnn Rimes and Rascal Flatts. John is an experienced band leader, choir director, and record producer; he loves monasteries, mindfulness, and retreats; his music leans toward the contemplative; and his favorite sound is people singing together.

Erin Colbert-White

Teaching Sessions: Dominion or Stewardship? Interrogating Our Relationship With Animals

In this series, we will start by investigating our personal biases about animals (e.g., Which are smart?) and explore the role Judeo-Christian messaging had in shaping those biases. We will consider the mantra that every species is uniquely suited to thrive in its environment, offering an opportunity to extend compassion towards all species, including our own. Finally, we will put it all together and discuss challenging topics like pet ownership, with the hope of arriving at new ways of thinking about and interacting with those with whom we share the planet.

Dr. Erin Colbert-White is a cognitive ethologist who studies animal cognition at the University of Puget Sound. Her main research interests are human-animal social relationships and the issue of consciousness in other species.  Taking an interdisciplinary lens that spans biology, psychology, ethics, and history, Erin invites students to reflect upon their own biases about animals, consider where those biases have historically come from, and integrate what the ever-evolving science of the nonhuman animal mind can teach us.

Krish O’Mara Vignarajah

Teaching Sessions: TBA

Krish O’Mara Vignarajah is the President and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (lirs.org). She previously served in the Obama White House as Policy Director for First Lady Michelle Obama and at the State Department as Senior Advisor under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of State John Kerry. At the White House, Krish led the First Lady’s signature Let Girls Learn initiative. At the State Department, she coordinated development and implementation of multiple programs including those concerning refugees and migration, engagement with religious communities, the legal dimensions of U.S. foreign policy, and regional issues relating to Africa and the Middle East. She worked closely with USAID, Health & Human Services and the Department of Defense. She has been recognized as one of The Daily Record’s “Top 100 Women” and serves on the Advisory Committee of the American Bar Association’s Commission on Immigration.

David Westerlund + Sara McMahon

Co-Teaching Sessions: What Future Are You Practicing For? Liberation via Applied Improvisation

Our volatile, complex, and uncertain world requires us to learn to listen, cultivate empathy, and amplify our abilities to connect and collaborate. We need a way to embody these skills and promote the well-being of ourselves, our communities, and societies. Applied Improvisation gives us this gift by giving us permission to play, unlocking potential in us to collaborate with wonder, joy, creativity, and possibility! Our highly-interactive, deeply reflective, and fun/joyfilled workshops will leave you feeling more deeply connected and give you simple yet potent games and exercises for you to carry with you down the mountain into your worlds beyond Holden.

David Westerlund delights in listening to the aspirations of leaders and helping them unlock hidden resources by facilitating meaningful engagement. This unleashes innovation, and leads to resilient, supportive, joyful, and agile workplace cultures that allow organizations to have greater momentum and impact towards their mission. His work as a consultant, designer/facilitator, and coach is informed by the philosophy and practice of Liberating Structures and Applied Improvisation, both of which remind us that there is a lot of wisdom in the room, and amplify our ability to tap into that and experience collective synergy. BePresentDiscoverJoy.com

Sara McMahon is a classically trained actress with tendencies to fly by the seat of her pants, an improv instructor and performer, who teaches others how to enhance listening skills, playfulness, empathy, connectedness, and liberation from fear of failure. She is an emerging papercut artist, whom you can visit at IG @saramacpapercuts.

Raúl Sánchez

Teaching Sessions: Poetry Inspired by the Aztecs

We will create new work based on the main poets of the time before the conquest. Among them, Nezahualcóyotl and Tlatecatzin, who were the most important poets and rulers of the time. Their poems vary between reverence to nature, demigods, the representatives of the four elements, the four directions, earth, moon and the movement of the sun. For the Aztecs, Tonatiuh (the sun), and Metztli (the moon), dictated all their daily activities which were communicated in the oral tradition of Flower and Song or “In Xóchitl, In Cuicatl”.

