What began as a music jam in the art studio grew into a wonderful gathering of friends from near and far conversing, singing, and sharing music, food and art. 
Blessed to be among such light!

David

It’s none of my business what people say of me, and think of me.
I am what I am, and I do what I do.
I expect nothing, and accept everything.
And it makes life so much easier.

~Anthony Hopkins

“There is probably no better or more reliable measure of whether a woman has spent time in ugly duckling status at some point or all throughout her life, than her inability to digest a sincere compliment. Although it could be a matter of modesty, or could be attributed to shyness.... too many serious wounds are carelessly written off as ‘nothing but shyness’....If you say how lovely she is, or how beautiful her art is, or compliment anything else her soul took part in, inspired, or suffused, something in her mind says she is undeserving and you, the complimentor, are an idiot for thinking such a thing to begin with. Rather than understand that the beauty of her soul shines through when she is being herself, the woman changes the subject and effectively snatches nourishment away from the soul-self, which thrives on being acknowledged."
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~Clarissa Pinkola Estés - Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype.

“When I stand alone with the earth and sky, a feeling of something in me going off in every direction into the unknown of infinity means more to me than anything."

~Georgia O’Keeffe

Melissa Jenkins
Neuroscientist, Social Justice Activist

“If the human brain were so simple that we could understand it, we would be so simple that we couldn’t.” – Emerson Pugh 1929-
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As a research scientist, Melissa began unraveling the neural mechanisms underlying adaptation to trauma and brain injury via memory and attentional systems. This research helped to integrate the understanding and treatment of brain disorders resulting from physical and psychic traumatic injuries.  As the founder of BrainworksRI, she uses this framework to evaluate and treat patients with neuropsychiatric disorders and to advocate for their legal rights and disability benefits.  She has also enjoyed teaching and mentoring doctoral and medical students at Brown since 1995. 
Always an advocate for her own patients, she began advocating more broadly and politically for social justice reforms amid the fallout of the 2016 election, and the Collective Action Network was born.  Municipal and issues-based activism groups began tackling issues at the grassroots level in coordinated ways to maximize impact on larger political systems.  As in the brain, small strategic interventions can impact entire networks and systems; such interventions aimed at civil rights, government transparency, participatory government, and evidence-based policy are key targets.  Can we unravel the complicated fabric of environmental racism and employment discrimination in Rhode Island?  Yes, we CAN. 
A former Ironman triathlete and marathon runner, she can usually be found running, biking, or swimming near beaches around the world, or engaged in random conversations with strangers.