Hi, I’m Jennifer Hole, author of The Rise and Fall of Jenny Goodguts. I love to write, edit, and play music while pondering how I and other human creatures might live differently, perhaps with more humility and less scowling, in this crazy beautiful world.
SEMI-OFFICIAL BIO
Jennifer Hole spent many of her formative years pretending stories when no one was around. Frequently these stories involved romance and her amazing singing if she’s being honest. Numerous story lines required playing the Chicago song “Hard Habit to Break.” In college, she read as many books as possible, mostly fiction but also history, religion, and philosophy (luckily or not she had little parental input into the requirements of the “real world,” they for some reason trusted “her judgment”) while spending the rest of her time singing or eventually composing music and learning rudimentary guitar. She also experimented with a variety of healthy and unhealthy forms of independent living.
However, the real world was right around the corner and clearly needed saving. She traded in her books and still rudimentary guitar skills, left the world of open mics behind her, and spent the next 20 years working in sustainable development and nature conservation, managing research teams conducting biodiversity assessments in West African jungles and assorted groups of international policy wonks at UN meetings.
Working in both science and policy she researched, wrote, or edited a bunch of publications on ecology or sustainability. She worked with folks from industry (like mining), academia (like frog scientists), government (you got this one), NGOs, foundations, the media, from lots of different countries. She spent time living and working or studying in England, India, the Philippines, New Zealand, Mexico, Guinea, Ghana, England again, frequently in small, rural villages (or tents in a forest) and she’s travelled to meeting rooms in lots of other countries while still speaking only one language with any fluency.
After working many years in this fashion, one day in November 2014 she got up from her desk to get a sandwich at Potbelly’s and when she came back (to eat the sandwich at her desk) she wrote four paragraphs about her pants and shared this with six people.
Now, she calls herself an artiste because it makes her laugh.
Begrudgingly engaged in climate-related research, capacity building, and advocacy since 1999, she is now learning to manifest a chosen outcome from the infinite array of possibilities in the quantum realm and she is SURE that she’s going to figure out how to manifest a stable climate. Stay tuned. You can check out some of her current and past professional work at jenniferhole.com.
Once desperately in love with a German herpetologist, she is now married to a Brit who is often mistaken for being Australian. She’s had tea with the Queen of Bhutan, a species of katydid was named for her, and she entered (and lost) a pageant three times. She once climbed almost to the top of Mount Rainier.
Thanks so much for visiting.
Some of the original endorsements for this blog:
“She was always making up lists of things to do and we had to do them. She pretended making me President of a club meant I was in charge.”
— Robert M.
“Jennifer has always read a lot of books about self improvement.”
— Aunt Lynn
So what is this blog about?
This blog contains many of the original posts that went into my book (a mix of humor and soul searching) and the work I’ve been doing post-book which includes The Stuffed Project and many thoughts about life in the Covid era. Mostly it is a playground that I use to experiment and explore and stay in touch with the brave souls who have chosen to join me on this trip.
I am not a reliable correspondent but I do love to hear from readers. Please feel free to comment on posts or to reach out via my contact page. Thanks so much for reading.
