Remission. It was a word that I held in the hopeful corner of my mind for more than a year. Though I haven’t talked much about my journey publicly, the “CliffNotes” version goes something like this: 18 months ago I was diagnosed with uterine cancer – a 1% chance for otherwise young, healthy women with no family history – discovered by accident while and because Jordan and I were trying for a baby. The immediate aftermath was devastatingly intense as we tried to navigate the news while living in India, knowing the typical treatment for uterine cancer is a hysterectomy. With gratitude for the cancer being discovered early, the fact that I have health insurance and in-network access to Memorial Sloan Kettering, I began a journey working with oncology specialists in new treatment technologies keep my womb. 13 months of gnarly side effects, 4 rounds of treatment and 4 surgeries to match later, I’m happy and so very grateful to be here…

I hadn’t intended more than six months to lapse in-between posts here, but between the last round of treatment, my album launching, the summer festival season, and most recently being on the frontlines of the soul-crushing firestorm at Cornell, I’ve fallen woefully behind. So, I’ll keep this recap brief, share some photos, and most importantly, the tools, books, and thoughts that have helped me through it all.

The late spring brought my students’ year-end showcase recital, a performance of the little-known but brilliant Britten Double Concerto in Boston at Jordan Hall, and most excitedly, the release of my new album, (un)common thread: exploring improvisation from mozart to macedonia. Juxtaposing 18th-century sonatas on gut strings/fortepiano with my studies of Carnatic music, looper pedal inventions, and new music for violin + percussion made for a mighty special project. For a deeper dive, here’s an interview I did with MPR:

Summer festival season then went into full swing with the new iteration of my festival in Italy, now the Cacciaconti Music Festival in Tuscany – first-time performances of Mendelssohn’s lesser-known Violin Concerto in D minor and Bartok’s Contrasts were on the docket for me, and of course the food, the wine, the landscapes…

And then…came our PUP. This magical creature came to greet Jordan and I in the last ultra-remote Buddhist village we hiked through during a 6-day trek in the Himalayan Mountains last year. She was gentle, kind, adventurous, and stupid cute. She followed us everyday, over muddy, rain-covered mountain passes, through stream crossings, and up to nearly 13,000 feet. We awoke each morning to her sweet face just outside our tent door, waiting to snuggle once again.

What began as a joke: “Let’s put her in our suitcase and bring her home!” became a more and more serious conversation as we got back to her village, and after a brief chat with our trekking guide and the village leader, the process of adopting her was underway. After a half-year of hiring our guide to take her to market each month for vaccines, micro-chipping, parasite treatments, vet visits, titre tests and government clearance documents, we returned to the Himalayas to officially adopt her in July: 7 hours out of the monsoon-ridden mountains in a well-loved vehicle, 29 hours overnight on a train, and 17 hours flying finally ended in one very happy New York pup. Her name is TriCo (when we met her she didn’t have a name, so we started calling her that as a tribute to her three colors, and it stuck), and we don’t know how we could have gotten through the last several months without her.

With the rest of summer flying by, I made my usual beloved stop in the Bay for PACO Camp, a most magical music festival where we teach and play chamber music under the Redwoods, a detour to Jackson Hole for my bestie Marta’s wedding, and took a “girls” roadtrip from NYC down to North Carolina to visit friends to retrieve my violin (which had been left with a colleague in Italy when we went on our pup-retrieval mission and had then made its way back to the States).

The semester was soon in full-swing, and through some exceedingly scary and difficult health episodes for both me and Jordan, the firestorm at Cornell had begun. Words are too lacking to describe the gut-wrenching, bone-chilling events and mishandled aftermath that have brought the issue of sexual misconduct and assault – via Cornell as its spokesperson – to the headlines of every major national and international news outlet. As a Faculty Senator, I had no idea my appointment there would coincide with such a poignant moment with the world watching – may our efforts to overturn leadership finally begin to move the needle.

And, when CBS News turns one’s living room into a TV studio, one tells Wolf Blitzer live on CNN that Cornell’s president should resign, phone interviews fill every moment of break time amidst a full teaching day, students who need care and support are offered space, concert tours in Cremona and Minneapolis require dedicated practice and rehearsal bandwidth, insomnia becomes a way of life, Senate and committee meetings abound, and self-care must be postponed, what does one do?

This:

• Read Gabriella by Judy Malloy – reminding us of the power of strong women.
• Draw and fill-in a “Spheres of Control” for your life, with or without the help of a therapist – reminding us of what’s possible in times that feel impossible.
• Listen to Beethoven’s Heileger Dankgesang – reminding us that with grief and overwhelm can come gratitude.
• Lean into friends who can create a container for you – reminding us that we’re not alone.
• Show up for others – reminding us that when we’re depleted, giving to others can refill us.
• Make music. Drink wine. And snuggle a puppy.

And for all the things that happened in the margins, a photo diary to bring this edition to a close.

Boston friends, family, and Britten

The Fire & Music project in Northern California, doing my first prescribed burn and performing Beethoven in the ashes…

Family time with niece Natalie in her first solo trip to the Big Apple…and the album release tour – concerts and interviews in Minneapolis, the Bay, and NYC – so many wonderful friends to share it with.

Another hosting moment for the PBS broadcasts at the Minnesota Orchestra (Andy Akiho’s concerto was fire), post-concert in Italy, and one of the greatest pasta dishes of my life…

And back to the Himalayas to retrieve our magical pup with a stop at the Ghandi Ashram School (where I was treated to a concert by the fantastic students, all coming from deep, rural mountain towns), trekking and learning to cook local food in Ladakh, and the journey out of the mountains on to trains and planes to finally arrive in the good ole U S of A…

Family time to celebrate the Boersma parents’ wedding anniversary on Lake Michigan, Sol’s “Dohl” birthday bash, Marta’s wedding, and our beloved PACO Camp 2026.

Girls’ roadtrip south for Mission Violin Retrieval with pit stops to visit friends and family in DC and North Carolina, helping with move-in day on campus (I’ve never felt so powerful as when holding a walkie-talkie), and TriCo’s first visit as a Therapy Dog, helping to make students smile and bring down the stress level during exam week =)

And to end on a most beautiful note:

The Himalayan sky. May we find a more beautiful way forward at Cornell and around the world.