W is for Winging It

My passion that I am choosing to pursue during our month on is a search for freedom, adventure, and self. And I plan to wing it. I will be hitch-hiking through Washington, Oregon, and California with the goal of reaching Santa Cruz before beginning my return to Olympia. The general path that I’m envisioning is one that goes East from Olympia, down Eastern Oregon and Northeastern California, and across California’s central valley to Santa Cruz and the central coast. On the way back up to Washington I plan to travel along the Pacific coast all the way up to the Olympic Peninsula before completing the home stretch to Olympia. This month-long trip will be a solo one and I’ll be living minimally off of what I bring in my pack and a small amount of cash for groceries and supplies when absolutely needed. My mode of transportation will be mostly a combination of rides from others and walking, although I am open to the idea of taking a bus or two in case something goes wrong. I plan to spend at least 4 days of this journey on a backpacking trip in a wilderness area so much of what I am bringing with me is camping gear (tent, water purifier, lightweight stove, etc). Part of my project will include an internal conversation with Jack Kerouac about his book On the Road and its relation to my experience of being on the road.

I want to feel freedom, to gain a new confidence in myself and what I am capable of. I want to connect further with society, nature, and who I am and to get closer to discovering my place in it all. I want to step out and wing it. I hope to draw from this experience a greater understanding of the world around me as well as the world within myself. All that I am sure of regarding the outcome of this journey is that I will be changed in some way, and that I will have grown.

ABCs and 123s – weekly log and field notes

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Bachelardian Reverie

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Poetry

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Poetry Observed

Fall Term Paper Abstract

Read full winter term paper: The Passion of the World