Shawn Olson graduated from The Evergreen State College with a self-titled bachelor's degree in environmental studies and social movements. A native Washingtonian, Shawn transferred to Evergreen in 2001 and focused her studies around historical and current political movements across the Americas, concentrating on the impact that social upheavals have on human relationships with the natural world. Having just returned from a revitalizing five-month long walk on the Pacific Crest Trail, from the Mexican border to the Canadian border, Shawn now lives in an historic building in downtown Bellingham, near the water. Her main focus this winter will be to explore her own interests as a writer, and to learn to incorporate into her life the health and lightness she experienced so fully this summer. At some point in her future, she will return to school for a masters, but for now her sights are limited to next summer's adventure--perhaps some more trekking and learning in the Wrangell-St. Elias Mountains of south-central Alaska.