I have served on many Boards and Committees and embraced many political, environmental, cultural and social causes. Don't worry - I'm not going to list them all! But I am proud to recall being 9 months pregnant with my first child, Eleanna, in 1989, and being physically removed by the local police from the Milton Fruit Center parking lot along with my dear friend Susanna Place.  We were campaigning for reproductive rights. How can it be that years later we are still campaigning for basic reproductive rights? In any case, aside from supporting efforts initiated by others, here are a few of the actions which I've authored. 

Age& women-Friendly platform for the cycling community

In the summer of 2023 I launched an initiative to make changes in cycling platforms to encourage older riders and women to stay in the game - or to jump in (!) and to make it more fun. I am advocating specific changes on Strava, Zwift and in all IRL (In Real Life) Racing Events. It is early in the campaign. My platform is here.

Friends of Historic route 146

I am privileged to live on a historic road in Guilford, CT with wonderful natural areas, farms, and houses dating to the early 1700’s. It is one of only two state-designated historic state roads. There are many threats to this serene and beauitful place, important for the ecosystem and greatly enjoyed by locals and visitor from afar. It is a favorite for cyclists and walkers with many gorgeous vistas and deep breaths of the salt air. With friends and neighbors, in 2021 I organized this group to protect the common good. You can learn more about our mission, organizational principles and ongoing efforts on our website HERE.

black lives matter ,

In 2020, in response to a conversaion taking place within my cycling community about diversity and inclusion, I proposed the largest geo-art Strava message ever written. With an incredible team we solved all the challenges, including new technology, to enable 600+ participants to join forces in a 100 mile long letters stretching from New York to Maine. Press Release is HERE. Before this idea came to me I had been “writing” messages, inspired by my distaste for Trump’s policies, on Town Greens and beaches. Then the lightbulb went off.

Advances for Women in sports

I was learning, through my involvement in the sport, that 50+ year old women fall of the charts in cycling. The disparity in opportunity and economics in general for women and girls in athletics, has long been a pet cause and frustration (*). In December 2016, I unearthed the fact that older women simply were not in the game in the pinnacle of endurance cycling - RAAM (Race Across America). It is a grueling non-stop transnational time trial. There were no records for women in their 60’s though the men have records in many categories running into their 80’s! I discovered this fact while was telling a colleague about my friends’ amazing accomplishment of simultaneously setting the 70 year old and 60 year old 4-man team record for RAAM (Patterson, Metz, Burnett, Higgins) in 2012. I jumped on the RAAM site to get their time and while scrolling through, realized this amazing fact. NO 60 year old WOMEN. I instantaneously determined that this was something that should change. Then I came to my senses for a while. But by January I set aside practical constraints and good sense. I raised $100k, recruited top women riders and a fabulous crew and a sponsors led by The Brigham and Craft Sports. We were off and training. We had a great race and made our point. We also raised a considerable sum of money for medical research focused on women’s health. One small step forward. www.teambrighamhealth.com Here’s the Only A Game NPR interview with the great Bill Littlefield - a huge honor for me but also a win for visibility. I am still working on age and gender bias on a few fronts and hope to report more progress on that in time.

* I had benefitted from being the first class of Title IX athletes and was tolerated on the boys track team in CT. But the coach never got fully on board and “forgot” to reserve a lane for me in the State Meets where I had qualified to run against other girls for the first time.

