There’s the retired schoolteacher who spent four years, or two stints, in the Peace Corps in southern Ethiopia. He remembers the people. The food. The peace. The young woman who traveled overland from Kenya and to the Red Sea, across the contested boarder in the back of jeep, just to see if she could. She wants to know how to … Read More
Mountain Appraisal
When I was fifteen I took I NOLS course in Wyoming and hated nearly every day—in the beginning. I was skinny and short with bony hips that jutted out perfectly into the marginally-padded hip belt of my external frame hip pack. I got hip hickies within the first two days and had to cut giant doughnuts of Styrofoam out of … Read More
Normal People
Identity crises are never pleasant, especially when they happen 200’ up a frozen chunk of ice. Ideally, this would be different. But that’s never my luck. Do normal people have the same? Here’s the situation: It seems I’m constantly asking if I like something, or if I want to like something. And that’s not totally true because I really don’t … Read More
Mountain Appraisal
When I was fifteen I took I NOLS course in Wyoming and hated nearly every day—in the beginning. I was skinny and short with bony hips that jutted out perfectly into the marginally-padded hip belt of my external frame hip pack. I got hip hickies within the first two days and had to cut giant doughnuts of Styrofoam out of … Read More