Raúl Sánchez is the former City of Redmond Poet Laureate 2019 – 2021. He teaches poetry in Spanish through the Seattle Arts and Lectures (WITS) program, also through the Jack Straw Educational Project. He runs the Poetry in the Park event at the Meadowbrook Pond in NE Seattle. His work has appeared in a multitude of journals, magazines, and anthologies such as IN XOCHITL, IN CUICATL or Floricanto – “Flower and Song” 100 years of chicanx/latinx poetry, published by Editorial Polibea, Madrid, Spain. 

Ellen Bernstein

Teaching Sessions: The Hebrew Bible: an Ecological Perspective

Rabbi Ellen Bernstein is a pioneer in the field of religion and ecology. Founder of the first national Jewish environmental organization, Shomrei Adamah, Keepers of the Earth (1988), she is the author of numerous books on Judaism, the Hebrew Bible and Ecology. In 2020 during the pandemic, Ellen launched the Earth Seder movement, helping to organize several dozen world-wide Earth Seders on Zoom. Ellen writes, teaches and consults on the intersection of Bible and ecology. She is an advisor to the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology.

Elly McHan + Rob Curtis

Guest Musicians

Elly McHan studied for an MDiv at Wartburg Seminary and served as an ELCA pastor with Global Mission in Norway and Palestine, and as Campus Pastor at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, before moving back to Canada to serve with the ELCIC, teach viola, and serve as a Spiritual Director. Rob Curtis finished his Doctor of Music at the University of Alberta in Edmonton while serving as a church musician, singing professionally with Pro Coro Canada and serving as Artistic Director of i Coristi Chamber Choir.  Elly and Rob love geeking out over music, theology, liturgy, life, learning, travel, and board games. te

Lenny Duncan

Teaching Sessions: A People’s History of Magic: a Decolonial Counter Narrative of Western Esotericism

Sessions will focus on lost relationship with land and space and what the Christian Mystics tell us about the garden of Eden. Drawing from the still-emergent field of what has been called “western esotericism,” or “mysticism.” Students will get the opportunity to understand some of the major concepts, critiques, and debates in the field. It will also simultaneously offer a counter narrative critical of past academic claims around the history and construction of esotericism as we know it in the Americas. Critical study of this field is needed not just because of its resurgence in American culture, but also to challenge its overtly Western European worldview and roots. Examining this area of emergent spirituality practiced by a large portion of modern society with an anti-racist and decolonial lens, students and instructors, can start to disentangle these in the Northern American political construct of “whiteness.”

Lenny Duncan (they/them) produces art and media at the intersections of faith and radical abolitionist dreams in America. Lenny is the author of Dear Church and United States of Grace, and the Forthcoming: Dear Revolutionaries – A Field Guide to the World Beyond the Church. They are a PhD student in historical and cultural studies of religion, who concentrates their studies in “New Religious Movements.”

Jin-Ya Huang

Teaching Sessions: The Longest Love Letter

Break Bread, Break Borders is a social enterprise, building a culinary workforce development program to empower refugee women from war-torn countries to find job opportunities by sharing their food, culture, and storytelling. We are a catering company that’s making “Food for Good” for social impact. BBBB breaks bread with the communities, and breaks down borders at the same time. In this DEI workshop BBBB Founder will facilitate an immersive food diversity equity inclusion experience. Attendees will participate to discuss food insecurities in refugee communities.

Jin-Ya Huang is a social impact, community architect and creative innovator with a focus on the intersection of equity, design, and social justice work. She is the founder of Break Bread, Break Borders, a social enterprise in Dallas, Texas. An acclaimed interdisciplinary artist, she creates work that examines her Asian identity and diasporic immigrant experience.

Dax Soule

Teaching Sessions: The Geology of Holden Village

Holden Village is fundamentally tied to the geologic processes that formed the North Cascades and concentrated mineral resources in the surrounding mountains. We will discuss the local geologic environment in the context of plate tectonics the constructional processes that gave rise to the mountainous terrain. Then we will discuss the glaciers that carved the valleys as we see them today and discuss our future in the context of global climate change.

