Hello there! ☝️🤓

It has been 10 years since I crossed the Rogers Pass (4,360 ft), down into the Columbia Valley where I was born and raised. Driving along the valley floor I was struck: growing up in the lap of those mountains I took for granted their grandeur. A decade away has given me new perspective. It is beautiful country! Ten years may have passed since my last visit, but laying my eyes on that familiar silhouette I instantly felt the roots of those mountains entwined in my own. Yep, this is my home.

For just 18 hours I visited my hometown Golden to attend my 30 year high school reunion. I did not go to the 20th reunion and since I don’t use Facebook I have been well out of touch. But meeting my old high school buddies who now live as far away as Ontario, it took just moments before we picked up our dorky ways like no time had passed at all. More kids, more pounds, less hair… but at the core these boys are like brothers to me.

It feels to me that there is something different about the bond between those that grew up together in a very small town. Do city folk, where being anonymous is the default, develop comparably strong bonds? I know small town folk that have lived in the city for decades and are never satisfied with the level of friendships they make. Sometimes, dissatisfied, they return to small town life.

Even after only seeing one another once every couple decades, my oldest friends and I sat around a patio table under the sun, surrounded by mountains and hearing the Kicking Horse rush by, just grinning at one another. I left this town thirty years ago, and had not visited it in ten. After so long, it was actually really great to go back and visit my roots at the foot of the mountains.

Yours deeply,

Chad

🖋 From the Blog

Lost Prophets Podcast
Taste-tested this new-to-me podcast with an excellent ep on Ivan Illich. Recommended! 🌟

Magnifica Humanitas Breakdown
Me yapping about the Pope’s encyclical on AI

Anglo-Saxon maxxing
Some of the resources I have been diving into over the past few months

🧭 Elsewhere

Want this sticker Image →

Trevor Noah talks to Cory Doctorow about enshittification. Accessible and funny! Video →

🌹 Stanley Park Rose Garden Pics →

🌲 Big tree energy in Redwood Park Pics →

🏔️ Mountain roads to Golden BC Pics →

We're all familiar with the Mister Rogers 'look for the helpers' talk. But it's worth remembering that Mister Rogers was talking to children when he said that. And we're no longer children.

— How to be useful by Mike Monteiro

📖 What I’m Reading

Circe by Madeline Miller
(10% Complete)

After watching The Odyssey in IMAX 70mm and being very impressed with Samantha Morton’s depiction of Circe in the film, I finally decided to bump this well-recommended book to the top. Only a few chapters in so far but it really moves!

2026 is the year I leave GoodReads. Since January I have been using 📘 Hardcover which has been a delight. Connect with me there https://hardcover.app/@chadkoh