And So It Begins...

And so it begins - taking my documentary project Behind the Mask - Our Stories on the road! Follow here for stories, photos and audio and video clips of the people and places I encounter!

Vegas Baby! After a beautiful fall drive to Anchorage and time with my friend, Tina Day, I flew into Vegas on Tuesday, greeted by another friend, Karri Wickstrom and 90 degrees! We spent two days hanging out and exploring the area, and now this morning, I pick up my camper van, my home away from home for the next two months, and hit the highway!

Exhausted from the long drive to Anchorage, getting just a few hours of sleep before catching my 6am flight out, and the stress of flying during Covid-19, it took a bit for me to shake off the ickies and start reaching out to strangers, asking if I could take their photos and hear stories, but once I got going, I was all in, making connections! Coming from a small town Homer, Alaska, Las Vegas is almost other worldly! Only my second time here, it's not difficult to connect with people, even during a pandemic, even in a large city. You just have to be willing to be open, vulnerable and interested in others. I believe that all stories are important, that all stories matter, and that we all deserve to be heard.

I'm excited and nervous to embark on this documentary project, out here in the big, wild, Lower 48 world, and here I go.

If you'd like to receive personalized emails with photos and stories before they're posted, as well as postcards from the road, and to be recognized in the coffee table book and traveling exhibit I'll be creating from this project, come along for the ride as a project supporter, gofundme.com/f/behind-the-mask-our-stories. A big thank you to each of these individuals for participating in this way - Chris Long, Ed and Sara Berg, Emily Ward, Janet Higley, Karri Wickstrom, Lorraine Stoby, Rika Mouw, Susan Braund, Taz Tally, Terry Talbot, Tina Day and two Anonymous individuals.

Care to share your story with me? Catch me at 907-435-7969 and behindthemaskourstories@gmail.com or post at Behind the Mask - Our Stories on Facebook. Stay safe out there!