Issuu

Ethnosphere Connect, Express, Inspire

Eleutheromania (n) : a desperate craving for freedom Collection 7 - July 2023

Nick Hoeller

Contents

Masthead

More than a Breath-hold

Joie de Vivre

The Lesson of Cades Cove

Freedom Found in Photography

Through a Toy Store Window

For Shirena, who grew up on Cozumel Island, it was in learning to hold her breath while free-diving that she could finally breathe.

Enzo shares his passion for parkour and stunt work as well as a glimpse into his Peter Pan-like spirit of youth and energy.

Bob and Julia find more than bears during their stay at Cades Cove: the place’s history tells them the story of the settlers who discovered the area, and the Native Americans who were pushed out.

A collection of photos that fill their photographers with feelings of freedom and wonder.

A pensive doll observes life from behind the glass of a toy store window, yearning to live it instead.

Beyond the Magazine Learn more about the people highlighted in this issue and see where you can view more of their work.

Submissions

August Issue Reveal

www.ethnospheremagazine.com

Editor

Madeline C. Lanshe editor@ethnospheremagazine.com

Editorial Staff

Mitchell Dunbar, Maureen Gregory, Madeline C. Lanshe, Marcia Neundorfer, Mike Neundorfer

Designer

Madeline C. Lanshe

Photographers Stephen Cerne, Randy Dunn, Nick Hoeller, Griffin Holub, Madeline C. Lanshe

Writers

Shirena González, Madeline C. Lanshe, Bob and Julia McCormick, Loïc Sablé

Other Contributors

Enzo Chaudet, Trevor Dodson, John Plymak

Published by Advanced RV

2023 Advanced RV. All materials contained in this publication (including text, content, and photography) are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, broadcast, published, or modified in any way without the prior written consent of Advanced RV. Contributors retain all rights to their stories, photography, art, etc. while giving Ethnosphere Magazine/Advanced RV the right to share their work in the digital magazine, print, and any other way they see fit for creative or promotional reasons.

We created Ethnosphere as a place to connect people who are alike and unalike, express pieces of the human experience, inspire, and be inspired.

Randy Dunn

More than a Breath-Hold by Shirena González

The story of why I choose to push my lungs to

Open Water certification. Hundreds of dives their limit in an environment in which I cannot later throughout the years, it was time for me breathe, going against every instinct my body has to to leave my precious yet limiting island to go survive, is one that began when I was a baby. to college in a landlocked city in a different country: the U.S. Every time I went home to Being born and raised on a small Mexican island visit, which was around two to three times a in the Caribbean by two ocean-loving parents year, I’d inhale deeply as soon as I got to the meant I was exposed to the ocean at a very young ocean. Serenity, peace, and quiet bliss would age. My parents threw me in the water as a baby, flood over me. I would scuba dive as much as I and by my mom’s accounts, my eyes opened could on those short trips back home, as well as wide in amazement as I held my breath. I can’t enjoy the beach with family and friends. remember this, but I know this was the catalyst for my love for all things ocean. My earliest Flash forward to 2020, the year the pandemic memory of the ocean is being on the beach with hit this hemisphere. I had over ten years of my parents, playing in the sand, laying in the sun, experience working in the restaurant industry and chasing the waves. The roaring sound of the (for those of you that know, my condolences). latter is very present in my brain, and sensory I was too afraid to take my photography career memory takes me back there often. full time, and I was tired, undervalued, and underpaid. I would later come to terms with I remember going on scuba diving trips with the fact that, without noticing, I’d fallen into my dad on his boat as a child and getting in the a series of abusive relationships and settled water to watch the divers descend to the depths for a life of mediocrity. The relationship I was of the sea. I was mesmerized, playing with their in during this period of time was the most bubbles on the surface as they exhaled and sank egregious of them all. Feeling trapped in a cycle deeper, following them along until the captain of unhappiness and unfulfillment, fueled by would tell me to get back in the boat so we my new unemployment status and my partner could follow the divers. I would jump back in being across the country for a few weeks, I took the water as soon as I could, which was usually advantage of the situation I found myself in, during their ascent, and I would greet the divers and ran away from my life in the States to go and my dad on the surface. It was during one home for an undetermined amount of time. of these moments that my dad handed me his octopus (the second scuba regulator for those During this period, we weren’t allowed to go of you non-divers). I swam down to about five to the beach, and all sports and water activities meters and breathed in through that regulator. were suspended. This meant no swimming, no I was ecstatic that I could be underwater and scuba diving, no surfing, no snorkeling, and breathe at the same time. He held me down with nothing that involved being outside. At this him until he surfaced. I fell in love right then point in my life, I wasn’t much of a snorkeler, and there. I was seven years old. as I didn’t see the point in just floating on the surface, because what I really wanted was to be From that moment on, I would do that as much down there, where all the fish and coral were. as I could, and when I turned twelve years old, Scuba diving would’ve been complicated to get I studied my little butt off and got my Junior away with, so I started sneaking in the water for 6