Dr. Dax Soule is a field-oriented geophysicist with a background in solid earth geophysics, oceanography, and STEM education. Dr. Soule is currently conducting geophysical experiments to better understand the Dynamics of Back-arc Rifting in the Bransfield Strait, Antarctica.

Cole Parke-West

Teaching Sessions: Organizing for Liberation in a Messy, Beautiful World

The world is a mess, but it’s also full of beautiful, brilliant, extraordinary people (like you!) who desperately want to make it better. In this series, we’ll learn about the fundamentals of social justice organizing, conflict transformation, and ritual-in-action. Whether you’re new to change-making or a long time veteran, your wisdom is welcome!

Cole Parke-West studied theology at Texas Lutheran University, earned their Master’s in Conflict Transformation at Eastern Mennonite University’s Center for Justice & Peacebuilding, and has been working at the intersections of faith, gender, and sexuality as an activist, organizer, and scholar for nearly 20 years. 

Raúl Sánchez

Teaching Sessions: Poetry Inspired by the Aztecs

We will create new work based on the main poets of the time before the conquest. Among them, Nezahualcóyotl and Tlatecatzin, who were the most important poets and rulers of the time. Their poems vary between reverence to nature, demigods, the representatives of the four elements, the four directions, earth, moon and the movement of the sun. For the Aztecs, Tonatiuh (the sun), and Metztli (the moon), dictated all their daily activities which were communicated in the oral tradition of Flower and Song or “In Xóchitl, In Cuicatl”.

Raúl Sánchez is the former City of Redmond Poet Laureate 2019 – 2021. He teaches poetry in Spanish through the Seattle Arts and Lectures (WITS) program, also through the Jack Straw Educational Project. He runs the Poetry in the Park event at the Meadowbrook Pond in NE Seattle. His work has appeared in a multitude of journals, magazines, and anthologies such as IN XOCHITL, IN CUICATL or Floricanto – “Flower and Song” 100 years of chicanx/latinx poetry, published by Editorial Polibea, Madrid, Spain. 

Laron Dowdell

Guest Musician

Laron has served diverse church ministries, quartet groups, and special engagements for approximately 15 years. Laron has also taught students from different background and ages how to play piano by ear. Laron has enjoyed joining various forms of musical needs for diverse communities. He is a staunch advocate for learning a wide range of musical styles to enrich the musical experience. 

Eric Eitrheim

Teaching Sessions: The Ethics and Science of Energy Production, Storage, Transportation and Waste Disposal

Our energy production methods have serious ethical implications yet are poorly understood by the public. In these sessions, we will discuss various energy production technologies as they pertain to climate change, energy storage, transportation, and waste disposal. Most notably, nuclear power and hydraulic fracturing are particularly misunderstood especially regarding their potential impacts on anthropogenic global climate change.

Dr. Eric Eitrheim is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of Central Oklahoma specializing in Environmental, Inorganic, and Nuclear Chemistry. He has an interest in scientific literacy with a focus on energy production technologies. His research has explored various nuclear and hydraulic fracturing wastes including the characterization, disposal, transportation, and geologic repositories. 

Karen Peters

Teaching Sessions: Rosen Method Movement: Connecting us to Ourselves, Each Other, and the Earth

Rosen Method Movement brings us tenderly into deep awareness of our whole selves. It helps us to find aliveness and grounding within ourselves, in the context of a kind community. It is also joyful, engaging, restorative, and fun! All bodies are welcome.

Karen Peters, M.Div (Union Theological Seminary, NYC), is a Senior Rosen Method Movement Teacher and teaches movement classes and workshops locally and online.

Benjamin Wiseman

Teaching Sessions: Soil for Food, Farmers, and the Future.

Regenerative agriculture is gaining the attention of consumers, farmers, and environmental protectors as a framework to produce food while sequestering carbon and building soil health. However, soil health is a complex and ambiguous goal. We will join the discourse surrounding the definition, measurement, and pursuit of regenerative agriculture from the perspective of soil science.

