When I was in 6th grade and my mom told me she was sending me on a ten day canoe trip in northern Ontario, I was fuming. Now, over a decade later, it’s hard to imagine how I would have turned out as a person if I had managed to talk her out of sending me. Growing up in Detroit, Michigan meant that winters were spent indoors reading comic books and watching movies, so throughout high school my trips to Temagami in the summer months served as a much needed recalibration that helped me reconnect with myself, nature, and the community that is this camp. In college while I was earning my degree in anthropology and media studies at Kalamazoo College, working for NWL as a trip leader gave me a break from academia, and more importantly, time for some good clean fun. Currently I work at a sushi restaurant and guide kayak tours on the Detroit River. In my free time I’m still watching movies, reading funny books, and also squeezing in as much rock climbing and bicycling as I can.