little snorkel trips without any authority figures noticing. In doing this, I noticed I wasn’t the only one. There were a few of us who couldn’t resist the tides of the ocean.

one with nature below the surface, and give in to the ebb and flow of the ocean. Even more incredible, my mind would quiet down. My thoughts weren’t scattered anymore, and I was able to focus on the here and now. Sound It didn’t take long before swimming was allowed travels differently underwater. This is something again, but scuba diving was still off the table. So, I knew since I was a kid, but now, I was hyper I began going with a friend to snorkel. He taught aware of it. I was hyper aware of everything…I me about freediving: how to pull air into my could hear my own heartbeat slowing down. diaphragm instead of my chest, how to hold my My movements appeared to be one tenth breath underwater, to take the snorkel out of my their regular speed. I could hear boats passing mouth during my descents to prevent pressure by in the distance, fish chomping on coral, buildup, the difference between a traditional, a rays flapping their wings, dolphins squeaking, dry, and a semi-dry snorkel, and other equipment. clicking, and whistling, and schools of fish Slowly, I began to get better, go down deeper, suddenly changing course… It was the same and stay down longer. I went from going down underwater world I had known, yet experienced five meters, to ten, and then seventeen. I was able in a wildly different way. to hold my breath long enough to not scare the animals, to sit still and have them come to me. Freediving saved me. The ocean saved me. I felt I was once again HOOKED. More than that, at home. I felt safe and at peace for the first time I felt the freedom I had felt when I first tried in a long time. Focusing on my body, my breath, scuba diving, and in some ways, even more so. I the sound of the water, and the crackling of the could do it any time I wanted, and I didn’t have to coral helped me tremendously. It helped me to spend any money to do it. overcome fear, uncertainty, and even trauma. It saved me from spiraling out of control, and I had never been able to quiet my thoughts, slow resorting to other methods of coping. It saved down, or even meditate. I couldn’t understand me from myself. Combined with meditation, how people were able to have nothing else going yoga, and a lot of inner work, freediving helped on in their heads. This was something I later me discover a whole new version of myself. discovered to be ADHD (but that’s another story). Descending several meters below the Feelings of overwhelming joy weren’t surface, on nothing more than the oxygen in uncommon during these excursions of mine. my lungs, flooded my body with feelings I had Neither was the sensation that we are all been looking for for a long time. Ironically, I connected, we are all one, and we all depend felt like I could finally breathe again. I felt this on one another. The ocean never fails to teach deep connection to everything: the rocks, the these lessons to those who listen. Our time coral, the fish, the sand, all of the different here is finite, just like the breath we are able to sounds, and especially the water. I was better hold. Knowing I would eventually have to go able to observe animal behavior, as fish and back up for oxygen taught me that the present other animals would curiously come up to me. is a gift, and nothing is guaranteed. What better With no bubbles to scare them away, I had a personification of freedom is there? No other completely different interaction with wildlife obligations, nothing to trouble you, just you and than I had previously had. I was able to become the water as one, for that moment in time

I could keep trying to find the perfect words to describe how freediving makes me feel, but it simply comes down to me smiling and feeling happy when surrounded and engulfed by the ocean. Everything else is blurred.

