About Linda

I live in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri with my partner/lover Denslow Brown. Our home is part of a 300-acre lesbian land trust.  In addition to my writing and research, I spend time hiking, gardening, participating in community projects, caring for and communing with two donkeys, nine chickens and three cats who make their home with us.

I was born in Michigan in 1938 and grew up with my parents and younger brother, Jon. I spent a lot of time as a kid exploring the woods near our rural home and on the beaches of Lake Michigan. We moved to Detroit in the 50’s and I attended an inner-city high school—playing basketball and hanging out in a girl gang. Nature and gangs of girls proved to be a theme throughout my life.

In college I majored in philosophy (BA, MA, ABD).  At some point I learned that the Greek mathematician, Pythagoras, coined the term philosophy to describe the growing search for wisdom that many people around the world were engaged in at the time. The term philosophy means ‘love of Sophia’ (philo-sophia), or ‘love of wisdom.’ This information resonated with me and through the years I felt myself developing a personal relationship with Sophia.

In the early 1970's after the second wave of feminism hit Southwestern Michigan, I was living in a farmhouse with Sherry Redding (my partner/lover at the time) and teaching philosophy at Thomas Jefferson College. TJC was an experimental college; the students and faculty created our own curriculum and designed our own classes. Sherry, Jere VanSyoc and I along with a group of students developed a woman’s studies program called Women World and Wonder. Our curriculum was organized around the seasons of the year and our courses focused on activities that promoted self-knowledge, confidence, flexibility, and an ability to act in the world without compromising one’s true self.  A strong feminist and lesbian community developed at the college and as our activities expanded we joined with members of the established lesbian community in Grand Rapids to form a large diverse community of women and children, which we called Aradia. This was probably the most intense, often ecstatic, time of in my life and has informed my life decisions ever since.

In a fearful reaction to lesbian feminism by the dominant culture, the college shut down the Women World and Wonder program in 1979. I wasn’t willing to give up the momentum developed in Women World and Wonder so I resigned my tenured position and Sherry and I moved into Jere’s house (often known as “The Temple”) in town. I got a job as a house painter on Karen Clahassy’s all woman crew and poured my energy and vision into Aradia.

In 1983 I moved to Ithaca, New York to live with Deborah Jones and while there worked as a massage therapist (trained at the Florida School of Massage) and with the AIDS/hospice community.  I was also active in the Ithaca Women’s Affinity Group during the protest of nuclear weapons at the Seneca Army Depot. 

In 1987 Denslow Brown and I fell in love and began to create a life together. In 1989 we traveled to the Ozarks to visit old friends from Aradia, including Susan Wiseheart and Jenna Weston, and ended up staying and building a home on a hilltop here at Hawk Hill Community Land Trust. For my 60th birthday, I mowed a large labyrinth in a field and held a croning ceremony. I declared myself a Crone and committed myself to continue to more fully integrate and align my physical, emotional and mental natures, embracing wisdom in my own being.

As part of my continuing search for Sophia, I enrolled at Sancta Sophia Seminary where I was ordained as a minister and completed a PhD in Spiritual Studies in 2005.  I am posting some of the papers I wrote while studying at Sancta Sophia, including excerpts from my dissertation.