Ana Maria Caballero, the nature education specialist at the Arboretum, said in addition to Fisher’s talent creating fresh and whimsical artwork with hints of Mexican traditions, he is incredibly focused and driven. He immersed himself in the fabric of the Public Programs department to get a better understanding of people and nature.  

“He is a great listener, very interested in hearing people’s stories and finding connections between himself, the storyteller and greater humanity,” she said. “This initiative fits in nicely with the Public Program department’s drive to create relevancy for a wider audience, with programming that better reflects the concerns and aspirations of visitors to the Arnold Arboretum.” 

Fisher’s work at the Arboretum is in line with his work in the Field Education Program at HDS, where he is a master of divinity degree candidate (M.Div.). Every year, the School sends approximately 80 to 100 HDS students out to work as chaplains, instructors, and more in parishes, educational institutions, community-based social justice agencies, hospitals, and prisons. The aim is to help students cultivate their theological imagination within a structured learning experience and use the experience to explore their calls to ministry and develop technical skills. 

Depending on the job, field education can send students across the country, and in summertime, across the world. M.Div. candidates must complete at least 700 hours of field education work before they graduate, said Emily Click, assistant dean for ministry studies and field education at HDS. 

“We craft opportunities for our students to engage their gifts in the needs of particular individuals, communities, and organizations. We enable students to discover the ways in which their curiosity, intellect, and kindness can be offered compassionately to people in need,” she said. “In the case of Steven, his field education is a perfect example of the ways in which our students’ imaginations are honored and kindled by the opportunities they see in a field education program that offers not just traditional ministry settings, but places for them to design their own learning.” 

The setting at the Arboretum also helped Fisher underscore the value of time. Established in 1872 and a National Historic Landmark, the Arboretum occupies 281-acres of naturalized landscape containing a living collection of trees, shrubs, and woody vines from around the world, consciously preserved for research and cherished by the public. In a similar light, he hopes “Gathering Historias” will live on beyond the moment and the conversations will remain in people’s minds, preserved and cherished from generation to generation.  

“I’ve worked in many places — hospitals, universities, the Red Cross, but it’s really astounding and beautiful to see the deep attention to time at the Arboretum, and the beautiful intention to cultivate life within an intergenerational framework,” he said. “It’s not necessarily explicit people can walk by a tree in the Arboretum and sense that it has something beyond their own life span. I hope ‘Gathering Historias’ lives on in the sense that life continues beyond the stories themselves.” 

What is it about a story that makes it sacred? Fisher said two specific HDS courses have prompted him to closely examine that question: The Lotus Sutra: Engaging a Buddhist Scripture with Yehan Numata Senior Lecturer on Buddhist Literatures Charles Hallisey, and Orthodoxy and Heresy in Ancient Christianity with Hollis Professor of Divinity Karen King. Through studying some unconventional contexts of history and what stories are or are not being told, Fisher learned the importance of people recognizing themselves in a story, and how to interpret the story in a way that is life-giving. 

“From a Latino, Latina, Latinx perspective, our stories don’t get told very often. And I really want these stories to be on the table when we think about ecological justice, environmentalism, and how we plan for the future,” he said. “This is another key aspect of ministry, essentially having an angle of advocacy and justice in the work that we do, so we ensure that people’s stories got told and we become a conduit for those stories and essentially a megaphone in some ways.” 

Fisher chose to complete his master’s work at HDS because of its culture that he said feels supportive, freeing and life-giving, something he does not take for granted. 

“I really get a deep sense of permission from the Divinity School to explore what it means to be a minister in today’s world. Although I’m not working in a church for example, nobody questions that I see a place like the Arboretum as my church,” he said. “I can learn about myself and really learn about the kind of life I want to live.” 

In a sense, Fisher is gathering his own historias. He chose the word “gathering” in the title for the project associating it with other words such as “nourishment,” and “cultivation” which speaks to the purpose of the project. But its bilingual title was chosen with intention. 

“The bilingual title speaks to a lot of Latinos here living in the U.S. now, whether they were born here or in other parts of Latin America,” he said. “It reflects that our community is varied and complex for not just Spanish speakers, for not just English speakers, but we often straddle different identities. And our stories can capture that.”

For questions or more information about “Gathering Historias” and Fisher’s work, please contact him at fisher@hds.harvard.edu. 

— Michael Naughton, Harvard Divinity School Communications, contributed to this article.