Joie de Vivre by Madeline C. Lanshe

ould you jump from a 35 foot building? Light yourself on fire? Intentionally crash a car? For Enzo, a twenty-four year old from Le Mans, France, this is what a normal day at school looks like. Not a typical school, of course, but a professional training center dedicated to stunt techniques in cinema and entertainment. He and his classmates are studying to become professional stuntmen/women.

reaction watching his friend run through the city and soar over obstacles with flair. By the end of the year, however, this friend convinced him to go to a parkour gym. Enzo remembers getting really excited about the sport. “Oh, let’s go, we can do anything we want.” In just two hours, he learned to do his first solo back flip. “At this moment, I knew I wanted to do that for the rest of my life.” He’s competed several times and won a few competitions. On top of that, Enzo has his DEUG (which is not quite a degree, parkour lends itself perfectly to stunt work. but a primary qualification taken after 2 years of university in France) in science technique One of Enzo’s goals is to get to know not des activitiés physiques et sportives (technical just the basics of many sports, but also reach science of physical and sporting activities) from a proficient level in all of them. “I think I’m Le Mans University. During school vacations, he a little bit crazy,” Enzo laughed. “Just a little.” would attend classes at Campus Univers Cascades But Enzo stressed that when he’s at work, (CUC), as they offer five, two week sessions each when he’s doing something where he has to year for two years. Enzo has only two sessions really concentrate, he is doing it as safely and left to complete but has taken a break to work professionally as he can. He finds motivation as a stuntman at an amusement park of sorts in in his desire to improve, and in his friends and Provence, France, called Rocher Mistral. This year family. “I want to do my best to make them is his second season performing at the age-old proud of me.” château, where he dons period garb and engages in high energy, choreographed battles with sword So what does someone who will throw themselves fights, parkour, and hand fighting. The show off buildings and light themselves on fire fear? is called “Double Tranchant,” which means “Death,” Enzo says. “Because I don’t want to die. “Double-Edged.” I can’t imagine being dead tomorrow. I want to do so many things, so it scares me a lot. So I see the Becoming a stuntman has long appealed to limit and don’t push too far. Do not do what you Enzo because of the athleticism it takes and think you’ll really risk your body or life doing.” the versatility of tasks. There is never an opportunity to get bored, though boredom Regarding where he finds his inspiration, he doesn’t seem to be a word in his vocabluary. says: “I have inspiration in myself. I’m always The following is a list of just some of the sports inspired. I have so many ideas in my head, I he does or has done: volleyball, rock climbing, can’t do all of them.” Within him is also the tennis, badminton, rugby, football (soccer), need to be constantly active. When he’s just boxing, running, swimming, chase tag, and walking he’ll randomly get the impulse to break parkour. This last one he still practices regularly. into a sprint or do a back flip. Enzo first tried parkour at the age of 17. “You are going to break your leg,” was Enzo’s first

A love for competing burns through Enzo’s veins. His perseverance, which he names as one 10

of the core traits of his personality, has led him to much success. In 2021, he became a part of a chase tag team called Team Brocos. Chase tag consists of a Chaser and an Evader inside a 12m x 12m square (about 39 square feet) filled with various obstacles. The Chaser has 20 seconds to tag the Evader with their hand. If they are unsuccessful, the Evader gets a point. Even though it was their first competition, the local Le Mans team was victorious at the France championships of chase tag, and went on to compete in Belgium, Sweden, and other cities in France. While some of the members have changed since 2021, the new team, now called the West Coast Family, qualified to compete in the championships at TwitchCon, an international gaming convention and festival to be held in Paris the weekend of July 7. Enzo recalls a trip he took with friends and teammates during high school for a “course 11

d’orientation” competition. Known as “orienteering” in English, this team sport requires using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and unfamiliar terrain. The goal is to be the fastest. On the way to the competition, the teacher spoke to the students with words that moved and motivated them. “It was like a movie scene,” Enzo says. “I remember this because I now understood in movies how you feel when the coach is telling you to do your best but have a good time at the same time. It pushed me to do the best with my team.” Enzo finished third on the first day during the individual portion, the only one from his school on the podium and the only one who was not practicing the sport in a club. “I was very proud of myself at that moment,” Enzo says. His team went on to win the night session during the three-day challenge. Enzo had come up with a strategy, and thanks to his leadership,

the inspiring words from their teacher, and the team’s motivation, they finished five minutes ahead of the group that came in second.

handfuls of them. Maybe the luck from the clovers is why he’s been able to practice these dangerous sports with no serious injuries.