Ben is inquisitive person who studies plants, soils, and agriculture. He is currently a graduate student at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa where he studies breadfruit, sweet potatoes, and soil pathogens. He is always trying to imagine an ethical way of producing food for a health planet and healthy population.

Dan Castillo + Paul Griffith

Co-Teaching Sessions: Understanding the Planetary Emergency Through a Lens of Christian Faith

We will explore the need to honestly name our anger, fear, and sadness, amidst the planetary emergency while crying out to God, in hope, for healing and deliverance. In dialogue with scripture, we consider how persons and communities of faith might cultivate practices of lament within their own contexts today.

Daniel Castillo is Associate Professor of Theology at Loyola University Maryland whose teaching and research focuses on the intersection of liberation theology, environmental ethics, and the theological interpretation of scripture.

Paul Griffith is a lifelong religious educator with a particular focus on social & ecological justice. He has formulated and directed numerous retreats, workshops, and spiritual formation classes and his day-to-day ministry is faith formation in the classroom at Jesuit High School in Portland, OR.

Laron Dowdell

Guest Musician

Laron has served diverse church ministries, quartet groups, and special engagements for approximately 15 years. Laron has also taught students from different background and ages how to play piano by ear. Laron has enjoyed joining various forms of musical needs for diverse communities. He is a staunch advocate for learning a wide range of musical styles to enrich the musical experience. 

Giovana Oaxaca

Teaching Sessions: TBA

Giovana Oaxaca (she/her/ella) is the Program Director for Migration Policy with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s (ELCA) D.C. office for Witness in Society. In this role, she works for more just and humane federal immigration policies within a domestic and international context, engagement informed by the experience of Lutheran congregations and ministries, including the ELCA AMMPARO strategy. Giovana was previously a Government Relations Associate with a Catholic faith-based social justice organization in Washington D.C. 

Dan Castillo + Paul Griffith

Co-Teaching Sessions: Understanding the Planetary Emergency Through a Lens of Christian Faith

We will explore the need to honestly name our anger, fear, and sadness, amidst the planetary emergency while crying out to God, in hope, for healing and deliverance. In dialogue with scripture, we consider how persons and communities of faith might cultivate practices of lament within their own contexts today.

Daniel Castillo is Associate Professor of Theology at Loyola University Maryland whose teaching and research focuses on the intersection of liberation theology, environmental ethics, and the theological interpretation of scripture.

Paul Griffith is a lifelong religious educator with a particular focus on social & ecological justice. He has formulated and directed numerous retreats, workshops, and spiritual formation classes and his day-to-day ministry is faith formation in the classroom at Jesuit High School in Portland, OR.

David Vásquez-Levy

Teaching Sessions: TBA

Rev. Dr. David Vásquez-Levy serves as President of Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California –a progressive, multidenominational seminary and center for social justice that prepares theologically and spiritually rooted leaders to work for the well-being of all. A committed pastor, a nationally recognized immigration leader, and a sought after speaker, Vásquez-Levy leads at the intersection of faith, higher education, and social change. Vásquez-Levy regularly contributes a faith perspective to the national conversation on immigration and is the author of various publications that explore migration stories in sacred texts and in people’s lives. 

John Beck

Teaching Sessions: Playing With Watercolor

Participants will learn how to paint with a limited palette of primary colors. We will work with a warm and cool of each of the three primaries and one neutral. People will learn how to creat a full range of colors.

John Beck received a BS in Art Education from Western Oregon University, completed a 5th year Art Education program at Portland State University, and received a MA in Education from Portland State University. He is a member of the Oregon Art Education Association as well as the National Art Education Association.  He has taught both undergraduate and graduate art courses for prospective teachers and continuing ed. workshops and courses for teachers already in the field. John first came to Holden Village as a short term summer Potter in 1999 and has continued to volunteer to teach pottery, colored pencils, and watercolors over the years. It is his favorite place to teach and recharge.

