Compass Lines

From Antarctica to the Arctic, the Florida swamps to a Cambodia tattoo parlor, a Middle East bicycle route to a Yukon River canoe trip, Compass Lines: Journeys Toward Home brings readers on adventures that traverse latitudes and continents in pursuit of that most elusive place: home. This powerful book from award-winning Porphyry Press tracks debut Alaska author John Messick on the winding, deeply felt route from childhood to fatherhood, reminding us that efforts to connect with ourselves depend on a capacity to connect with others. These essays ask us to think about our encounters with cultures not our own through acts of witness—the imprint of immigration, the foreshadowing of war, the complexities of masculinity. Here, broken vehicles mark porous boundaries between built and natural worlds. A job fighting wildfire near a ghost town reveals the dangers of a life spent wandering. Beyonce videos and polar bear jokes remind Messick of his tourist status, and that it is difficult, maybe impossible, to live ethically in places to which we have no birthright. Even after settling in Alaska, Messick finds the same colonial legacies taking a toll on land and people. Slowly, through deep and difficult interactions with the natural world, Messick realizes that sustainable existence depends on community and shared values. Neither travel nor homecoming are about conquering obstacles, but about applying attention and learning to listen.