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Humans have always had a complicated relationship with weather. Ancient cultures prayed and made offerings to gods in hopes of receiving conditions conducive to growing crops. Adverse weather, then, w…
Humans have always h…
Humans have always had a complicated relationship with weather. Ancient cultures prayed and made offerings to gods in hopes of receiving conditions conducive to growing crops. Adverse weather, then, was often interpreted as displeasure on behalf of those same beings—a punishment for failing to observe proper rituals. It doesn’t take a history scholar to understand this impulse. Weather, now as then, is both an enemy and ally. On one hand, it provides everything from the raw material for food—sunlight driving photosynthesis, wind the primary method of plants spreading their seeds—to …
Sometimes, writing about art and theater feels a lot like falling down the proverbial rabbit hole as I try to find the angle to write about wandering through a haunted-theater immersive experience, ge…
Sometimes, writing a…
Sometimes, writing about art and theater feels a lot like falling down the proverbial rabbit hole as I try to find the angle to write about wandering through a haunted-theater immersive experience, getting splashed in a Halloween horror show in the basement of a spaghetti emporium, sweating through a DIY D&D in a comic shop, savoring (har har!) Sweeney Todd’s enraged high notes, and trying to quiet my howling dog in a public house. I’ve found myself in some odd and awkward scenarios. To update the metaphor, writing this column is a lot like drunk-clicking through an endless algorithm o…
Jessie Hanson
January 8, 2020
I spent the better part of this evening researching how to prevent an outdoor hose from freezing in extreme conditions with the intention of making it safely through my first winter as a full-time Air…
I spent the better p…
I spent the better part of this evening researching how to prevent an outdoor hose from freezing in extreme conditions with the intention of making it safely through my first winter as a full-time Airstreamer. This topic was quickly followed up by the Google searches “what is the best space heater for a travel trailer” and “how to skirt my Airstream.” Three hours into the interwebs and $427 later, I have gained an inkling of confidence that I might be able to make it out alive. Hear me when I say that “might” is the key word in that sentence. Dramatic? Maybe. But, with each plac…
Stephanie Kemp
January 18, 2022
I cried today. Twice. Unbeknownst to the part of me that likes to feel as if I’m always in control. One of my best friends FaceTimed me from Colorado and then one of my best friends called me from A…
I cried today. Twice…
I cried today. Twice. Unbeknownst to the part of me that likes to feel as if I’m always in control. One of my best friends FaceTimed me from Colorado and then one of my best friends called me from Austin for our typical end-of-day recap, and without warning, the flood gates opened. To better illustrate this moment, please imagine me at my usual table in Whole Foods (meaning, my possessions are strewn all over the place) while I inhale an entire bag (yes, bag) of Justin’s mini dark chocolate peanut butter cups. Meanwhile, Nugget is staring at me from across the table. Sidebar: if you don…
Stephanie Kemp
September 12, 2020
The smell of his leather seats lingers in my nostrils, a scent more intoxicating than the taste of the second round of Tito’s and soda that he’d slid to me across the marble countertop just an hou…
The smell of his lea…
The smell of his leather seats lingers in my nostrils, a scent more intoxicating than the taste of the second round of Tito’s and soda that he’d slid to me across the marble countertop just an hour before. My hands are jammed underneath my thighs while my wavy hair slides haphazardly across my cheeks. His face is glowing in the redness of the stoplight; words are patiently waiting to escape his lips. And, I want to freeze here, in the magic and the madness, before those syllables roll off of his tongue. My sister loves you. My roommate loves you. And, they don’t understand why I can…
Stephanie Kemp
September 11, 2020
Since I moved into my Airstream, I hang out daily at Whole Foods (eating the salad bar and borrowing precious Wi-Fi). As a self-proclaimed blogger (I don’t know how many blogs it takes to clearly ow…
Since I moved into m…
Since I moved into my Airstream, I hang out daily at Whole Foods (eating the salad bar and borrowing precious Wi-Fi). As a self-proclaimed blogger (I don’t know how many blogs it takes to clearly own that title), I like to spend most of the time writing. I find that it’s ironically easy for me to focus amongst the lunch crowd chaos. Today, I painfully watched a couple with two kids absolutely annihilate one another with their words. In public. And, my heart was so soft to their experience that I literally wanted to cry. The wife is pushing the two kids in one of those car-shaped shop…
Stephanie Kemp
August 12, 2020
Once upon a time, in a galaxy not so far away, I came across a guy on Bumble who immediately proclaimed in his bio that faith was the number quality that he was looking for in a woman. Okay. He then p…
Once upon a time, in…
Once upon a time, in a galaxy not so far away, I came across a guy on Bumble who immediately proclaimed in his bio that faith was the number quality that he was looking for in a woman. Okay. He then proceeded to say how much he loved positivity and hated photo filters: “Real is beautiful.” You got it, bud. I second the filter hate train. I mean, I’ll send you a dumbass video of me with cheeseburgers circling around my head, but a hard no on the cat ears for public visibility. In true Stephanie fashion, I led with: “Should I start sending all my Snapchat filter selfies now or later?” …
