diff --git a/content/blog/2022-06-20_kroka/index.md b/content/blog/2022-06-20_kroka/index.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cf00e73 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/blog/2022-06-20_kroka/index.md @@ -0,0 +1,139 @@ ++++ +title = "Post-Kroka Contemplations" +description = "Reflections on my time as part of the 2022 Arctic to Manhattan Semester" + +[taxonomies] +categories = ["blog"] +tags = ["kroka","nature","politics","travel"] + +[extra] +zenn_applause = true ++++ + +Hi! Hello! _Salutations!_ I'm back! I just returned from a five month long expedition. I skied and paddled, traveling almost every day, living outside and in community with twelve other students for a semester. I got back on June 12th, and since then I've been adjusting every day to being home and living in society. As I adjust and reflect, I realize I have a lot to say. A lot to say about my time at Kroka, about the world and the society I live in, and about the life I want to live. + + + +Unlike the blogs I tried to write while on expedition, blogs which the staff back at Kroka usually edited heavily into an ingenuine student testimony to the wonderous experience anyone who does semester will be having one hundred percent of the time, this is not an advertisement. This recounting is honest. It's also just one person's story, and doesn't try to synthesize the entire group's diverse experiences into a single narrative. + +### The Decision + +At some point in my early teenage years I became aware of [Kroka Expeditions][https://kroka.org], which is self-described as a "non-profit wilderness expedition school based on a year-round, organic farm in Marlow, New Hampshire". I heard about Kroka from friends who had studied and worked there: Cat Hannigan, Andrew Row, Sophia Cable, Maggie Ranen, Elias Stegeman, Sarah Kennedy, the list goes on and on. Most students at Kroka, I knew, are campers, students who live at Kroka for a few weeks over the summer and going on paddling or backpacking trips. The people I knew, though, hadn't done these summer camps. They had done Semester. + +Kroka's Winter Semester program + +Kroka drew me in not because of its unique flavor, but simply because it offered a five month long immersion into nature connection through travel. If I had found another organization which took this as seriously as I did (NOELS and Outward Bound didn't make that cut), I might not have done Kroka's semester program. Kroka's unique flavor is something I should discuss a bit before continuing. + +#### Flavor + +Kroka Expeditions was founded by Misha Golfman and his wife Lynne Boudreau in 1996. Quotes below are from [kroka.org][https://kroka.org]. + +>> +>> While in graduate school at Antioch New England, Misha conceived of the idea of Kroka, and the project became the theme of his thesis. He brought to the curriculum his experience teaching in the United States, as well as his background of being raised in the “Russian outdoor tradition,” traveling, learning, and teaching in the wilderness. + +To my mind, there are several unique aspects of Kroka which set it apart from similar organizations. In addition to the usual focus on nature connection and community building, there is a strong emphasis on sustainability and agriculture. Misha has no reservations about teaching his personal anti-establishment anti-capitalist ideology to his students. The ambitious and demanding curriculum leaves little to no time unstructured. Finally, the Kroka philosophy always puts the group before the individual, and drills this in until putting ones personal needs last becomes habit. + + + +### Arrival and Basecamp + + + +### Green Mountains + + + +### Gaspé + + + +### Uapishka + + + +### Lake Champlain + + + +### Hudson River + + + +### New York City + + + +### Return to Basecamp + +### Conclusion + + \ No newline at end of file