What I Forgot…And Why I Remembered

"What I Forgot…And Why I Remembered: A Journey to Environmental Awareness and Activism Through Purposeful Memoir"

This lecture, the first Simon's Rock Faculty Forum of 2017, brings us face to face with Simon's Rock Alum and Faculty in Literature, Jennifer Browdy in a celebration of her recently published memoir. Dr. Browdy teaches comparative literature, gender studies and media studies at Bard College at Simon’s Rock. She is the founder of the Berkshire Festival of Women Writers, which cultivates the voices and visions of women through a wide range of programming. She is also the creator and director of the Butterfly Leadership Program for teen girls, which uses writing and public speaking as a pathway to leadership on social and environmental issues.

The author of many articles and editor of three anthologies of contemporary writing by women from Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa and North America, Browdy is the author of a memoir, What I Forgot ...And Why I Remembered: A Journey to Environmental Awareness and Activism Through Purposeful Memoir, and an accompanying writer’s guide, The Elemental Journey of Purposeful Memoir: A Writer’s Companion. In addition to teaching at Simon's Rock, she taught for nine years as a lecturer in humanities at the University of Albany, SUNY, as part of an innovative team-taught interdisciplinary first-year experience program, Project Renaissance. Dr. Browdy has been teaching at Simon's Rock since 1994.

Photo: Jake Borden

Praise for What I Forgot…

“Jennifer Browdy has chosen to write what she calls a “purposeful memoir….”Her choice can inspire us all to see how our lives have been hijacked or distracted from what we most deeply desire, and how we can reclaim our lives for the sake of life on Earth.”
--Joanna Macy, author of Coming Back to Life and Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re In Without Going Crazy

“She documents the process of waking up to the world around us and she demonstrates how vibrant and rewarding an engaged life can be.”
-- Mary Pipher, author of Reviving Ophelia and The Green Boat: Reviving Ourselves in Our Capsized Culture