{"id":31342,"date":"2021-02-22T15:04:29","date_gmt":"2021-02-22T20:04:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/?p=31342"},"modified":"2021-02-22T16:29:07","modified_gmt":"2021-02-22T21:29:07","slug":"wild-from-lost-to-found-on-the-pacific-crest-trail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/tartan-news\/2021\/02\/22\/wild-from-lost-to-found-on-the-pacific-crest-trail\/","title":{"rendered":"Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Sinclair Library will be hosting a Zoom discussion on \u201cLife Decisions\u201d on Tuesday, Feb. 23 at noon on the book \u201cWild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail\u201d by author Cheryl Strayed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The book, a memoir of Strayed\u2019s life tells the story of her 1,100-mile journey along the Pacific Crest Trail, which stretches from Southern California to British Columbia, Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strayed\u2019s own journey took her from the Mojave Desert to the Bridge of the Gods in Washinton as she fought through past traumas stemming from the death of her mother at 45 to lung cancer, a divorce, her family\u2019s own personal withdrawal and an addiction to heroin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWild is built on the savage sorrow I had, the grief, the things that messed my life up,\u201d says Strayed, in an article written by her alma mater, Syracuse. \u201c[Writing it] required me to go back in time and deeply contemplate a former, younger version of myself and the people in my life. I had to look at everything anew and make sense of those experiences. This allowed me to heal and accept myself more, and evolve, and once again say I do really feel grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
(Strayed’s journey on the Pacific Crest Trail stretched from the Mojave Desert in southeaster California, to the Bridge of the Gods on the Oregon-Washington border. A trip that stretches over 1,000 miles. Source: Wikimedia Commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Strayed, who says she grew up poor and on food stamps<\/a> and who struggled with debt even as her book was being published, raising two children with her husband in Portland, Oregon said that she refused, at the time, to go on food stamps, even though she was eligible, because of the guilt and shame she felt about the stigma from her childhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sinclair discussion will focus on life choices and the effects those decisions have on our lives, both present and future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEveryone makes Life Choices every day whether we realize it or not,\u201d said a Sinclair librarian about the event. \u201cMaybe an intentional life choice helped you get to where you are today. Or perhaps unplanned events or unexpected opportunities changed your life course.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strayed\u2019s book eventually reached #1 on The New York Time\u2019s Bestsellers list and in 2014 would have a film adaptation starring Reese Witherspoon as Strayed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Witherspoon and co-star Laura Dern would earn Oscar nominations at the 87th Oscars for the film\u2019s adaptation, catapulting the book into the mainstream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never worn high heels until this month,\u201d Strayed said in an interview with The Telegraph about the change in her life as her book was transformed into an award-worthy film. \u201cI\u2019m doing all these red-carpet things with Reese and with certain clothes you just have to wear heels. And I am so not a heels person.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n