July 18, 2011
Mighty Samoa
(click to view slideshow)
Mighty Samoa
Photography by Jacob Scott & Jory Dayne
Look, I don’t know how to really write about my experiences, how to express what the place did to me. I feel a certain shyness in talking about what was such a transformative event, for fear of sounding too sincere, too intense. In this day where irony reigns supreme, it’s too easy for all real emotion to both feel and be treated like pearls in the mire.
So let me just say the last month I took a trip with one of my best friends to the island nation of Samoa and it was the most incredible experience of my life. No exaggeration, had I not obligations and (not-insignificantly) the love of my life here in Utah, I would probably not have come back. Ever.
As it stands, I am seriously looking at establishing a fairly permanent part-time presence there — a wonky sort of extreme snowbirding, if you like — for the future. I joked elsewhere that I had friends out on Upolu that I would have sold children into slavery to see again, and actually getting to see them again after six years (in what as a very “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” situation) is really up there on my list of terrific experiences.
I feel like it’s a rare thing to feel such a connection with a place on so many levels, both visceral and cerebral, in such a short time. There were definitely experiences from my time living in Ke’ei and Waipahu in Hawaii that I felt primed me for Samoa — indeed, those experiences are primarily what qualified me to go on this venture — but there was something else, something that felt altogether like coming home.
So enjoy these pictures, I’m sure if you know me in real-life I’ve probably already talked your ear off for the past three weeks… and if you don’t, this is hardly the medium in which to get all gushy.
Posted by Jory at 10:08 PM