My name is Kristina Avramovic Oldani. I’m a writer and craftsperson living on Bainbridge Island, Washington on Suquamish and Duwamish lands. Belonging to Place is a line of inquiry, a living experiment, and a repository for experiences and conversations about place, all rolled up into thousand-ish word essays shared here weekly. 

My preoccupation with place attachment began long before I knew there was a term for the way I experienced (or didn’t experience) connection to the places I lived. “Where do I belong?” became an animating question for me at a young age, one that drove me back and forth across the country a few times, looking for a place—a literal place—that felt like home.

I found myself attracted to people, communities, and stories grounded in physical, bounded landscapes that were themselves characters in the societal web. Eventually, I found home. Now I am committed to the process of belonging myself to this place, of finding teachers who have bound themselves to the land (and for their connection to it demonstrate the necessity and beauty of deep belonging), and of writing about it here.

Do you think about this stuff too? I would love to be in conversation with you about it. I would love to hear about your practices of belonging, and the people you’ve met who glow with love of place. If this is you, please reach out!