Professional Biography

At the age of forty I left behind the roles of psychotherapist, wife and mother, and moved alone into the wilderness. I imagined that I would live there one year, through the four seasons. I stayed, instead, for over five years. One never knows what soul has in store.

This solitary retreat is the subject of Living on the Spine: A Woman's Life in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains ("It is gentle, gracious and profound ..." Library Journal.) My second book, New Mexico's Sanctuaries, Retreats and Sacred Places (Westcliffe Publishers, 2002), was a natural extension of my solitary experience.

My essays have appeared in numerous magazines and publications including the Santa Fean, and Santa Fe Trends, Inside/Outside Magazine, Writers on the Range syndicated column and numerous book collections that include Living in the Runaway West (Fulcrum publishers, 2000) and Writers on the Range (University Press of Colorado, 1998.) My Mexico Travel essays were featured on Mex-Connect online. Travels have taken me into the Mayan lands of Mexico, Guatemala, and Nicaragua, down the Baja Peninsula, throughout Canada and the United States and across the sea to France, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Denmark.

I am photographer for three published books: my New Mexico's Sanctuaries, Retreats and Sacred Places; In Fire's Way by Thomas Wolf, University of New Mexico Press, 2003; and Arthur Carhart: Wilderness Prophet, Thomas Wolf, University of Colorado Press, 2008. My photos have been published in many newspapers and magazines.

In February 2008 I traveled to Tanzania as photojournalist to document the efforts of a sister hospice program, The Kilimanjaro Hospice Initiative. My work resulted in the PowerPoint presentation, "The Kilimanjaro Hospice Initiative: Hope on Shining Mountain." (See "Wildeye Photography and Stock List") This photo and text documentation is available on CD.

My memoir, MotorHome Zen, will be completed in 2008.

At the heart of my life is a commitment to feminine spirit. There are many possible starting points, but none as vivid as the prairie lands of Iowa where I was born … where I grew up tomboy and rode horseback unfettered, nurtured and loved by big-bosomed farm women who didn't suffer fools gladly. This beginning provided the underpinnings of my life. An ability to take risks. A philosophy of exploration and movement. My professional path included a master's degree in social work with emphasis in counseling and business. In the years to follow I would administer Rockwell International's employee assistance program, found the Tucson Counseling Center and, as a school social worker, teach children conflict resolution. All the while raising my daughter Hope.

In my early 30's I moved to Boulder, Colorado where I practiced psychotherapy and conducted moon lodge groups for women, linking dreams and seasonal wisdom to the monthly cycle of the body. With the help of husband David Lillie, I organized for the fledgling Green movement while working at the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center, an organization committed to social justice and non-violent activism. This is where I honed my skill of living the contradictions. Many a debate ensued on my insistence that my gun ownership was not contradictory to peace. (Years later the Dali Lama, speaking of self defense, would support this stance.) During my Boulder years I was a frequent guest lecturer at the University of Colorado and Naropa University on the topics of eco-feminism. (Wow, remember that?) I am privileged to count Thich Nhat Hanh and Brooke Medicine Eagle as my teachers. The 'Boulder decade' -- I scaled Colorado's 14,000 foot peaks and conducted bear and mountain lion studies in the Rocky Mountain foothills. I parted ways with the Greens when they chose to emphasize party-building above grassroots movement building. In 1987 I stepped alone onto a plane bound for Guatemala knowing nary a word of Spanish. It was a seven week sojourn that led to my photo documentation of the Mayan families of the 'disappeared' (kidnapped and tortured by the army); and culminated in the jungles of Tikal and a meeting with a jaguar.

Upon turning 40 I embarked on a solitary retreat in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of southern Colorado. Here, cocooned within the fullness of time, I practiced obedience to darkness and silence. I emerged six years later with my book, Living on the Spine (A Woman's Life in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.. (see Books/Articles).

As the new millennium dawned I was ensconced in Taos, New Mexico, with my husband, author and naturalist, Tom Wolf. From this base I wrote and photographed my second book, New Mexico's Sanctuaries, Retreats and Sacred Places. Over three years ago Tom and I sold our home in Taos, pared down possessions and moved into a motorhome. Me -- backpacker wilderness babe, who detested the tin cans on wheels. Now I'm threading the needle with Tom, Pooka the Bengal cat, and Teak the choco-latte lab. What was that I said about living the contradictions? This fulltime RV life is the focus of my next book, MotorHome Zen, travel book for the soul.

Thanks for showing up!

Christina