Appreciated your essay on the aurora borealis, but also your experience and observations about trying to balance time away from the smart phone tether. Without the added length to your article, you may not have been able to include this additional important facet of your experience.
Like you, I need to be on tether for work, Uber, and other reasons, but can also surprisingly get sucked in by the algorithm. I’m participating in a writing course called Write of Passage, and wondered if you have heard of it. My first essay for the course in draft starts to reflect on hiking Kilimanjaro a few weeks ago. Thinking of doing an essay series on the Kili experience. Gloriously unplugged for about 10 days!
I feel guilty for having such beauty and pleasure without having to chase it. Julia Hubblel (from Substack) flew all the way from Oregon to Yellowknife to try catching what I can watch in my jammies.
Long live Aurora and those who chase and catch her!
I love your humor, so when I first saw this I was skimming it thinking I didn’t want to read a serious essay. Then I came across a bit of humor, so went back and started from the beginning and I loved all of it. I think you achieved a perfect balance and I so agree with your conclusions at the end,
I enjoyed the personal essay, and liked your conclusion about how technology can enhance our experiences instead of taking us out of them. My husband got an amazing photo of the purple sky... which I missed because somehow I was the only one who didn't hear this was happening, and worked late at the office out in a different town that didn't get the light show.
Completely get the FOMO around this. We've had Aurora in the UK all year but we keep missing it, only to see everyone's amazing photos the next day. So we've bitten the bullet and we're off to North Norway at the end of the year to do it properly 😁
I really enjoyed this essay Carlos. It reminded me of an experience I had working on Sable Island about 40 years ago. Sable Island is about 290 km Southeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia. In addition to being home to approximately 500 wild horses, because it is pretty much a giant sand dune in the Atlantic with only a weather station and a few other small buildings there, it has no light pollution. The first night I stayed there, I was overwhelmed by the scene above me. More stars than I had ever seen in my life. Huge swaths of light. That experience never left me. It continues to remind me how little we really see of what is right above us.
Beautiful display on Thursday along the shores of Lake Superior in the upper peninsula of Michigan. There are apps available that will alert you to upcoming solar storms, but I rely on neighbors' texting alerts. I drove down to the north facing lake and a spontaneous community event had broken out, all of us reveling in the brilliant and undulating colors, trading tips on best photo technique, swapping stories about past Northern Lights events, speculating on ancient myths about the Northern Lights and wondering if there were any human effects of "solar" bathing in the lights as we stood on the beach. So I was grateful to the social media that brought us all together on this special night.
Loved your essay! I missed my possible first aurora borealis a week ago because it was cloudy. Otherwise the surroundings were perfect. Pitch black, a friends house sort of in the middle of nowhere by a lake and with the woods behind the house. And only 10 minutes from the nearest city.
I also always thought you had to go up north to Lapland to see northern lights.
I'd forgotten about the solar storm on Thursday night until I looked at Facebook and saw pics that a friend had taken in Boston. I thought, "Hold on—if that's what she's seeing, we should be seeing something, too. Something even better!" Because Boston's at the 42nd parallel and up here in Edmonton we're at 53. But when my husband went outside at around 9 pm, he saw nothing. About an hour and a half later, we decided we'd drive somewhere with less light pollution, but as soon as we got outside, there they were, in full bloom, green streaks in the sky. My husband went back out at around 11:30 and saw nothing but I went back out again near midnight, they were back again. I love that the camera sees what we can't; to us they were green and not that bright. The camera, with its long exposure, caught the greens and pinks.
Really liked this one Carlos … maybe because it resembled our own experience, but in our case my wife had the case of FOMO and we just drove aimlessly around in the dark country east of town, and never did find a place where we saw anything, meanwhile my mother is sending photos from 17 miles away showing us these massive shimmering curtains. Honestly, next time we’ll probably follow your plan, all I have to do now is research the dark spots and plan ahead to get to them.
Thanks, Tom! I feel your pain. It’s frustratingly difficult to find a decent spot to stargaze anywhere near a city. I scoured a combination of Reddit forums on stargazing and used this map to find the darkest skies near me: https://darksitefinder.com/
Okay, that’s useful, darksitefinder site. I guess it tells me what I suspected: I have to drive an hour up into the mountains, and then find a spot where I can see well to the north. In other words, I’ve got to be more committed!
Uwharrie National Forest! It has some of the darkest skies within driving distance and is accessible at night, which many of the state parks aren’t unless you camp there.
This was lovely and funny, true and inspirational in a very good, how to see our everyday life including our phones in a new and different way, way. Don’t over think. Just keep it up.
So glad I found you, please thank your dad for sending that text and starting the chain of events that led to me starting my day thinking about something other than you know.
Appreciated your essay on the aurora borealis, but also your experience and observations about trying to balance time away from the smart phone tether. Without the added length to your article, you may not have been able to include this additional important facet of your experience.
Like you, I need to be on tether for work, Uber, and other reasons, but can also surprisingly get sucked in by the algorithm. I’m participating in a writing course called Write of Passage, and wondered if you have heard of it. My first essay for the course in draft starts to reflect on hiking Kilimanjaro a few weeks ago. Thinking of doing an essay series on the Kili experience. Gloriously unplugged for about 10 days!
Look forward to reading more of your work!