Enzo’s competitive spirit led him to auditioning for and competing in season 5 of Ninja Warrior France in 2021, which took place in Cannes. Enzo did the obstacles dressed as Santa Claus, as the show aired at Christmas time.

One of the most important lessons life has taught him is to be patient. “Learning something really takes a lot of time, in sports or in your life. Nothing can be perfected the moment you discover it. You really need to be patient, but do your best every time. Glory can’t come in your hands without this.”

What feeling do all these sports give him? “The feeling of being a beginner,” Enzo says. “You have so much to learn that you can’t be bored in learning something because there are just too many things. If you’re bored, you can just change and do something else. It is a “boucle éternalle (eternal loop), pushing yourself to the top every time.” And the best feeling in the world? “There are two,” says Enzo, “Winning something when you’re not expecting it, and winning with mates, and giving smiles to other people. Where I work, there are many children, looking at us with stars in their eyes, and that’s cool.”

For his future plans, Enzo dreams of becoming an actor stuntman, but says he’s very far from this objective. He wants to be in a big film, first as a stuntman and then maybe as an actor. With all he has accomplished it’s hard to imagine this goal is out of his reach.

If you are feeling down, unmotivated, or bored, watch a few of Enzo’s videos on Instagram or Tiktok. They are sure to put a smile on your face. His joie de vivre and spirit of youth and goofiness are impossible to miss. It is clear that Enzo has also had some success on Tiktok, with while he takes his training and goals seriously, several of his videos going viral, one reaching life, is another story. After all, when the world is over seven million views. Part of how he spent your playground, you can’t help but have fun. Covid-related confinement in France in 2020 was making videos. In 2022, he posted one video per day in which he did a backflip for 365 days straight. He says it kept him motivated to practice his ability and create. “It was a lot of work,” he added. “Social media, in general, is a waste of time. I really like to create, but I want to do things in real life, not for videos.” Though it doesn’t sound like Enzo has time for anything outside of his dedication to sports, he can also play the piano, guitar, and ukulele, as well as sing. One of his more unexpected passions is finding trèfles à quatre feuilles (four leaf clovers). Even in this he has had much success, posting videos in which he has found

The Lesson of Cades Cove by Bob and Julia McCormick

After filling most of our spring season with

family get-togethers and a multitude of homelife necessities, we finally loaded up our camper van and once again, embraced the freedom of the open road in early June. It couldn’t come soon enough! In past years we have celebrated the start of summer by heading west to the Rockies - and beyond - from our home in Tulsa. You could almost set your calendar by the direction our van was pointed as the days began to swelter in Oklahoma. This year, we resolved to head east of the Mississippi River - with a desire to explore country we had not yet touched, at least not with much conviction. Our first stay of length was in Great Smoky Mountains National Park in eastern Tennessee. We camped for a week in the park’s Cades Cove Campground. To say we were neophytes to this area is a bit of an understatement. It wasn’t until we opened the park map that we saw our campsite was just a few miles as the crow flies from the Appalachian Trail, which also doubles as the Tennessee - North Carolina border through most of the park. Nor did we appreciate the significance of where we made our camping reservations. Call it dumb luck when we decided in December 15

