Teaching Places

Nora D.S. Robins is liaison librarian, University of Calgary Information
Resources.

By the time she was in her mid-30s, Audrey Whitson was unmarried,
childless, a veteran of failed relationships, a feminist, and a Roman
Catholic. She had lost her way, lost touch with the land, and since the
land had been the first place she had encountered the sacred in her
life, Whitson knew she had to return to the land to recover her sense of
direction.

So begins Whitson’s modern-day pilgrimage. On the odd day, on
weekends, and on holidays over a period of three years, she sought to
renew herself by visiting Alberta’s wilderness places. Her journey
took her from the mountains, through boreal forests, grasslands,
prairies, and parklands: “These places teach, and I learn.”
Whitson’s rapport with nature is intense: it has shaped her life and
her spirit, and now it will sustain her in her time of need.

Whitson is an eloquent writer. She interweaves her observations of the
land with stories about her family, friends, and work. Her feeling for
the beauty of Alberta is enhanced by her own colour photographs. As she
states, “This is a journey into self, faith, family, and the land.”

The author received a master’s degree from the Franciscan
School/Graduate Theological Union at Berkeley. She has taught theology
at colleges in Edmonton. Her writing has appeared in Canadian Woman
Studies, Pottersfield Portfolio, and the Catholic New Times.