Notes From Swannanoa – Part IV

It has been 88 days since Helene. Some days, it feels like years since the flooding, mudslides, and high winds forever altered Swannanoa’s landscape and the lifescapes of the people who live here. On other days, it feels as though it were surely only yesterday that she tore through these mountains.

Bright Forest Longing

The woods around my home in Arctic Norway were few and far between, mostly small birches barely taller than your average adult. Here in Åland, I met with real woods: tall bone-white birches, spruce, thick pines, bushy walnut groves. This vibrant life was everywhere, and all the while I was searching for graves.

Where Do We Want to Go?

December is a month of holiday festivities, near-nonstop sales advertisements, and many religious observations surrounding light. In the Northern Hemisphere, as we venture faster than dropping temperatures to the longest night and shortest day, it is only natural to think of the coming year and ask: where do we want to go?