John Gebretatose grew up in south Minneapolis. These days, he’s the co-executive director for a Twin Cities-based nonprofit called HUGE Theater, an artist-led performance and education space located in Minneapolis’ Uptown neighborhood. Gebretatose, 40, serves as the theater’s director of diversity and inclusion.

In the summer of 2023, Gebretatose and several of his friends from the Twin Cities made their first trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The trip was transformative for Gebretatose, he says, connecting him with the land and water in a way he simply wasn’t expecting coming into the trip as a first time BWCA paddler.