Hello!
I’m Anna-Marie. I used to shorten my name to Anna but I have since reclaimed its fullness. (People often mis-read, mis-pronounce, and mis-spell my name as Anne-Marie but each time that happens a kitten dies; so, up to you.)
I don’t have any daily practices. The closest I get is following breadcrumbs that life kindly and mysteriously lays out before me. When I follow these, my cells get irreversably rearranged for the better.
I hope that this Substack will shape itself into cellular rearranging breadcrumbs for both of us.
An ongoing discovery of ecology
Living in Exeter, Devon (UK), on the cusp of Dartmoor and the Jurassic Coast, my ongoing discovery of myself as an ecological creature saturates my work, interests, and perspectives.
I currently describe my work as focusing on two branches of the same tree: ecological organisations and ecological enquiry. After authoring the reimagined story of ecological organisations and the accompanying Ecological Organisations Framework in 2023, released under creative commons, a whole new world has opened up that I'm loving exploring: organisations as edge-less and edged, forged of relationship and deeply relational, and wonderfully, irreparably entangled in the health of neighbourhoods, place, social systems, ecosystems, the more-than-human, and this dear planet.
What’s been even more joyful is the discovery that the enquiry into organisations as ecological is actually the enquiry into humans as ecological.
I write about my work and other things in this substack, and host and produce the podcast Generative Worlding.
My perspectives
My perspectives have been moulded by twenty-five years of chronic health issues that bring my gaze to my inner world with laser focus. At the same time, living in a queering body has widened my gaze far beyond my self, into animism, interbeing, ancestry, the more-than-human, living systems, place, ecology, and the magnificent, mysterious resonance of the natural and physical world.
My perspectives have also been moulded by the middle space I situate as a woman that’s no longer a young adult but not quite an elder, my white skin in whiteness-dominating systems, a middle-class upbringing in a class-based England, my lack of connection to my Croation ancestry, and chocolate (less chocolate than I'd like and more chocolate than I probably deserve).
You can find out more about my current and past focuses, along with potential breadcrumbs that might tug at your sleeve, on my website and on my LinkedIn page.
I share my curiosities, insights, and experiences for free because I believe that knowledge must be freely available to all. If you feel excited about my work or find it useful and are financially able to support me through a paid subscription, that is very much appreciated.
Please note: as of July 2024, my main attention is navigating intense perimenopause physical and psycological experiences that recently arrived in quite an unexpected wallop. These include severe anxiety, claustrophobia, agoraphobia, sleep disturbances, and fatigue. Therefore, work, including writing Substack articles, is kind of on hold for an indefinite time.
If you are looking for any support with applying the Ecological Organisations Framework, please check out the articles here and the information on my site. Do feel free to email me at annam@somethingbird.com and I’ll look to respond when I can.
Wishing you all the best and looking forward to the time when I can reengage with Cellular Rearranging and my dear readers more fully again.
Love,
Anna-Marie
