When I changed majors from English to biology as an undergrad in the 90s, it was because I'd found home. The immediate sense of belonging, of being embraced by what I already knew to be true—that the natural world was my family—re-ignited a force of kin-relationship with Earth that many of us have lost. So when I saw Bridget Crocker's new book, The River’s Daughter: A Memoir, I couldn't wait to read. It's a deeply moving story of how such awakened kinship can strengthen, nurture, guide, and save our lives.

Rachel Clark: Bridget, thank you for joining us here with your new book, The River’s Daughter: A Memoir. How did you come to identify rivers as family?

Bridget Crocker: For me, finding kinship with rivers was born of the nurturing and unconditional love I felt from the Snake River while growing up in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. From a young age, I sensed a presence in the water and learned to communicate with the river through focused meditation and intuition.

Dominant Western culture (through hierarchal systems like scala naturae, settler colonialism and manifest destiny), has suppressed and even demonized the idea of nature as sentient. The result is a pervasive cultural disconnect and abandoning of our ability to communicate with the natural world, something that’s intrinsically available to each of us. It’s my intention to use my story to teach others how to develop and strengthen that relationship.

RC: You share an amazing journey to healing multi-generational trauma as well as........

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