Paul Vasile + Patti Powell 

Guest Musicians

Paul Vasile (he/him) is a church musician, consultant, composer, and teacher with over 25 years of ministry experience in ecumenical contexts. He is currently Executive Director of Music that Makes Community.

Kiara Jorgenson

Teaching Sessions: Human Matters and Humans as Matter

Contemporary environmental realities pose many challenges to theological claims about God’s relationship to “nature” and humanity’s place and role within it. In response, many Christians have reframed human responsibility with concepts like stewardship and eco-justice. But what does science say? This session will explore how a deeper study of matter might influence Christian ideas about what it means to be human. 

Kiara Jorgenson is a theological ethicist who teaches teaches at St. Olaf College. Her research interests include: Protestant ecotheologies, vocation, ecofeminisms, agrarian studies, environmental racism & ecological resistance movements, childhood studies, and the theology of motherwork. Kiara recently published Ecology of Vocation: Recasting Calling in a New Planetary Era (Fortress/Lexington, 2020) and an edited volume, Ecotheology: A Christian Conversation (Eerdmans, 2020).

Peeyush Kumar + Marisa Hebb

Co-Teaching Sessions: Images of Divine – Exploring the stories of our life and our relationships as reflections of Eden

We will start by orienting ourselves to the concept of Eden & nature of our relationships with ourselves, each other, nature and God. Awareness of the fundamental nature of these relationships invites a connection with Eden – creating a reciprocal loop of belief/imagination with practice/experience. We will explore our stories in this context. This exploration will weave through embodied experiential practices in the beautiful setting of Holden. We will bring this exploration to a close with a reflection circle.

Peeyush Kumar is a systems scholar of cultures, economics & technology. His primary work is to build social technologies which support in building cultures of harmony, richness and equity. Currently, he is working as a senior research scientist at Microsoft Research with a focus on food supply chain and energy systems and independent consultant across various aspects such as artificial intelligence, sustainability, resiliency, equity, and efficiency. Peeyush holds a PhD from UW Seattle in Artificial Intelligence and Operations Research.

Marisa Hebb SEP is a trainer and facilitator leading groups in the We are Open Circle method. We are Open Circle guides groups to build collaboration, access collective wisdom, and adapt to change. Marisa is a coach and consultant offering Somatic Experiencing and tools that harmonize the body, psyche, and emotions for greater resilience and integrity. These tools include listening circles, permaculture, song and dance, Systema, peer counseling, and contemplative prayer. Marisa is also currently working as the interim Permaculture Director at Gift of Grace Lutheran Church in Seattle. Marisa grounds her work in over a decade of Contemplative prayer practice and study of Christian Wisdom and monastic traditions in an earth-based context.    

John Beck

Teaching Sessions: Playing With Watercolor

Participants will learn how to paint with a limited palette of primary colors. We will work with a warm and cool of each of the three primaries and one neutral. People will learn how to create a full range of colors.

John Beck received a BS in Art Education from Western Oregon University, completed a 5th year Art Education program at Portland State University, and received a MA in Education from Portland State University. He is a member of the Oregon Art Education Association as well as the National Art Education Association.  He has taught both undergraduate and graduate art courses for prospective teachers and continuing ed. workshops and courses for teachers already in the field. John first came to Holden Village as a short term summer Potter in 1999 and has continued to volunteer to teach pottery, colored pencils, and watercolors over the years. It is his favorite place to teach and recharge.

Cecie Suknaic Saulnier

Teaching Sessions: Young Adult Ministry in the ELCA: The Good, The Bad/Ugly, and the Future

This series will take place in four parts: an introduction to what young adult ministry looks like in the ELCA; a look at positive examples of young adult ministry in the ELCA through case studies and conversation; a look at negative examples of young adult ministry in the ELCA through case studies; and a session to dream about the future of young adult ministry in the ELCA. It will be facilitated and led by a young adult – and will prioritize space for voices of young adults in the Holden Community.

