Vicky Moore came west to Laramie 7 years ago and decided to stay. She teaches kindergarten at a local public school, and yoga at a local studio. Vicky’s recently married and decided this summer to take a hiatus from all teaching. “Sometimes you teach from a position of vulnerability, other times within a mask. I was doing the later more. So I decided since I was getting married and going on road trip, I needed to step away from that for now.”

Vicky’s from upstate New York where daily activities included chores like shelling peas. She liked that fundamental connection to the natural world and finds it in Laramie. Although Vicky lives near downtown, she has eight chickens and a garden and appreciates agricultural rhythm in her life. “Chickens are independent but they still need to be fed every day, their coop opened in the morning and closed at night.”

“In college I was 21 going on 35. I started as an education major but hit a plateau when the schooling was boring. I knew teaching would be exciting, but the training was not. My dad, who is a teacher, advised to do something interesting as an undergrad; use the time learning about who you are and people around you in a deliberate way. So I became a Women’s Studies major and waitressed and worked on a farm.” Vicky attended graduate school at Antioch with my cousin Andrew Wood, who teaches sixth grade in Massachusetts.

Vicky loves teaching kindergarten, which is a full day program in Wyoming. The push toward measurable achievement is a challenge, but a number of students attend kindergarten for two years to afford them time developmentally to obtain the skills required. That flexibility allows Vicky to balance the academic pressures. “One of my mother’s said to me, ‘You’re with my children more than I am.’ That is both a privilege and a responsibility.”

How will we live tomorrow?

“That’s a big question. The first thing I want to say is ‘with love.’ I was watching my three-year-old last night. He asked, “Do you love anger?” and “What do you fear? “ We exchanged what we are afraid of and came back to ‘What do we love?’ I hope we can live through more understanding, and celebration, of our differences. A healthy habitat is diverse. That applies to humans as well.

“I don’t know if I want to think about the technical aspects of how we will live tomorrow. When I think of the unknown in terms of climate and energy and population I go to a dark place. I don’t know what to do. I compost and raise chickens and do what I can, but I don’t feel like it is enough. I try not to think about the challenges with too much fear because it closes me down. Humans have had challenges before; I have to believe we can get through those challenges. If I close down and get shut off, that won’t help at all.

“My sister is really into technology and talks about the time when cell phones are obsolete and we have small implants in our ears to communicate with one another. My reaction is to push it away, but that is not helpful. Technology, religion they are all blind. I want to deepen our technology but I hope that there is an equal partnership in the earth and the habitats and the eco-systems. How can the progression of technology serve the planet?”