Hi! My name is Mike (he/him pronouns), and I will be serving as a 2020-21 Minnesota GreenCorps member with Mississippi Park Connection (MPC). I grew up in Portland, Maine, but moved to the Twin Cities six years ago to attend Macalester College, where I studied Geography and Urban Studies.

I’m so grateful to work with MPC at this particular moment. At the onset of COVID-19 in the United States, my partner Miranda and I started volunteering with Mississippi Park Connection at Coldwater Spring and Crosby Farm Regional Park. During these isolating times and our ongoing climate crisis, I feel really fortunate to be able to expand my role at MPC by working directly with other people on adaptation and restoration projects. I love learning new things every day about how interdependent and wonderful our surrounding ecosystems are—although prairies really have my heart.

Mike installing fencing as a volunteer for the ASCC project at Crosby Farm Regional Park. Spring 2020. Learn more at: https://parkconnection.org/ascc

When I’m not in a park (or teleworking), I am often in my studio—which is right down the road from MPC’s offices! My practice includes photography, design, and writing. Much of it is informed by how we interact with our natural and built landscapes, focusing on themes of privacy, surveillance, and environmental degradation. Outside of this personal practice, I curate shows and exhibitions. My most recent curatorial project is Normal Residential Purposes, a pop-up gallery that I run out of my home in Minneapolis’ Seward neighborhood, which is actually right off the river—amazing how it’s all connected!

I’m looking forward to a year of service spent learning from volunteers, exploring parks, watching for birds, and experiencing all the seasons up close and personal.

Meet Mike, Our New GreenCorps Member!