Cecie Suknaic Saulnier (she/her) currently serves as Vicar at St. Martin’s Lutheran Church in Austin, Texas. She has been studying at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago since 2019, focusing on feminist theology and growing her voice for the importance of young adult ministry. As a young adult leader in the church, she craves spaces for intentional community, creative worship, and deep conversation. 

Tim O’Brien,  Katherine Altobello, + Austin Haller

Guest Musicians

Dr. Tim O’Brien is Director of Music at St. Martin’s Lutheran Church in Austin, Texas. A three-time Grammy nominee, Tim is a member of the Austin-based Conspirare and teaches at Texas State University. Along with Associate director Austin Haller and Mezzo-Soprano Katherine Altobello O’Brien, Dr. O’Brien has developed the music at St.Martin’s family services, which explores the spiritual aspects of secular music, combining a wide variety of styles and genres 

Katherine Altobello has performed with the New York City Ballet, San Diego Opera, the National Chorale at Lincoln Center, Austin Opera, Tulsa Opera, the Knoxville Symphony, among others. Ms. Altobello holds a Master of Music in Voice from Indiana University and a Bachelor of Arts in Music and Theater from Southwestern University.Katherine resides in her hometown of Austin, and teaches voice at Southwestern University. 

Austin Haller is an organist, pianist, conductor, vocal coach, and arranger who can be heard in Texas and beyond. He serves as Organist for the Austin Symphony and as Principal Organist at St. Martin’s Lutheran Church in Austin, and he has led hymn festivals and presented solo organ concerts throughout the southern United States. 

Gabriela Garcia Greco

Teaching Sessions: Reflecting on Community and the Arts

These sessions invite attendees to explore and question their relationship with community and nature through art. Our relationship with our natural environment is a reflection of our relationship with ourselves. We will explore the joyful and challenging aspects of these relationships through comics, drawing, mindfulness, and embroidery. 

Gabi is an illustrator and designer based in Coast Salish land (Seattle). She was born and raised in Venezuela, and is mostly self-taught in her art practice. She works in digital media, watercolor, lino, and embroidery. Gabi loves facilitating art workshops, and making the exploration and practice of art accessible to everyone in their community. 

Carol + Paul Hinderlie

Teaching Sessions, led by Carol: Movement Improvement – Enhancing Life with Feldenkrais

Feldenkrais uses our learning brain’s talent for discovering and restoring healthy movement. Guided attention takes advantage of the brain’s ability to establish new neural pathways for the simplest, most beneficial ways to move and be. With gentle lessons, using our attention, we can improve how we move and feel whether we suffer from injury, overuse, non-optimal habits, or just want to move and feel better.

Teaching Sessions, led by Paul: Welcomed, equipped and sent out –60 years of real people venturing down the mountain

Holden Village is a ‘sending’ ministry But first: The ministry begins with welcome; then comes conversation and change–because people’s lives are changed–equipped-made new even. Finally, everyone is sent ‘down the mountain’ with (we hope) good courage. For 60 years, Holden Village has welcomed and gathered in multitudes. I want to tell (and hear) stories. Holden, when its mission is ‘working’ (and playing!) welcomes, equips, and sends out thousands of people. They are sent down the mountain with courage for lives of adventure. I love to tell Holden Village stories. I’m also happy to spend time telling stories about Holden history but, first, let’s tell and hear tales of welcome, equipping, and sending.

Paul and Carol Hinderlie served Holden Village as Executive Directors from 2005 to 2010 with friend Tom Ahlstrom.  Before that, the trio ran the Harbor View Cafe in Pepin, Wisconsin for 25 years. 

Edward Donalson + Willie B. Heard IV

Co-Teaching Sessions: Progressive Masculinity

Dr. Edward Donalson III is the Doctor of Ministry Director at the School of Theology and Ministry at Seattle University. He is an author, entrepreneur, thought coach, and visionary multi-media personality with a dynamic message of empowerment. 

