Observing nature has taught me life's most valuable lessons. I grew up migratory. My parents worked in Miami in the winter and in a small marine research town in Cape Cod every summer. Flocks of green parrots laughed like children coming home from school. Flamingos, Pelicans, Kingfishers, Egrets, Roseate Spoonbills, Anhingas, Seagulls: all demonstrated the power and the beauty of nature's diversity. Writing and drawing emerged as a way of understanding environments. I moved to New York in 1988 to study the city.

Birds are our angels, our symbol of freedom and hope. Our hearts soar watching them fly and find comfort in the metaphor of nest. In studying linguistics I found that the human cry is related to that of baby birds. The little ones call out from the nest so that their parents will follow the sound to locate them. Human cries are a way of saying "I am here.Come find me."

I have a fourteen year old friend in California who
finds that whenever he is lost, crows gather and from
them he orients himself and navigates home.

In Nairobi, I have seen the Secretary bird walking
with giant steps, seeming to have its suit on and
arms behind its back, helping officials to have a
sense of humor in themselves.

In Lao P.D.R. I have exchanged words with a
Magpie. "Where are you going?" (Pai Sai?) it would
mimic to all that passed.

In Santiago de Cuba we painted giant birds
transforming into people in a collaborative mural.
Alisha Wormsley shared her wonderful poem,"When we
were birds."

A small finch taking a dust bath in Prospect Park
looks so much like an old man with tousled feathers
that I am filled with sadness and joy. Grandpa Finch.

Virginia Hamilton in her book The People Could Fly tells of enslaved people who grew wings to escape the abuses of slavery. Spirituals call to us - "I'll fly
away." Barbara Bash,in Urban Roost, illustrates how birds live amongst us in New York city.

All of this to say that our identification with nature
teaches us about ourselves and each other. Drawing and
painting are my song.