I’ve been calling myself a travel journalist for the past year in and around Asia, but I dropped the former part of that title on Tuesday, when I moved to Haines to work at Chilkat Valley News.
My name is Jenna Kunze, and I’m a New Jersey native. I’m from the sweet spot 30 miles west of the shore and a few hours south of the Catskill mountains, wedged between an hour train ride to New York City, and half that to Philadelphia. I’m predisposed to love diners and four, distinct seasons.
I have my bachelor’s degree in journalism from a small college in upstate New York. After graduating, I moved to South Korea, where I taught kids English for a year. Then, onwards to Nepal, where I freelanced for an English-speaking newspaper on drug abuse and Bhutanese refugees in the southeast. From there, I went on to travel throughout India for four months, writing and taking photos, and sleeping on local hosts’ couches through Couchsurfing.com.
Other qualities about me: I’m 5’11. I’ve been into photography since my dad gifted me his film cameras when I was in high school. I ask lots of questions. I invest myself in by-the-seat-of-my-pants adventure, and hold up such experiences as achievements to represent who I am. I rode my bicycle 360 plus miles from one side of South Korea to the other. I ran a marathon to prove I could on the southern island of Jeju. In Nepal, I lived embedded in an all-male drug rehabilitation center to conduct my research.
After a two-year stint in Asia, I came home to pursue a career in journalism. I applied to jobs all over the United States, but Haines won out because of the unique opportunity to work here as an instrumental part of a small newspaper, paired with the challenging appeal of living in Alaska. Of living in the United States without feeling like I’m living in the United States.
Certain things already strike me as hilarious and endearing about Haines and this position- like Alaskan Seaplanes’ inquiry about my body weight before I boarded the prop plane from Juneau, or that Kyle accidentally got into the wrong car while showing me around because nobody locks their doors. That I’ll have a hand in not just writing this paper, but delivering it on foot to establishments around town.
I like it here already.