Excellent! I have a hard copy and I'm a few chapters in. Your descriptions so evocatively capture the material world and your grounding in it. I feel steeped in an embodied story. It's a refreshing departure from so much writing that comes from the head and stays trapped in the head.
I have done enough bushwhacking in my time that the idea of an unreliable magnetic compass is a bit intimidating. I grew up stomping the riverswamp by myself and learned to navigate by the sun so unconsciously that I did not know that I was doing it until I got lost on an overcast and rainy day and had to spend the night in the buggy woods without a tent or sleeping bag. I don't use a compass that much but when I do, it needs to be trustworthy. And I have been led astray by GPS receivers that pointed me across uncrossable geographic features. The many advanced devices we have today allow people who never could have access to the wilderness before to do so now. But, please, for everyone's sake, have backup plans and devices before you step off the beaten paths.
Absolutely looking forward to reading the upcoming chapters! The years spanning your trips to Madagascar span my childhood (as a 90s millennial), and I will be reading these upcoming posts as as a mom in my early 30s who took a leap and relocated with my family to Europe after only having exclusively lived in my PNW hometown in suburban Vancouver, Canada. Obviously my move from one WEIRD country to another is nowhere near as drastic of a change as your trips to Madagascar, but as the first huge risk I've taken, I am very excited to read of your adventures and encounters while embarking on my own.
Thank you! It's a win-win -- Antipode for us, and writing time for you. And a triple win when we can read the new book. Here's to a productive spring/summer!
So excited for this, I’m already hooked. “and how many cats we would be expected to consume” literally made me laugh out loud (still cannot get on the lol wagon, however). Neat to see that Bret has always had the talent for good photography, and that you both have been bold and brazen since day one. I just have to throw out there that my personal sense of direction seems excellent in the woods compared to how turned around I get in big cities, especially when they are basically grids. This might sound obscure, but I think my internal “magnet” gets compromised somehow. I’d be curious to know if that were true for me on the opposite side of the globe! Or perhaps I’m just very very weird. Now I just have to go find out exactly what spot is directly opposite from my current location…
A funny anecdote from my daughter that the outrunning the leeches memory brought up. She met a sloth for the first time in South America and was rushing and scrambling for her camera when it dawned on her that she could relax… it’s a sloth, after all, and travels like it’s moving through jello. Heh. She was much more used to Alaskan wildlife, which tends towards speed and elusive tactics
(Oh, RFK is just about to announce his running mate live, ciao)
Excellent! I have a hard copy and I'm a few chapters in. Your descriptions so evocatively capture the material world and your grounding in it. I feel steeped in an embodied story. It's a refreshing departure from so much writing that comes from the head and stays trapped in the head.
I have done enough bushwhacking in my time that the idea of an unreliable magnetic compass is a bit intimidating. I grew up stomping the riverswamp by myself and learned to navigate by the sun so unconsciously that I did not know that I was doing it until I got lost on an overcast and rainy day and had to spend the night in the buggy woods without a tent or sleeping bag. I don't use a compass that much but when I do, it needs to be trustworthy. And I have been led astray by GPS receivers that pointed me across uncrossable geographic features. The many advanced devices we have today allow people who never could have access to the wilderness before to do so now. But, please, for everyone's sake, have backup plans and devices before you step off the beaten paths.
Absolutely looking forward to reading the upcoming chapters! The years spanning your trips to Madagascar span my childhood (as a 90s millennial), and I will be reading these upcoming posts as as a mom in my early 30s who took a leap and relocated with my family to Europe after only having exclusively lived in my PNW hometown in suburban Vancouver, Canada. Obviously my move from one WEIRD country to another is nowhere near as drastic of a change as your trips to Madagascar, but as the first huge risk I've taken, I am very excited to read of your adventures and encounters while embarking on my own.
Thank you! It's a win-win -- Antipode for us, and writing time for you. And a triple win when we can read the new book. Here's to a productive spring/summer!
Got my hands on a used hard copy a while back and thoroughly enjoyed the whole book!
Thank you for the many gifts of your writing.
So excited for this, I’m already hooked. “and how many cats we would be expected to consume” literally made me laugh out loud (still cannot get on the lol wagon, however). Neat to see that Bret has always had the talent for good photography, and that you both have been bold and brazen since day one. I just have to throw out there that my personal sense of direction seems excellent in the woods compared to how turned around I get in big cities, especially when they are basically grids. This might sound obscure, but I think my internal “magnet” gets compromised somehow. I’d be curious to know if that were true for me on the opposite side of the globe! Or perhaps I’m just very very weird. Now I just have to go find out exactly what spot is directly opposite from my current location…
A funny anecdote from my daughter that the outrunning the leeches memory brought up. She met a sloth for the first time in South America and was rushing and scrambling for her camera when it dawned on her that she could relax… it’s a sloth, after all, and travels like it’s moving through jello. Heh. She was much more used to Alaskan wildlife, which tends towards speed and elusive tactics
(Oh, RFK is just about to announce his running mate live, ciao)
https://m.youtube.com/live/RunrpokDyKE?si=alwzSo8Cwpvit-lP&embeds_widget_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.kennedy24.com%2F&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.embedly.com%2F&embeds_referring_origin=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.embedly.com&source_ve_path=MTY0OTksMjg2NjQsMTY0NTA2&feature=emb_share