Clearing the Path - Boston

In June 2014 I organized a meeting of 150 MA CEO's and leaders, including Governor Patrick and Mayor Walsh, to examine the proposition that MA could and should lead the nation on two important and measurable objectives which reflect the role of women in business: The % of Women on Boards & The % Gender Wage Gap.  It was the first such gathering of its kind.  Our premise was that progress could be accelerated if we get the decision makers in the room.  OUTCOMES:  We have heard many anecdotal reports subsequently of individual corporate actions and will be following up with data this year.  Additionally, for the first time, the organizations which work on these issues are now gathering regularly for a collaborative conversation.  And finally a Resolution was introduced and voted unamimously in the summer of 2015 calling on MA to achieve gender parity on Boards and laying out specific steps to get there. Clearing the Path was sponsored by the Alliance for Business Leadership where I serve on the Board, and co-sponsored by an impressive collection of organizations with a wide spectrum of economic & social agendas. Click here for a link to the Clearing the Path Overview

Sweet Home Mother's Day Ride 

In 2009 I travelled to Family  Homeless Shelters in 15 cities from Atlanta to Boston, riding my bicycle solo from shelter to shelter with a goal of publicizing the family homelessness crisis and putting a more accurate public face on the people who seek refuge there. We threw a Gingerbread House decorating party at each stop.  Sound silly? Not at all.  It was a beautiful gift of simple fun and a distraction from the daily challenges.  It was also the perfect vehicle for leveling the playing field for a comfortable conversation. At each stop I learned a bit about who they are, how they became homeless, how it was going for them and what their plans were to move on.  I met a large population of people who confirmed what I thought I knew from my years of involvement in Family Homelessness.  Families who are homeless are not much different than the rest of us.  They just had one too many bad breaks and one too few resources to fall back on.

In this intense 15 day exploration the challenge was not what I expected. Riding my bicycle 100 miles a day was the easy part.  Finding a way to process all the powerful emotions and discoveries was the struggle.  Yet exhausted as I was, I found that I tapped in to a whole other energy source when I arrived at a shelter and settled in for conversation with a new group of inspiring individuals. Yes there was plenty of dysfunction and tragedy in these life stories, but there was more hope, resilience and joy.  Yes joy.  Want to be reminded of how small your problems are the next time you feel a whine coming on? Go decorate Gingerbread Houses with a bunch of kids who not only live in a shelter, but a shelter which moves the residents ever week to a different church hall because that county does not have a permanent shelter. The kids who live there will lift you up.    Sweet Home Mother's Day Ride Blog        

REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS

I’ve been active on these issues throughout my lifetime and am proud to have been prtoesting and cleared away from a grocery store parking lot by the police in 1989 when i was 8 months pregnant with my first child. On November 2, 2015 I published an Op Ed at the request of people who are working hard to preserve our reproductive freedoms in the context of unprecedented assaults at the local, state and federal levels, both legislatively, legally and on the streets.    Click HERE FOR A LINK to the piece as it appeared in the Boston Globe. Or HERE FOR MY FACEBOOK POST.  For understandable reasons, most of us don't speak up.  In the name of listening, learning, thoughtfulness and civil discourse, please pass this along. My broader wish: if only we conversed more and argued less about all the important issues which challenge our great society. Collectively, we have the ability to be so much greater.

River art

In 1995, while serving on the Board, I organized the first ever River Art Exhibition on behalf of the Captain Benett Forbes House Museum.  It was a celebration of the natural beauty of the Neponset River Watershed Area and a call to artists to come discover its charms en plein aire. It became an annual affair which offers artists of all stripe, from children to professionals, a vehicle for connecting and showing their work while helping to preserve this remarkable natural resource.  The inspiration for this show married my long time environmental activism with my passion for landscape painting.  I was able to assemble a terrific collection of talented artists to come and explore the area and grace it with their unique perspectives. 

Wheaton Forum on Women

In 1973 I was an awkward 16 year old Freshman at Wheaton College and Pat Sweeting was a 20 year old Freshman.  Neither of us felt like we belonged but Pat probably stood out in contrast with the population more obviously as she was 5'10" tall plus the big afro.   We were both frustrated by the apparent lack of consciousness and sense of urgency about the role of women in society - and we felt we had an obligation and an opportunity to accelerate the pace of change.  So we got together with some wonderfully "radical" faculty and started the Wheaton Forum on Women.  The first speaker we brought to campus was Gloria Steinem.  We like to think we started wave of awareness and redefinition at Wheaton, an institution we grew to love.