Please Welcome Kate and Safa!

Hello Friends!  Please let us introduce to you Kate Brunner and Safa Plenty; both have signed on for internships with Feminism and Religion.  We are thrilled that they have joined the FAR community!   You will see from their brief biographies below that both Kate and Safa come to FAR with much experience, talent, and insight; we look forward to the many gifts they will share. Please join us in welcoming Kate and Safa!

Kate Brunner is a freelance writer & member of The Sisterhood of Avalon, studying at the Avalonian Thealogical Seminary. She is an American expat, living in Queensland, Australia and homeschooling her children, with the world as their classroom. Before motherhood, Kate earned a Bachelor of Arts from Tulane University, while studying Economics, International Relations, & Religion. She then served four years as a logistics officer in the US Army.

Shortly after the birth of her first child, Kate left military service, eventually becoming a birth doula & holistic birth educator. She is a regular contributor to The Sisterhood of Avalon’s online journal, The Tor Stone and is active in the Red Tent Movement. Kate volunteered in Houston as a presenter for monthly Red Tents and semi-annual women’s retreats before relocating overseas. She enjoys international travel, perfecting her cooking, reading great books, & having fascinating conversations with friends; old or new.

Kate is thrilled to be interning at FAR and believes very strongly in the power of interfaith feminist dialogue as a tool for building the diverse community necessary for effective activism. Furthering this effort, she hosts a grassroots gathering at the Solstices & Equinoxes. These relaxed evenings give her the opportunity to share sacred space with local women from myriad cultures and faith traditions around the world. Kate’s interests at the intersection of feminism & religion include manifestations of the Sacred Feminine, female leadership roles, and female indigenous perspectives across the array of spiritual traditions practiced around the world today.

Safa N. Plenty is an educator and mental health counselor, hoping to pursue a doctorate at  Claremont School of Theology with a focus in spiritual formation and peacemaking. She holds a Masters of Social Work from Columbia University in Applied Generalist Practice and Programming and an undergraduate degree in interdisciplinary studies with a minor in Africana Studies.

For the past two years, Safa has worked as a K-12 educational contractor and assistant counselor at a local community college. Her research interest include Sufism, Attachment to God, indigenous metaphysics, particularly Native American and Somatic psychology. She is also interested in religious mysticism, mindfulness practice in Buddhism and the role of feminism and religion in cultivating a peacemaking capacity among young Muslim women. Safa is currently working to develop a faith based healthy relationships program for Mothers and daughters. She enjoys writing poetry, research, and contemplative practice in art and crafts.