Stephanie Kemp
August 8, 2020
I have a confession. I haven’t been completely honest with you lately. I spent my last blog explicating a story about some guy in camo pants that would, quite literally, run into me in the single…
I have a confession.…
I have a confession. I haven’t been completely honest with you lately. I spent my last blog explicating a story about some guy in camo pants that would, quite literally, run into me in the singles line of my favorite chairlift. A guy that would inevitably save me from the digital dead zone of online dating. A guy who, at first take, would appear to be completely random, until we’d both divulge the calculated decisions we had made to get us into that same lift line on that same mountain on that very same day, and none of it would seem so random after all. As much I want to chalk this …
Stephanie Kemp
July 17, 2020
In part one of this post, which you can read here, I addressed why I lived a very regimented life for nearly two decades (and, yes, I’m not so naïve to think that I don’t still possess this quali…
In part one of this …
In part one of this post, which you can read here, I addressed why I lived a very regimented life for nearly two decades (and, yes, I’m not so naïve to think that I don’t still possess this quality – I simply know that I now manifest it in a way that feels healthy to who I am as a person). The second part of this post, which you are obviously reading at this very moment, addresses more specifically HOW I got here. To buy an Airstream and commit to a full-time nomadic lifestyle, more or less, was not an overnight decision. In fact, I started looking at them a year before actually biti…
Stephanie Kemp
July 10, 2020
I summited Half Dome last week. And, while I want to sit here and boast about my pride in reflection of that accomplishment, the truth is that it’s been bittersweet. Yosemite National Park had been …
I summited Half Dome…
I summited Half Dome last week. And, while I want to sit here and boast about my pride in reflection of that accomplishment, the truth is that it’s been bittersweet. Yosemite National Park had been the number one spot on my bucket list since I started climbing just over a year ago. Unfortunately, traveling solo leaves this rock climber without a perma-belayer, so I chose to enter the daily lottery for the Half Dome hike, a rather stringent process that allows only a select few applicants access to the summit by way of cables. And, well, I won. Stoke was too high. Really, I was itching to …
Stephanie Kemp
June 30, 2020
The awkward silence that is currently sitting in the space between our souls is suffocating me. I jam my hands, like clockwork, underneath my thighs, forcing my back to press firmly into the wall of m…
The awkward silence …
The awkward silence that is currently sitting in the space between our souls is suffocating me. I jam my hands, like clockwork, underneath my thighs, forcing my back to press firmly into the wall of my 23’ Airstream. Outside it is snowing, and the aluminum panel transfers the exterior chill through the cotton of my well-worn long-sleeve pajama shirt. He is cross-legged in his black skinny jeans, surrounded by pillows, eyes darting from my face to his knees. All I can smell is clean laundry from the sheets of the bed that we just spent far too long making. We’ve never been here before (a…
Stephanie Kemp
June 27, 2020
It’s 2:01am. And, I want to go to sleep. Truly, I do. But, my mind is mulling over the current state of affairs in the Supreme Court nominations. I spent the better part of this afternoon really lis…
It’s 2:01am. And, …
It’s 2:01am. And, I want to go to sleep. Truly, I do. But, my mind is mulling over the current state of affairs in the Supreme Court nominations. I spent the better part of this afternoon really listening to the testimonies of both sides. But, let me be clear, this post has nothing to do with politics. No, this story is about a 34-year-old female who is finding herself inside a conversation that is questioning whether or not women are truthful when it comes to explicating their experiences. And, be it good or bad, I am now finding a way to attach conscious thoughts to emotions that I f…
Stephanie Kemp
June 19, 2020
If you think dating is hard, try dating in a ski town. Population 4,896. The tourist game is so strong in Breckenridge that I can confidently proclaim that I’ve matched with more Texans in Colorado …
If you think dating …
If you think dating is hard, try dating in a ski town. Population 4,896. The tourist game is so strong in Breckenridge that I can confidently proclaim that I’ve matched with more Texans in Colorado than I ever matched with Texans while actually living in Texas. For those of you unfamiliar with app dating, I’ll provide a crash course. Bumble gives the woman 24 hours to communicate with the man after a match is made (i.e. two mutual swipe rights). The man then has 24 hours to respond. Each user is given a daily extension, which will open the communication channel for an extra 24 hours. On…
Stephanie Kemp
June 19, 2020
I am often asked if I miss having a house. My gut response is rather defensive. I have a house. It just happens to be silver, sits on wheels, and can be transported to any desired location via my c…
I am often asked if …