2022 that Cades Cove would be the first stop of our easterly summer tour. Cades Cove is deep in the beauty of the Southern Appalachian Mountains. If you look forward to black bears walking through your heavily wooded campsite, this is the place to be. One day, we were sitting outside soaking up the fresh air when a man casually walked up to us and said, “Excuse me, there is a bear behind you.” He wasn’t warning us to flee to the safety of our van but to get up, turn around, and enjoy the creature from a safe distance away. And we did just that. The bear, foraging for food in the brush behind our campsite, proceeded undeterred and uninterrupted through the entire length of the campground. But Cades Cove is more than simply a bearogling, tree-hugging paradise. It’s also deep in the history of the Appalachians. The term “cove” is Smoky Mountain vernacular for a flat valley surrounded by mountains. Part of Cades Cove’s special tie to history is its relative isolation in the mountain highlands. It was the cove’s fertile land that first drew in homesteaders. Records show John and Lucretia Oliver were the first permanent white settlers, making a home there in 1818. By 1830, there were churches and schools and by 1850, there were 671 people living on the roughly 6,800

population was quickly expanding westward over the Appalachians. And for the most part, the early emigrant flow was not made up of the well-to-do or well-educated or even recent arrivals to America. They were poor, often penniless, and looking to make a better life for themselves and their families than their brutal current existence allowed. It wasn’t until we toured acres in Cades Cove. The Cherokee and their the 11-mile Cades Cove ancestors had lived and hunted these lands for Loop Road that we gained an appreciation for thousands of years prior to this time, before the historical and cultural significance of the being slowly forced out as the settlers moved area. The park itself was created in the 1930s, in. The Cherokee had a different name for the largely from private land, which was a first for cove, but the settlers referred to it as “Cades.” the national park system. As a result, the Loop It is believed to have been named after Chief Road contains several historical buildings, and Kade of the Cherokees. remnants of farms from the past 200 years. Smoky Mountains National Park in total has During the winter of 1818-1819, the Olivers preserved some 80 historical structures. This nearly starved to death due to coming to the physical evidence of what can be termed our area wholly unprepared. This was their first nation’s frontier era documents the settlers’ winter in the wilderness, and if it weren’t for the struggles to survive. Due to the cove’s isolation, Cherokee giving them food, John and Lucretia little trading with other communities existed in likely would have died. In an ironic and sad twist its early years. As more people moved in, they of fate, John Oliver was part of a militia that gradually formed a community themselves, and removed the remaining Cherokee in the region the relative isolation helped it remain close-knit, and put them on the “Trail of Tears” march to even once trade routes opened. By preserving Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) in 1838. this history, the park gives us a fascinating look into our post-colonial, rough-frontier past. Cades Cove is a microcosm of the mass movement of Americans westward. After Which brings us full circle back to our trek. We our nation’s founding, there was less and less said earlier we eagerly looked forward to the opportunity on the eastern seaboard for the freedom of the open road – to explore America, millions who were looking for a place where they to discover, or in the case of repeated trips out could own their own land and be in charge of west, to re-rediscover its beauty. We use the their own destiny. So, the country’s fast-growing word freedom in a way that implies something

that is expected or can be chosen if one has the the American Dream. While a good number time and inclination. The open road represents a succeeded, many failed. smooth, natural kind of freedom pathway. Yet, as the early history of Cades Coves reveals, In our adventures we sometimes stumble on this is also a partially romanticized version of a lesson we should not forget: our intrepid the lesson, and the full lesson is one we should ancestors weren’t on a road-trip adventure. not forget. The original inhabitants of Cades Cades Cove showed us they sought an Cove - and all of America - were the people unromanticized personal freedom they knew who became increasingly more desperate for was not remotely guaranteed or could always freedom as the settlers subjugated, supplanted, be expected despite our nation’s founding a and pushed them across the country. As the few decades prior. By leaving the safety of frontier filled with homesteaders, the Native home and crossing the mountains seeking land, Americans became more detached from the these pioneers were risking it all to achieve a freedom that they had always known – a way of life of freedom, even if it meant a daily fight life on the land they had inhabited for thousands to survive. Their desperate craving for freedom of years. While some survived, most perished. was a life-long quest to have a plot of land that would sustain themselves and their family. Thank you, Cades Cove, for preserving and For most not born into privilege or wealth, showing us from whence we came - and what it was likely the only way they had a chance we owe. And reminding us of what a craving for to build any wealth of their own. This was freedom by all our ancestors truly means.