Thanks, Catherine! I haven’t heard of Write of Passage but I’d definitely be interested to read about your Kilimanjaro trek!
I'm SO glad you got to catch some of Aurora's brilliance. I live in Calgary, Canada and can get pics like this from my own backyard: https://substack.com/@kristikeller/note/c-71805042
I feel guilty for having such beauty and pleasure without having to chase it. Julia Hubblel (from Substack) flew all the way from Oregon to Yellowknife to try catching what I can watch in my jammies.
Long live Aurora and those who chase and catch her!
Thanks for this story Carlos!
Thanks, Kristi! I’ve been living vicariously through your aurora photos and I’m glad I got to see it for myself!
Loved this! Thank you, Carlos!
Thanks, Allan!
I love your humor, so when I first saw this I was skimming it thinking I didn’t want to read a serious essay. Then I came across a bit of humor, so went back and started from the beginning and I loved all of it. I think you achieved a perfect balance and I so agree with your conclusions at the end,
Thank you for a fun and thought provoking read.
Thank you! I’m so glad to hear that!
I enjoyed the personal essay, and liked your conclusion about how technology can enhance our experiences instead of taking us out of them. My husband got an amazing photo of the purple sky... which I missed because somehow I was the only one who didn't hear this was happening, and worked late at the office out in a different town that didn't get the light show.
Thanks! And I hope you get a chance to catch it the next time!
Completely get the FOMO around this. We've had Aurora in the UK all year but we keep missing it, only to see everyone's amazing photos the next day. So we've bitten the bullet and we're off to North Norway at the end of the year to do it properly 😁
I really enjoyed this essay Carlos. It reminded me of an experience I had working on Sable Island about 40 years ago. Sable Island is about 290 km Southeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia. In addition to being home to approximately 500 wild horses, because it is pretty much a giant sand dune in the Atlantic with only a weather station and a few other small buildings there, it has no light pollution. The first night I stayed there, I was overwhelmed by the scene above me. More stars than I had ever seen in my life. Huge swaths of light. That experience never left me. It continues to remind me how little we really see of what is right above us.
Thanks, Cathy! It’s so true, I remember seeing the true night sky for the first time in Yellowstone and it was mind blowing
Beautiful display on Thursday along the shores of Lake Superior in the upper peninsula of Michigan. There are apps available that will alert you to upcoming solar storms, but I rely on neighbors' texting alerts. I drove down to the north facing lake and a spontaneous community event had broken out, all of us reveling in the brilliant and undulating colors, trading tips on best photo technique, swapping stories about past Northern Lights events, speculating on ancient myths about the Northern Lights and wondering if there were any human effects of "solar" bathing in the lights as we stood on the beach. So I was grateful to the social media that brought us all together on this special night.
Loved your essay! I missed my possible first aurora borealis a week ago because it was cloudy. Otherwise the surroundings were perfect. Pitch black, a friends house sort of in the middle of nowhere by a lake and with the woods behind the house. And only 10 minutes from the nearest city.
I also always thought you had to go up north to Lapland to see northern lights.
I'd forgotten about the solar storm on Thursday night until I looked at Facebook and saw pics that a friend had taken in Boston. I thought, "Hold on—if that's what she's seeing, we should be seeing something, too. Something even better!" Because Boston's at the 42nd parallel and up here in Edmonton we're at 53. But when my husband went outside at around 9 pm, he saw nothing. About an hour and a half later, we decided we'd drive somewhere with less light pollution, but as soon as we got outside, there they were, in full bloom, green streaks in the sky. My husband went back out at around 11:30 and saw nothing but I went back out again near midnight, they were back again. I love that the camera sees what we can't; to us they were green and not that bright. The camera, with its long exposure, caught the greens and pinks.
Glad you got to catch the aurora too! We had the same experience with it coming and going so I’m glad we caught it at a good time
Really liked this one Carlos … maybe because it resembled our own experience, but in our case my wife had the case of FOMO and we just drove aimlessly around in the dark country east of town, and never did find a place where we saw anything, meanwhile my mother is sending photos from 17 miles away showing us these massive shimmering curtains. Honestly, next time we’ll probably follow your plan, all I have to do now is research the dark spots and plan ahead to get to them.
Thanks, Tom! I feel your pain. It’s frustratingly difficult to find a decent spot to stargaze anywhere near a city. I scoured a combination of Reddit forums on stargazing and used this map to find the darkest skies near me: https://darksitefinder.com/
Okay, that’s useful, darksitefinder site. I guess it tells me what I suspected: I have to drive an hour up into the mountains, and then find a spot where I can see well to the north. In other words, I’ve got to be more committed!
I'm totally onboard with this concept of personal essays. You can't not be funny, Carlos.
Thank you so much, Portia! ☺️
Carlos, I’m just north of Charlotte and didn’t even try to find a spot! Where did you see the Aurora?
Uwharrie National Forest! It has some of the darkest skies within driving distance and is accessible at night, which many of the state parks aren’t unless you camp there.
Thanks!
This was lovely and funny, true and inspirational in a very good, how to see our everyday life including our phones in a new and different way, way. Don’t over think. Just keep it up.
So glad I found you, please thank your dad for sending that text and starting the chain of events that led to me starting my day thinking about something other than you know.