Something personal: a little bioHey :) my name is Lauren, and I recently turned 25. I was originally born in England before moving to Orillia, Canada, at the age of 11. I met my partner two years ago, and we have become best friends and travel partners in this short period of time. We have just traded our 2011 GMC Sierra for a 1992 Toyota Winnebago that we have completely restored and renovated, and recently travelled across Ontario to Vancouver Island and back with our dog, Beanz. We love to travel and explore, to be submersed in the wilderness, and to wake next to the rushing sound of a waterfall.
Lauren: I always find it difficult when people ask me or I get questioned 'who are you?'. Well my name is Lauren, my skin is white, a colour that has carried many privileges with it throughout my life, privileges that I did not come to understand and deconstruct until my late teen years. My skin is a mere case, a suitcase perhaps, for my organs, my blood, but also my soul, and my consciousness. I believe that who we are, always stems much further than merely what we look like. We are beautiful, we are human, we have the competency to love, to give, to care, to resist, and to prevail. Yet this beauty is often skewed within Western mainstream society, it is often cast upon magazines, advertisements, and commercials, movies, and products of whiteness, flawless skin, beautifully coloured hair, high flush cheek bones, tiny waists, and lets face it, unrealistic portrayals of female and male beauty. How many sisters are with me when I say, one of the first things I do once I finish work is rip that metal contraption that we call a bra of my body and toss it across the room? To get back to the point, I don't quite know who I am still, I learn more about myself and those around me every single day. I know my consciousness has changed drastically over the last 10 years, that I am both worried and afraid for the future years if our current forms and systems of governmental power persist here in North America. If war or environmental degradation is not drastically stopped, and the violent appropriation of Indigenous lands is not rapidly halted. I am someone who yearns for a better, more decent and kind world, who struggles with how to appropriately contribute to the pure goodness and continued fight for equality on the land on which I stand, and around the globe. I am someone who loves the ocean, to be surrounded by something so vast and full of beauty and life. I am someone who chooses to love the differences and similarities around me, and who believes I will continuously learn more about life and myself throughout the rest of my years.
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LIFE IN THE EYES OF BEANZ
Beanz is the ultimate adventure dog, and just an all around cool and chill dude. He will literally come anywhere and everywhere with us. It doesn't matter that his age is getting up there in dog years (7 and a bit), he is always down for a hike, whether it be 6 hours or 4 days, a bike ride, canoe paddle, or really anything to do with being outdoors. He was an absolute gem to travel across Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia and all the way back, picking up new scents and trails, and making new friends along the way. Beanz is truly a great dog, and sometimes I believe he is more human than animal with his sense of humour, curiosity, and adventure. He loves in a way that is unconditional and his loyalty is admirable.
Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world. |