Paths Crossed: One Year
Happy anniversary to my Substack, from the place where it all began.
Hello from peak summer on Kalymnos, Greece, where the Meltemi winds are swirling hot air around my half-naked body and lulling me into a sleepy sort of serenity. (And in case you've also opened your home to me and have any doubt as to my decorum while sitting on your furniture, yes, I'm wearing pants.)
Paths Crossed turns one today! And how cool that I'm actually back on the island where I hit "publish" on that first introductory letter in July 2024. A repetitious geographic pattern one year to the next for me? Perhaps another cause for celebration as far as (good) repetitious patterns go. Hoorah.
I am humbled by those who have participated in year one of this project, talking with me from the depths of their heart, their mission, their hopes, or their fears. As I went back through these pieces again, I was filled with a sense of what is real. It’s the slow, quiet work, the showing up, the practices, the simple things. So many of the same themes emerged again and again as I read these interviews, though I shouldn’t be surprised—I think it’s fair to say that it’s entirely universal what we grapple with, regardless of which path we take or who is admitting it out loud. From the self-doubt to the starting again, from the big plans to the pause—the pause came up again and again, the active reminder to take that minute to celebrate something before striving for what’s next.
I have also come to see that everyone I’ve talked to here is grounded in their senses in some way—artists, writers, climbers, photographers, activists. It feels like the crux of getting present as best we can, of discovering each other and the world around us away from the noise of the news cycle, one that is there to distract us and make us sick. I would like to keep bringing conversations forward that feel to me like the real real in this increasingly disembodied world.
I might argue that everything and nothing has changed in the past year. I won’t expound on such a statement and what that even means to me right now, but I will say, Paths Crossed has been a North Star, one that led to publishing 42 pieces in that time. You’ll find them free in the archive, and a highlight of each of the 25 interviews below. I can proudly say that reading them all together is an absolutely beautiful symphony, one that I can feel as the sum of my work.
Thank you all for being readers. I’d love to hear from you as to what you’ve liked or don't like, what has struck you or what you want more of. Thank you for allowing my words to reach you.
A favorite moment from each of the 25 interviews from year one, with links to each article:
Kate Rutherford, rock climber and founder of Farm to Crag
“I feel like I thrive in creative spaces, so almost anything can feel that way that I'm passionate about. I think climbing is a super creative endeavor. An art form, in drawing a line across the landscape with your body. But I think now my ability to gather people in a welcoming, beautiful space that celebrates the potential for food to heal ourselves and the environment is a really hard link up. And you have to get really creative on how to weave all that together in a way that has the right structure and quality to really motivate people to be leaders.”
Ebony Dix, medical director of Yale’s Geriatric Psychiatry Inpatient Unit
“I had a patient who used to be an artist. So I presented them with their own set of art supplies. We sharpened some colored pencils and got a plastic box and wrote their name on it. And I was able to get them some clothing and personal care items that they requested. They started to cry. Because they were just so grateful, you know? There wasn't a pill. Just some colored pencils, an emery board, and some nice shampoo to make them feel like a human.”
Daniela Naomi Molnar, poet and artist
“And I do think that we write or paint or create ourselves into existence every single day, and we do that by what we pay attention to and by what and who and how we love. And that is something I still question every day, like, what am I doing? Why am I doing this? Why am I here? All those self-doubts come in constantly. And also, I truly believe that no matter what you're doing, that that is the only real work: to make yourself appear.”
Karimu Samuels, movement coach
“Movement means mastery to me. Committing to understanding yourself, your patterns, your obstacles, your fears. Finding a way. Knowing you can become whoever you want to become is one thing, but feeling it deep down from the inside is another.”
“I've noticed that people who do really good work are very selective. Part of what successful people are good at is shot selection. They don't try to be everything. It matters as much, I find, what they've said no to as what they've said yes to. That was actually an interesting thing that came from my conversation with Ben Affleck. When he was coming up in the industry he just said yes to everything because he couldn't even fathom the amount of money that was being thrown at him. And as he got older, he learned how and when to say no. And that’s an eye-opening thing if you're somebody who works in a field where you do a job that a lot of people would like to have. So you feel like you're grateful for it, which journalism is too.”
