Breath, Conscience, and the Winter I Was Cast Out

I. Why I Am Writing This

I did not lose my job during the Covid era because I was careless, indifferent to others, or hostile to science. I lost it because I would not perform their ritual of fear or be punished with a mask for a religious exemption from vaccination.

When I applied to work for the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC), I had just completed a twelve-day traverse of all forty-eight 4,000-foot peaks in the White Mountains—roughly 250 miles and over 100,000 feet of elevation gain. I was healthy, fit, and deeply connected to the landscape. I sincerely love the White Mountains.

It was the summer of 2022, there was no emergency, and I believed—like many—that the Covid era had effectively passed.

I did not tell AMC that I was a former attorney, because it was irrelevant to an overnight front desk job. But I did know my rights. I knew how to recognize unlawful orders, and how to respond to them. Today, I have an active case in New Hampshire Federal District Court challenging Covid mandates, and a separate case in New Hampshire Superior Court against the New Hampshire Commission for Human Rights for violating my due process rights during a deeply flawed investigation.

What followed my employment at AMC was not only termination, but an attempt at erasure—of conscience, of context, and of shelter—leaving me homeless in New Hampshire in November.

II. The Job That Was Designed to Be Safe

In the summer of 2022, I was hired to work the overnight shift at the AMC’s Highland Center in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. The job was solitary by design. From eleven at night until morning, I cleaned, monitored the building, and ensured safety while guests slept. I worked alone. I rarely encountered anyone. There was no meaningful risk to others inherent in my presence.

During my initial job interview in July 2022 and in a follow-up email, I disclosed that I had previously contracted COVID-19 and therefore possessed natural immunity. I further informed the interviewer that, due to my sincerely held religious beliefs, I would need to request a religious exemption from AMC’s COVID-19 vaccination policy.

For many years, I have practiced breath-based spiritual disciplines—pranayama as sacred practice, not a wellness trend. Breath, in my tradition, is not metaphor. It is communion. I also observe ahimsa, the principle of non-harm, and satya, ...