For me, freedom is escape. I find most often that the feeling of escape takes me to the woods, to a mountain ridge, or along a riverbank. It is here where I can re-balance and reset. It is also the place where I find perspective about what I have the least amount of: time. Stephen Cerne - Denali National Park, Alaska

I feel so small, surrounded by enormous mountains and whatever is lurking in the darkness. The eeriness of being here alone is irrepressible. Still, the sleeping desert comforts me. Standing beneath the blanket of twinkling stars and an endless night sky, embraced by a serene sense of awe, I am awake.

Hoeller Photography - Zion National Park, Utah

I found this quiet location during the dark hours of dawn and waited for the sun to rise. As the color faded in the sky, I proceeded to find higher ground. I drove the Brockway Mountain Road which provided nice views of the early morning sun cutting through the fog in valleys filled with pine trees. Randy Dunn - Copper Harbor, Michigan.

The Kelpy’s heart beats with the wild rhythm of Scotland’s ancient magic. Stretching its massive neck towards the sun, it proclaims its majesty. Stand in awe, and let your own heart match the thunderous beat. Reckless are they who approach the untameable water horse, but it is the reckless souls that the creature respects or drowns.

Madeline C. Lanshe - The Helix, Falkirk, UK

Within the canyons of the Grand Tetons, surrounded by peaceful wilderness, I was reconnected with my lifelong desire to wander, explore and experience. As your gaze now sweeps across this landscape, feel the flow of the river, and let the majesty of the mountains draw you back to the present, grounding you in the beauty of the here and now, where the spirit of exploration and the wonder of this moment intertwine. Griffin Holub - Grand Tetons, Wyoming

Through a Toy Store Window by Loïc Sablé

John Plymak

Another day and I’m back where I belong, motionless and silent in that glittering shop window, surrounded by colorful toys and shimmering clothes. Again last night, I dreamt that I was walking down the street outside, holding on to the hand of a person I couldn’t identify. As my spirit settles back in my body, among these toys I’ve never been able to touch, my senses awake to the world around me, and they are once again a source of joy and sorrow. I adjust my price tag, then adopt the posture that has been imposed on me.

My eyes scan the passers-by in front of the shop, watching every face, every smile, every glimmer of hope. I see kids, free to run and play and explore the world as they please. My heart always misses a beat when the door opens and the bell chimes. The comments of customers floating in the air, the joyful laughter of children entering with their parents, the whispers of discussions about gift choices, all these sounds reach my ears like fragments of a reality that is forbidden to me.

It is worse when they are gone, leaving behind them a mixture of fragrances, adventures and emotions. I can smell the sweet aromas of the pastries they held in their hands and the scent of delicate, flowery perfumes. When will I stop being a spectator, living only through the sparks of others’ lives ? The suffocating heat of the sun streaming through this window is oppressing me. My shoulders are getting heavy and my tired legs ache from the weight of my captive existence.

I get the feeling that I’m being watched, though no one stands out on the street. What does this invisible observer think of me? Do they feel compassion or disgust ? I’d like them to want to help me, talk to me and play with me. How can I convince them that I’m the product they need ? And then, even if they were to free me from this shop window, I’d just be chained to them instead. That is preferable to this mundane existence, though. What should I do? The last time I looked a person in the eye, it made them avert their gaze and hurry away. I should just continue to look down with blank, empty eyes. But the intense feeling of this unknown person’s stare makes my limbs shake and my mind race. I lift my forlorn eyes, seeing no one but feeling their presence, unable to keep my lips from mouthing:

“Please, set me free.”

