We Are Each Other’s Light

Along with being Sara's spouse and harmony singer, Paula J. Pedersen has been spending her early retirement (After a 30-year career in higher education, as psychology faculty and Director of Education for Inclusive Excellence) exploring new passions. She continues her work as an interculturalist and consultant to educational and leadership groups seeking self-awareness and strategies toward intercultural effectiveness. She is a facilitator trained by the Center for Courage and Renewal, facilitating retreats based on the work of Parker J. Palmer. A volunteer firefighter and Emergency Medical Responder in their rural Wisconsin township, Paula is finding new metaphors and areas of connection across differences. Paula and Sara live in the northwest Wisconsin woods near the Twin Ports of Duluth/Superior with their dog, chickens and bees.

Sara Thomsen is a singer-songwriter and recording artist from the Duluth/Superior area. Increasing wonder and awareness, deepening connection, and widening engagement through song is at the heart of her work. Sara's ability to get people singing magically transforms gatherings into communities empowered with possibility. Her songs carry you inward and outward—in, to the particulars of your own life, and out—into the shared humanity of us all. Thomsen's music reflects a staunch support of struggles for human dignity and ecological sustainability. Whether it is a song welcoming a newborn, protesting a policy, depicting night falling or describing a loved one, her music is alive and pulsing. Thomsen and her spouse Paula Pedersen love spending time gardening and enjoying the outdoors.