Elise Watness Maupin + Sam Maupin

Co-Teaching Sessions: Gardening through Art

We can change the environment through creative participation. In this course we will use art and meditation exercises to bring our personal environment into the imaginary space. Understanding nature’s processes through plant observation will bring forth ideas for environmental stewardship at Holden, at home and beyond. The goal of this course is to understand techniques that tune our joyful feelings to the living world.

Elise Watness Maupin  is a Northwest Artist and Instructor. She connects gardening and art through printmaking, painting, photography, and journaling to explore inherent lessons in nature’s beauty. Her backgrounds in Montessori education, food sovereignty, and teaching botanical art focus her work into a course curriculum for everyone. 

Sam Maupin is a life-long horticultural professional working at The Brothers Greenhouses in Port Orchard, WA. He holds a degree in Horticulture Science from WSU. Sam’s personal mission is to help people identify how to make big changes in the world through gardening.

Darren Hochstedler + John Bumanglag

Guest Musicians

Darren Hochstedler is the recently-retired Director of Worship Arts for Edmonds Lutheran Church. His passion is using music, visual and performing arts to enliven the worship experience while observing the ancient patterns of worship.

John Bumanglag is a liturgist at Edmonds Lutheran Church where he serves as Assisting Minister, writes prayer, and assists with many aspects of the various musical groups, including leading an African drum circle.

Emily Johnston + Annie Dwyer

Teaching Sessions: Climate Change and the Spirit of Resilience

This series will focus on the stark realities of climate change, with a view to building the spirit of resilience that will be required of us to survive, thrive, and realize a future rooted in environmental justice. From grappling with our grief and fear to engaging with the ecological imagination to envisioning the important role that faith communities might play in climate activism, this series employs a range of modalities to cultivate “good courage” in the face of climate change.

Annie Dwyer holds a PhD in English literature and culture and currently teaches in the University of Washington’s Comparative History of Ideas department. Her scholarship and teaching sits at the intersection of the environmental humanities and feminist, queer, and critical race studies.  As the Washington state coordinator for the Climate Psychology Alliance-North America, Annie works to expand capacities for and access to climate-aware mental health care.

Emily Johnston is a poet, essayist, and troublemaker who co-founded the grassroots climate group 350 Seattle in 2013, and served for many years as its communications director. Emily was also one of the “valve turners” who shut down the tar sands crude oil pipelines running into the US one day in 2016.

Kelly Sherman Conroy

Teaching Sessions: American Indian Spirituality- A Worldview of Healing

Kelly Sherman-Conroy; Mato Wašté Winyan (Good Bear Woman), has grounded her life in the Holy Spirit and the deep spiritual practices intertwined between her Lakota identity and Christian beliefs. A member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, Kelly dedicates her time providing ministry around the exploration of intersections of identity, personal narratives, and faith. Currently based in Minnesota, Kelly is a Native American Theologian who walks with people of all cultures. She dedicates her time exploring with people around the world with the intersections of identity, personal narratives, faith, and healing through an Indigenous lens.

Gabriela Garcia Greco

Teaching Sessions: Reflecting on Community and the Arts

These sessions invite attendees to explore and question their relationship with community and nature through art. Our relationship with our natural environment is a reflection of our relationship with ourselves. We will explore the joyful and challenging aspects of these relationships through comics, drawing, mindfulness, and embroidery. 

Gabi is an illustrator and designer based in Coast Salish land (Seattle). She was born and raised in Venezuela, and is mostly self-taught in her art practice. She works in digital media, watercolor, lino, and embroidery. Gabi loves facilitating art workshops, and making the exploration and practice of art accessible to everyone in their community. 

Darren Hochstedler + John Bumanglag

Guest Musicians

Darren Hochstedler is the recently-retired Director of Worship Arts for Edmonds Lutheran Church. His passion is using music, visual and performing arts to enliven the worship experience while observing the ancient patterns of worship.

John Bumanglag is a liturgist at Edmonds Lutheran Church where he serves as Assisting Minister, writes prayer, and assists with many aspects of the various musical groups, including leading an African drum circle.