Goodbye Carolina

but not for long!

Hi Folks,

I write this to you from my cell phone in the backyard of a hostel in Anchorage, Alaska. The sun is just beginning to peek over the roof and onto my face, the smell of fire permeates through the air, and chickens roam around and peck at my feet. I flew into Anchorage last night and watched as we flew into what appeared a morning sunrise, the mountains ice called below. I am in Alaska for the next month, where I will be backpacking around the Denali area—with no cell service, internet, or cell phone. I’ll be back on grid June 30th.

This has been a strange moment of equal parts transitions and stability for me; I finished my graduate program at UNC and left a job I have held for the last 7 years. At the same time, I return to North Carolina to begin a doctoral program at Duke and move back into my old apartment building, just a different unit. This trip marks a variety of endings but also a plethora of new beginnings that finally feel rooted in the stability I have craved so deeply these last few years.

This is not my first trip like this; I have been lucky to backpack all around the world. The last time I stayed in a hostel, I was passing through Toronto on my way to Algonquin Park, where I spent a summer living and working on the Canadian lakeside. Flying over these ice capped mountains at dawn reminded me of being twenty years old in Southern Chile, two tips of the earth. I am lucky to have these kinds of experiences and lucky to have so many things that feel difficult to leave behind—to have a home base that I already look forward to flying back to. It takes a long time for a place to feel like home; flying away yesterday solidified for me that this Southern city I’ve come to call home truly does.

This is mostly a note to say that I’ll be off grid for the month, so you won’t see any regular posts from me in your inbox. We’ve got some podcast episodes coming out while I’m gone, and some exciting events being planned for the fall. Stay tuned!

Otherwise, stay well, stay present, stay good. See you in June.

— Spencer

🏔️🐓❄️❤️‍🔥‼️🥾