Simone Rotella
IN MY memoir, Birdgirl, I write about my experiences as a child birding with my family and how those days saved us, giving us a reason to live and a way to cope with my mother’s bipolar disorder, a mental illness with devastating lows and highs. These experiences reinforced in me why being in nature is essential for our mental well-being.
Growing up, I went birding with my white father, my British-Bangladeshi mother and my sister. I never saw people who looked like me. I was determined to change this, and by the time I was 14, I had run…