I am often asked if I miss having a house. My gut response is rather defensive. I have a house. It just happens to be silver, sits on wheels, and can be transported to any desired location via my car. So, the simple answer is no, I do not miss having a house. I have one. If only life were as easy as the simple answers. The more complicated (and therefore, more realistic) answer is yes, I miss having a house. And I still don’t mean the thing with four walls and windows and a door. Don’t let me fool you—I am most definitely plotting my dream homes over here (yes, plural). One is a…
Stephanie Kemp
May 27, 2019
A common lead question in the world of online dating is: “What are you looking for?” Aside from being a grammatical nightmare, this question poses its own set of anxiety-ridden answers. Because…
A common lead questi…
A common lead question in the world of online dating is: “What are you looking for?” Aside from being a grammatical nightmare, this question poses its own set of anxiety-ridden answers. Because how hard in the paint do you really go in response to this question when you’re on the third line of a burgeoning digital transaction? The words that your thumbs manage to string together will inevitably become the foundation for any further communication (or lack thereof). Sidebar. Dude, didn’t you read my bio? It clearly states, “Looking for a real life human with whom to do rad things…
Stephanie Kemp
April 13, 2019
If you grew up in the 90’s and have never played out even a single moment of your life to Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” lyrics, I’m going to question the inner workings of your childhood. It was …
If you grew up in th…
If you grew up in the 90’s and have never played out even a single moment of your life to Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” lyrics, I’m going to question the inner workings of your childhood. It was (or is) a rite of passage, and aside from starring in every one of my basketball warm-up mix tapes from the year it was released in 2002 until I graduated college in 2006, I can still hear the words playing in my ears through a variety of noteworthy life experiences. Spoiler alert. I’m from Basalt, Colorado. Not to be confused with 8 Mile. But, here, while cruising up Kensho chair in Breck…
Stephanie Kemp
March 8, 2019
So, I’ve been dating. It’s a rather obvious statement, but I’m saying it here with a real air of assertiveness that lets you know that I’m “for real,” because dating is what I should be do…
So, I’ve been dati…
So, I’ve been dating. It’s a rather obvious statement, but I’m saying it here with a real air of assertiveness that lets you know that I’m “for real,” because dating is what I should be doing if I am blatantly putting out into the universe that I’d like a partner in crime. And, as painful as dating can be (and, take my word for it, it can be unbelievably painful), the only way to get better at anything is by doing it. Over and over and over again. So, I’ve spent the last few months committed to putting myself out there more as a means of sharpening the side of me that would …
Stephanie Kemp
January 3, 2019
Four hours ago, I blew a fuse on my inverter. Four hours and twenty minutes ago, I didn’t even know what an inverter was or that half the plugs in my Airstream were powered by an inverter, which is …
Four hours ago, I bl…
Four hours ago, I blew a fuse on my inverter. Four hours and twenty minutes ago, I didn’t even know what an inverter was or that half the plugs in my Airstream were powered by an inverter, which is monumentally different (and altogether far less powerful) than those plugs that are grounded. Learning. Don’t plug a space heater into an inverter circuit. If you’re worried about my lack of electric plugs at this point in the story, don’t be. My grounded plugs are still working and my Airstream itself has power (praise God because it’s a whopping seven degrees outside). The major co…
Stephanie Kemp
December 20, 2018
Let’s talk about boundaries. I have spent the last month in a state of increased awareness about my absolutely terrible ability to set boundaries. Or, maybe the problem is that I’m really good …
Let’s talk about b…
Let’s talk about boundaries. I have spent the last month in a state of increased awareness about my absolutely terrible ability to set boundaries. Or, maybe the problem is that I’m really good at setting them, or knowing what they should be if I were to set them, and I have an absolutely terrible time of following through with them. Whichever the case, I am currently hypersensitive to the fact that boundaries are a necessary part of respecting my self-worth, and on a traditional grading scale, I’d over-generously give myself a D+ in this category. Before I expand on this reflection…
Stephanie Kemp
November 3, 2018
About a month ago, my hometown caught on fire. I exaggerate you not that Basalt, Colorado is beyond blessed to still be standing (and may all the Lake Christine firefighters have a special place in he…
About a month ago, m…
About a month ago, my hometown caught on fire. I exaggerate you not that Basalt, Colorado is beyond blessed to still be standing (and may all the Lake Christine firefighters have a special place in heaven for their tireless efforts). It’s a rather surreal feeling to hear that some of your dearest friends are evacuating their homes in a place that you spent your entire childhood. It’s nearly impossible to not transplant yourself into such a scenario, and it was in this state of empathy that I had a very cathartic realization about my past attachment, and current detachment, from thin…
Stephanie Kemp
September 6, 2018
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