Issue date: 10/22/09 Section: TruLife

Brockell Briddle has always had a thirst for knowledge and new cultural experiences. Instead of simply dreaming about exploring, Briddle got up and went. Starting with a semester off that eventually turned into seven years, this Truman student has done everything from working on organic farms, to touring with a rock band, to learning from Mexican midwives, all by the time she was 27.

Brockell Briddle now has returned to Truman and is a junior saxophone performance major.

Born and raised in Kirksville, Briddle became a full-time Truman student her senior year of high school while finishing up a few high school credits on the side. She then attended college for two years before deciding she wanted something more.

The first step of her journey was to live with her older sister in Oregon, near the Washington border. There she worked at a ski park, where she learned to snowboard and became a river guide on the rapids in White Salmon, Wash.

Her first opportunity to go overseas came with Willing Workers on Organic Farms, a program that connects volunteers who are interested in sustainable living with organic farms around the world that could use volunteers. Briddle was not yet involved with the movement toward sustainability but was looking for assistance in getting out of the country and decided it sounded interesting. She became a member of WWOOF and worked in Nicaragua and Costa Rica and, as a result, became very interested in sustainability.

"It just opened up this whole world of consciousness that I had never been exposed to before," Briddle said. "It was the first time I'd really started eating a lot of organic food, and I guess that consciousness stuck with me because once I came back, I wondered, 'Where is my food coming from? Is it being shipped all the way across the country? And just how sustainable a plan is this?' I could never go back to the way I had been living before."

Briddle's experiences in Central America colored the rest of her travels. She decided she had not yet had her fill of discovering new cultures and traditions, so she went to Mexico through a program at Goddard College that studied traditional healing practices, giving students a chance to learn from midwives, medicine men and shamans. The workshop was only two-and-a-half weeks long, but Briddle decided to stay for two full months, exploring temple ruins and absorbing the culture.

The passion for sustainability Briddle found in Central America changed the course of her life. Briddle said she was working on an organic farm in Hawaii when she became acquainted with The Human Revolution, the band she ended up touring with. The Human Revolution was an eco-conscious folk rock group. Their songs promoted social and political change, and they toured in a biodiesel truck and an ethanol van, playing everywhere from bars to farmhouses. Briddle was a backup singer and fiddler and saxophone player. Briddle said it was actually the band that got her thinking about returning to school.

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