Beyond the Shirena González was born in Cozumel, Mexico and raised by an American mother and a Mexican father. At 18 years old, she moved to Salt Lake City, Utah to go to college and study photography. Three years later, she moved to Chicago and transferred to a couple different schools. She lived in Chicago for eight years until she moved back to Mexico in 2020. She now lives in Baja California Sur, Mexico, and is an underwater photographer and videographer, and a tour guide. She’s currently working towards her official freediving certifications and scuba divemaster certification. She still smiles underwater. Check out her work on Instagram: @saasil.photo

Enzo Chaudet is a stuntman from Le Mans, France, with a passion for sports, competing, and finding four leaf clovers. Enzo is constantly on the move, honing his skills in parkour, as well as a plethora of other sports. He currently works in a show of professional stunt performers at a castle in the South of France. He has dreams of starring in a large film, both as a stuntman and an actor. To see some of his flipping, tricking, and creative expression, visit his Instagram and Tiktok. Instagram: @enzo4pk Tiktok: @enzo4pk

Bob and Julia McCormick are both retired and are exploring America in their camper van. When not enjoying the freedom of the open road, Bob can usually be found in his wood shop and Julia in her garden or her craft room. If you want to read their blog, sign up at their website www.AnAmericanJourney.us.

Magazinee Loïc Sablé grew up on Reunion Island, a small Island off the coast of Africa, before moving to France at seventeen. He recently graduated with his master’s degree in acoutsics. He is passionate about sports, volleyball in particular, and discovering fantastic worlds through film, books, and video games. He writes little stories based on art which he posts weekly (in French) on Instagram. You can read them here: @dixit_dreamer

Nick Hoeller is a photographer based in Cleveland, Ohio with a wealth of experience in the industry. His passion for photography began in college, where he studied photography and honed his skills in visual communication. After graduating, he landed an internship at a prominent commercial studio, Kalman & Pabst. Over the years, he has worked with various clients, including KeyBank, Airbnb, Cleveland Magazine, Ohio Masonic Home, Aristotle Design Group, and more. When he’s not behind the camera, he enjoys exploring Cleveland’s vibrant scene. He’s also an avid traveler and loves capturing the beauty of landscapes all around the country. You can check out his work here: www.hoellerphotography.com Randy Dunn is a native of Chagrin Falls, Ohio. He graduated from Bradley University with a degree in Construction and continued to work his entire career in the construction industry. Randy is a member of the North American Nature Photography Association, and in 2021, he joined the NANPA Foundation Board of Trustees. Locally, Randy is a member of the Cuyahoga Valley Photo Society and in 2023 he joined their Steering Committee. To see more of his captivating photos, visit his website: DunnByRandall.com 32

Submissions Who can submit? Anyone! If you have access to our magazine, we’d love to hear from you. What should I submit? Anything creative and heartfelt that can be shared in digital form! Photography, illustrations, poetry, short stories, personal stories, art, etc. Why do you accept submissions? This magazine is a space for people to share their stories and passions in hopes it will connect us with others in a positive, uplifting way. “The ethnosphere is humanity’s great legacy. It is the product of our dreams, the embodiment of our hopes, the symbol of all that we are and all that we have created as a wildly inquisitive and astonishingly adaptive species.” - Wade Davis When can I submit? In each issue, we will reveal the theme for the coming issue. If you’d like your proposal to be considered for the coming issue, submit as soon as you can to give us time to review it with our team, communicate with you, edit, and fit it into the greater picture of the magazine. Otherwise, submit anything at any time. It may fit in a future issue or even inspire the theme of one! What do I need to include in my submission? Tell us a sentence or two about yourself, how you discovered Ethnosphere, and the work you’d like to submit. If possible, attach any images, PDFs or other files to be reviewed, and the editor will be in touch with you. If you have a story that you think would make for a great article, but you don’t have the narrative prowess to write it, don’t worry! There is an opportunity for a conversation with the editor so that she, or someone on the editorial staff, could write the story with you. If your submission is not accepted, don’t get discouraged. There is always a chance in the future. In the meantime, we hope you enjoy all that the magazine has to offer. Even if you are not featured within it, your experiences, dreams, and creations are equally part of the Ethnosphere.

Disclaimer: Contributors retain all rights to their stories, photography, art, etc. while giving Ethnosphere Magazine/Advanced RV the right to edit and share their work in the digital magazine, print, and any other way they see fit for creative or promotional reasons.

Coming in August: Issue 8

Wabi-sabi (n) : an appreciation for beauty that is imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete

Submit Madeline C. Lanshe

Randy Dunn