Hannah Blacksin–Teaching Staff

“Everything changes, nothing is lost”
—Ovid, Heraclitus, Siddhartha Gautama, Dirty Projectors

Hannah (she/her) was born and raised in the forested hills of Western Massachusetts. She ventured westward for college, and after studying English, planned to become a writer or editor. But the universe had other plans. A friend suggested they move back east to do something called outdoor education, and Hannah’s path began to swerve. Hannah spent the next 5 years in peripatetic existence – leading outdoor education and service learning programs throughout the Northeast, Colorado, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific. During this chapter, Hannah fostered a love of challenging adventures, making friends everywhere, and intercultural collaboration. Hannah discovered the power and fertility of learning through conversation and experience.

Hannah is passionate about the ecological interconnectivity of all things, and seeks to dismantle an anthropocentric approach to learning and life. As an educator, Hannah is interested in what sustainability can mean and how it can be enacted—in relationship with each other and with the planet. Hannah feels immense gratitude to work in a community that empowers her to teach what she loves – literature and poetry, social and environmental justice, the sciences, philosophical puzzles, and whatever new loves emerge through her own ongoing learning in experience.

After years of an itinerant life, Hannah’s move to Seattle was spurred by the desire to foster a rooted community and by a friend in Nepal telling her: “you see more sitting still.” Indeed, living in one place has allowed Hannah to explore the deep joy of riding her bicycle. Talk to Hannah about bikepacking! Hannah cycled from Seattle to Big Sur, among many other shorter sojourns around the PNW. Hannah is a voracious venturer – in the mountains, on the water, lost in books and music, or in the corners of a crossword. Hannah also loves vegetables and peanut butter and coffee – not all at once, but she’s willing to try it.

If Hannah could choose one person she would like to have a long meal with, alive or dead it would be Ursula K. Le Guin.

M.Sc., Outdoor Environmental & Sustainability Education, University of Edinburgh; B.A. English, Lewis and Clark College.