Laura Parker Roerden’s work explores and promotes the development of social, emotional, and ethical development in young people towards creating socially-responsible adults, i.e. those who participate in democracy, positively contribute to their communities, and are stewards for the natural world. Research shows that nurturing healthy relationships with peers, adults in their life and with the natural world can provide young people with theContinue reading “Ocean Matters”
Author Archives: Laura Parker Roerden
The Fireflies
by Laura Parker Roerden Last night the stars made our hayfield into a bed. Twinkling and turning from light to dark, and back again to light in the dark tangle of knotted weeds and swords of grass, sometimes in synchrony, but often as chaos. The perfect flat disk of a full moon spilled shadow everywhere,Continue reading “The Fireflies”
A Good Friday
by Laura Parker Roerden I wrote a poem: it isn’t much. It’s small like a bird, but it has hands that reluctantly open, palms up to receive shadow from starlight where monsters writhe and transform into angels through ancient story and song. I put the poem in a simple box and buried it; marked itContinue reading “A Good Friday”
All the Many Flowers
by Laura Parker Roerden A flower is not just a flower. It’s an invitation to dance, to fall into a time and a tempo not of your own wherein lies the meaning of being made of soil and sun, tapped lightly in place by fingers of rain. Don’t miss another post: including #FridayPoems and FromContinue reading “All the Many Flowers”
A Lonely Walk
by Laura Parker Roerden On a fine companioned afternoon, one never has to notice the stars shining side by side or a single blade of grass hunched over others, now safe as if the wind had thrown its weight, a thumb on a scale tipped for mercy. But in a stretch when lonely walks awayContinue reading “A Lonely Walk”
The Open Door
by Laura Parker Roerden There’s something available to us that sits beside hope, like an open door. Children know about it. You sometimes see them walk towards it. Often they carry it and place it on our laps, looking up at us with eyes flung wide open. “Here,” they seem to offer. “Take this.” I’veContinue reading “The Open Door”
Health, Wholeness and Belonging
by Laura Parker Roerden Some thoughts on health and wholeness from Wendell Berry (posted below) resonate right now, in a world where our division has become both a goal and a means. What if as we isolate in response to COVID-19, we also find our way to wholeness: as individuals, as families, as communities, asContinue reading “Health, Wholeness and Belonging”
A Peacock’s Day Out
by Laura Parker Roerden (May 27, 2016) The phrase “and mayhem ensued” turns out to have real application when you have animals. Recently, in a fit of cleanliness, I asked our handyman Keith to help spring clean the barn. He tidied up in general, but because he’s no slouch, he decided to surprise me by washing theContinue reading “A Peacock’s Day Out”
A New Vision for Farms, Oceans and Youth
by Laura Parker Roerden (October 3, 2019) Last week I had the privilege to present at the Wright Locke Farm Speaker Series in Winchester, MA as part of Climate Week. After an emotional week of watching youth all over the world rise up to simply ask for a livable future, it was heartening to see soContinue reading “A New Vision for Farms, Oceans and Youth”
Lessons of the Wild
by Laura Parker Roerden Click the image to view this previously published article, “Lessons of the Wild” in Schools with Spirit by Beacon Press. lessons_of_the_wild Laura Parker Roerden is the founding director of Ocean Matters and the former managing editor of Educators for Social Responsibility and New Designs for Youth Development. She serves on the boards of Women WorkingContinue reading “Lessons of the Wild”