We were a small group this Thursday, but an engaged one! Many thanks to Jeff Christiensen of Nauvoo, Illinois for joining us and sharing his thoughtful and insightful questions.

What an amazing hour (plus), coming together with ten of the most generous, insightful folks from our time on the river. In the week four Zoom, we received updates from Winona to Harpers Ferry, and even a write-in update from Bay City—just to know a little more specifically how life has changed this year from last. We all know the world has changed, but it’s so helpful to hear real stories from the people whose lives we’ve become a part of.

Three weeks of virtually journeying down (and up) the river again, and we are still experiencing a few technical hiccups! It seems it can’t be avoided when phones and computers are your only line of connection. I know that these virtual platforms are no substitute for the physical, in person interactions we had last year or could have again. And yet, I want to try to think beyond those barriers and imagine what we can do within these telecommunicated connections—what kind of discoveries can we make? What kind of ideas can we generate? …if our expectations are open?

We are learning that these “Zoom Reunions” are a great opportunity for anyone a little cooped up and isolated during this time of distancing to take a trip down the Mississippi River and meet someone new—or in the case of Week Two, some many new people, landscapes, communities, and voices.

The first Relay Zoom Reunion went off well yesterday afternoon, the official one year anniversary of Relay’s launch at Itasca last year. We were virtually joined by good friends Brady Laudon of Bemidji, Sally Fineday of Cass Lake and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, Sandy Bromenschenkel of the Deer River area, and Jonathan Schilling of the U of M Biological Field Station right there at Lake Itasca.