My dear ol’fellow Dharma Brat (second gen American Buddhist) Elizabeth Hazell just got writ up in her town’s paper, the Nantucket Independent…apparently she’s keeping herself busy and making herself indispensable in that little lovely community. Jolly good show, sweetheart!

Excerpt:

…After moving to Nantucket during the spring of 2005, the assertive, grounded and sociable 30 year old has already left her mark on a half-dozen island nonprofits.

In her professional role as the Nantucket Land Council’s membership coordinator, Hazell established “Love of the Land” – a three-year-old art exhibit with works by local artists inspired by NLC properties – and also stepped up the level of professionalism of the NLC’s web and print publications during its massive campaign to secure the Loring property.

As a board member for the Nantucket Arts Council, she created the James Bond-themed spring fundraiser at the Rose and Crown.

She’s led meditations for the Shambala Meditation Group, redesigned the logo for Nantucket Reuse eXchange, served cocktails in the VIP tent during the Boston Pops event, participated in clean-us with the Beach Clean Team, assisted with the Obama Victory Fund cocktail reception with Al Gore and aided with various Nantucket AIDS Network events. Hazell…On Nantucket, she continues to indulge her myriad of interests through her volunteering.

“What I hope people think is that I really care, because I do,” said Hazell, a lifelong devotee of Buddhist principles.

When Hazell was born in San Francisco, her Buddhist parents followed a teacher named Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, who convinced 2,000 American Buddhists to form a community in the “extremely downto earth” Halifax, Nova Scotia, where Hazell grew up.

She met her husband, a Nantucket landscaper, at a Buddhist retreat in Vermont during the winter of 2005.

The two made an immediate connection.

Hazell’s first months on island were “a bit of a rollercoaster,” she remembered.

“Nantucket is just extremely charming. I loved architecture and I was impressed by how uniform and cozy the island felt,” she recalled. “Then, after being here for three and z half weeks and handing out dozens of resumes, I started to panic because I wasn’t getting any calls back. I didn’t realize that people here don’t start hiring until May. I had a bit of a breakdown, and then the next day I got offered three jobs.”…

Read the rest.