Lily Sampson, high schooler and my niece extraordinaire
“My generation is great. I mean, we care more about the world and the earth and that stuff. That's also from living in very democratic areas my whole life.”
Rob Lester, conservationist, Yosemite Bear Team
“We're like the food police to a certain degree. We're looking for food that's left out because that is the main driver of all wildlife and bear conflict in Yosemite. If bears get human food, they start to prefer human food because it's high in calories. If a bear gets a hamburger and gets an easy 1,000 calories, that's equivalent to 10 hours of foraging for acorns.”
Andy Mann, ocean conservationist, filmmaker, and photographer
“So we'd go down 1,000 meters in the middle of the night for these eight- to ten-hour sub missions to the ocean floor. I had this feeling of sort of returning to the womb, of going to a place that was sacred and held. And at least my belief is that life came from the deep ocean, where we evolved from. So to return to that space felt incredibly peaceful and powerful. There are more people on the International Space Station at any given time than would be down where we were. After days and days of it, it becomes really comfortable and it’s the surface that becomes the scary part.”
Eva Meyer-Keller, performance artist
“There's not really such an assigned pathway after let's say 40 or 45. From then on, I see a total playground and the liberty to invent ways of being and in society. But yeah, it's not very easy to see that because the narrative we're exposed to is not at all that. We need to not only get rid of that shit, but we also need to put something—not fantasies, but actual real stuff—in its place. But we need imagination for it. Because we need to make a story that makes sense and that is actually true.”
Devorah (Election Day edition)
“My rabbi talks a lot about how when we see injustice in the world, when we try to give through charity and such, we should think of it less as charity, and more as repair. We're actively repairing the damage. It's a way of having that social justice element present. So I feel like I get a lot of my strength from that community. They give me the platform to be who I am, even more sometimes than in queer spaces. I've been able to really express myself and my thoughts and my feelings.”
“I'm proud of having a really calm household. I'm proud that my house feels like a sanctuary, where there are never loud arguments. There are never crazy emotional eruptions. The tenor of my household is chill as fuck. It's not anxious. It's just a calm space. That was really hard as a Jewish, East Coast girl. And someone who's been through some shit. Cultivating everyday calm has been a major mission of mine. And I really feel like at midlife, I've nailed it.”
Rey Reynolds, actor and writer/director
“There are certain things that as a Muslim man I can say sound like they were written by men for the benefit of men. The idea that I can have four wives sounds great until you think, What are the repercussions of this? Like think about how she feels. The three Abrahamic religions of Islam, Judaism, Christianity, 80 percent of the figures in these religions are men. That is when masculine energy and order become oppressive. As-salaam alaikum. Peace be unto you. This is what the world needs right now. Peace. But it took these last eight years to realize that's something you have to cultivate from the inside.”
Sarah Scarborough, founder of Tea Huntress
“This is a practice of receptivity. It’s an opportunity to let go of a thinking mind. It can feel very unproductive, but if you can shift your mindset from “I don't have time for tea” to “This is the most productive thing that I will do all day,” it will feel so good to start making a practice of it. It really is the most important, magical, celebratory way to live your life because you're just giving yourself that sacred moment of pause. I find it very hard in this culture to go from go, go, go to stop. But tea can get you there.”
“We couldn't get off the island, and I didn't want to get off the island, I just wanted to stay. Every time somebody would be bummed, I’d secretly be like yessss. So it is totally part of the expedition. It is so important about the crews and the people that you're with on those types of trips. You need to be comfortable that you can be with somebody for three weeks who isn’t going to freak out, who can weather the storm, literally and figuratively.”
Alex Hardlund, wildland firefighter
“I certainly learned to use fire and work with it and see it as something that can be good, that we can coexist with. Which I think is the really unfortunate thing that we've lost the plot with on these big fires. These are big tragedies, absolutely. But I think the unfortunate thing is that the more these large-scare mega fires happen, the more it takes the public sentiment and our collective mindset regarding wildfires back decades.”
