Welcome to my space for writing, reflection, and cvetching about travel, the daily grind, and the expansiveness of our intertwined fates.

We are not passive citizens in our world. Western culture and consumption have global consequences we don’t come face to face with on the daily. It’s easy to stay in your bubble. My goal is to include those invisible or quiet narratives in my own understanding and explanation of the world.

I’m not here to tell you the “top 5 restaurants to eat in Mexico City,” typical travel guide stuff. There are better sources for that kind of info. I travel to uncover stories underpinning places and cultures. If you’re into threads of systemic inequality, racism, political instability, and sociological blah-de-blah, this site may be for you.

Where I’m going/Where I’ve been

I have 10+ years of budget travel across continents. My first shot at travel planning was a 5-day Toronto family vacation at age 12. My dad worked the whole time, and I discovered my all-time favorite band at a local record store. We toured a First Nations exhibit and rode a gondola over a mountain. I chose our hotel from a line in an Anberlin song, and my older sister and I saw Sum 41 play on Queens Quay (but damn if we could pronounce that word). If any of this resonates with you, you may be my ideal reader.

 

My travel wants to know how countries are connected: shaped by colonialism, war, trade, and migration. Examples of books I’ve read before my flights:

• • • Blood of Brothers by journalist Stephen Kinzer

    • The Last Days of the Incas by Kim MacQuarrie

    • Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

    • First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung

And then I go to the places that explain the things I read about in the books. Avert the eyes of scammers in poverty. Go to the museums that point fingers at the U.S. military complex. Taste the shape of new words in my mouth.

 

Yeah, I’m a backpacker and follow the “gringo trails” for safety, know-how, and company. I like a cheap, clean hostel with a tidy kitchen and the DL on taxi schemes. Some of that, you might find useful. But mostly I want you to look through my lens, walk where I walked, and tell me how the path felt to you.

 

A Poem? How Sweet

Beyond travel-related stuff, you’ll find my poetry and essays on more personal topics (e.g., relationships; breakups; political issues; pure pontification on nonsense; and the long, tumultuous road of working through decades of trauma).

All my writing is tied together by the idea of fate (and a lot of complaining). But I’m also pragmatic, and my hope is that you take away some motive to take action instead of doom and gloom about the world. Fateweavers represents the choice we have: real forces shape us and our world, but we’re not powerless.

Take your shoes off—stay a while

This blog is mostly my personal archive, but I’ll be sharing lots of other people’s writing and critical thought. For instance, I credit my 8th-grade crush, U.S. National Poetry Slam champ Danny Sherrard, with the name of this blog; he described his profession as “fate weaving.”  

 

And since writing is meant to be read, I encourage you to engage—comment, argue, share—throw tomatoes at the wall… or dice.

 

Read on, citizens of Earth. And thanks for aligning your fate with mine, at least for a time.