Cabin 135: A Memoir of Alaska (The Alaska Literary Series)

As a young adult, Katie Eberhart moved to Cabin 135, a house on a knoll in remote Alaska. Over the next decade, growing up and growing into her home, she found herself thinking through her ever-changing ideas about aging and place, a lot of which were wrapped up closely in her experience of living in the house itself. Cabin 135 provided shelter and security, and it also offered lessons on economic disruptions and how ideas of normalcy change. In these pages, we share Eberhart's experience of digging into the past--figuratively and, in her garden, at an archaeology site, and in a national park, literally. Every layer peeled back, we find, reveals another story, another way of thinking about nature and the past--our own and that of others. In greenhouse and garden, yard, forest, and more distant places--a beach in southeast Alaska, the Arctic coast, Swiss Alps, Iceland, and even Biosphere-2 in Arizona--Eberhart engages with the world around her, and, through it, reflects on her own experiences and journey through life. Offering a journey of wonder and curiosity, through the author's mind, a house's structure, and other places, Cabin 135 is a deft combination of memoir and nature writing, rich with thought and full of appreciation for--and profound concerns about--the world and our place in it. As a young adult, Katie Eberhart moved to Cabin 135, a house on aknoll in remote Alaska. Over the next decade, growing up andgrowing into her home, she found herself thinking through herever-changing ideas about aging and place, a lot of which werewrapped up closely in her experience of living in the house itself.Cabin 135 provided shelter and security, and it also offeredlessons on economic disruptions and how ideas of normalcy change.In these pages, we share Eberhart's experience of digging into thepast-figuratively and, in her garden, at an archaeology site, andin a national park, literally. Every layer peeled back, we find,reveals another story, another way of thinking about nature and thepast-our own and that of others. In greenhouse and garden, yard,forest, and more distant places-a beach in southeast Alaska, theArctic coast, Swiss Alps, Iceland, and even Biosphere-2 inArizona-Eberhart engages with the world around her, and, throughit, reflects on her own experiences and journey through life.Offering a journey of wonder and curiosity, through the author'smind, a house's structure, and other places, Cabin 135 isa deft combination of memoir and nature writing, rich with thoughtand full of appreciation for-and profound concerns about-the worldand our place in it "Cabin 135 exists as place and idea, abode and quirky companion. As place, the house offered abundant opportunities to explore and contemplate decisions made by previous residents. As an abstraction, the log-built cabin both anchored and propelled my speculative notions of time and place. Eventually, I looked outward, beyond the house toward the microcosms of garden and yard and on toward a wider terrain. Nature meanders through my life as an ongoing theme, whether semi-tamed garden, national park, or wild-seeming forest. My narrative journey samples history, gardening, and nature as well as grappling with a many-faced house. Within the thematic structure of this book, I learn to pay more attention to my surroundings-sometimes with a broad-brush approach such as considering a swath of vegetation, other times, contemplating only a small plot of forest or garden, or a patch of wall inside the house. While searching for narrative larger than myself, everything I experienced, pondered, and tinkered with became part of my story and I puzzled over how we change places in both minuscule and wide-ranging ways"-- Provided by publisher