Magdalena Wosinska, photographer
“People will not value you unless you value yourself. It's hard. It's so much fucking work. I never knew life was only going to get this much harder as I got older. But it is so worth it to wake up out of the pits of despair and pain, to pull yourself out of the fucking mud and be like, but I have my heart, and I know its value.”
Charlie Miller, park ranger, animal advocate, and musician
“What I will say about working for the Park Service, no matter where you work, or if you've met each other or not, is that you are a big family. There's a bonding thing that happens when you all wind up together in these very remote, small communities, and you fall in love with these things that you're all protecting and you care about.”
Amina Rachman, activist, educator, and my aunt
“I was 15 years old, and I’m having this very serious conversation with a prominent Black leader—and we [Malcolm X and I] would have many, many, many conversations after that. He was taking my ideas seriously and engaging with me in this discussion. It was life-changing. I don’t think this happens a lot anymore. I don’t think people take teenagers seriously and engage with them in that kind of thinking and discussion. I don’t know why.”
Ben Moon, filmmaker, photographer, and writer
“We’ve gotten to a point that all of this short-form, junk-food content is not good for us and we’re all craving something more real. The mentality needs to shift. Social media is not fulfilling our soul’s needs. I want to find more ways of putting the stories first, instead of a brand driving the storytelling.”
“I think there's just wisdom out there. And we’re just fearful people running around, and those of us who are seekers are tapping into wisdom and forgetting, tapping into wisdom and forgetting. And I think that's a description of being alive.”
Domingo Morales, founder of Compost Power
“Coal was originally called ‘black gold’ because it was so valuable. I’m trying to take that name back from coal. The only problem is that not a lot of people are paying for compost. It’s not valued as something you can make money off. If we ever did turn it into a commodity, that’s when we’d start to see the difference. Residents would say, No, I'm not giving you my scraps; are you gonna pay me for this? That’s what would change the psychology in how our country works.”
Robin Eisenberg, artist and animator
“I think for me, it matters more than ever to create a place where people can feel good, because so much feels so bad. I feel like even if I can't fix those things, I can try to make the world feel more beautiful by creating a soothing moment. There's just so much coming at everyone every day. I feel like we all just want to hide under a blanket.”
Michael Lombardo, bird watcher
“Reality and truth require slow movement. Thoughtful consideration. Nuance. Noticing, questioning, asking, interrogating. All those things take time, and they require space, and that does not occur on a phone. I think of birding as a lot of things. It’s a well-being practice, but because ‘well-being’ is such a fraught, hot topic, I’d say the practice of birding has helped me retrain my mind to understand what's real and what's not.”
Rhiannon Klee Williams, artist and rock climber
“I don't even not like scary moments. There’s something actually that I'm drawn to about them. I really like that headspace of being so present that you can't entertain fear.”
Jason Swann, conservation finance director and founder of Rising Routes
“Real, durable change moves at the speed of trust. That takes time, and it’s worth it.”
*If you enjoy what you’ve read over the last year and feel compelled to support my work, please consider a paid subscription. I would be most humbled, and can say I'm glad to not yet be a cyborg. I have never opened ChatGPT or any such platform. (Will there soon be a carrying card for those of us left?). Choosing each and every word as it takes shape around a pretty (or ugly) sentence is still a thrill. I even like editing and proofreading. I’m sure AI as a tool can help in all the clear, concise, and strategic ways I’ve yet to master. But it's not the path I choose, as keeping my brain cells sharp and/or focused is already no small feat. I choose the slow, old-school processor of my mind to see what comes out the other side, and to live with the result. Call me a technophobe—I have already steeled myself against the steady grumble each time I announce that I do not have Venmo.
That is a wonderful reminder of the extraordinary people you have introduced me to this year. Thank you. I look forward to your next year.
Proud of you sweets. <3