Ken Ilgunas

Ah, the first week of classes! There is adventure, hope, romance (electricity!) in the air. Frisbees float above freshly groomed campus...

I don’t know anyone who loves a place as much as David loves Acorn Abbey. It’s not just the home he loves, it’s also the plants, trees,...

Days 25-28. June 8-11, 2007. Aurora, Colorado to Niagara Falls, New York. (1,757 miles) “Keep your hands where I can see them!” the cop...

[The Gates of the Arctic National Park—the park that I worked for the previous two summers—is thinking about installing four permanent...

Acorn Abbey is low on people but full of life. Stuffed into the woods with a trickling stream curving through the property, the Abbey and...

About half a year ago, a father named Paul posted the following comment after one of my entries: Hi Ken. I’ve been reading your stories...

Time: 10:30 pm (fast ended two hours ago) Hunger level: 0 The fast is complete. I ate nothing for three straight days. I chose “three...

Time: 10:30 pm (Hour 50 of 72) Hunger Level: 2 Some minor side effects to report: an ever-so-slight headache, tightness in my chest,...

Time: 9:30 pm (hour 25 of 72) Hunger Level: 2 Until today, I’d never gone a full day without eating. As a boy, my parents always had the...

[I thought I’d mix things up for the next few days and “twitterize” this blog by giving several updates throughout the day on how I’m...

[My apologies to those who were loyally following this little series. It started off as a “weekly” series, later became a “bi-monthy...

I’m in Stokes County, North Carolina—home to a sparsely-populated scattering of doublewides and country villages, 45-minutes north of...

I am giving away $910.90 and it’s making me sick. In January of 2009—upon enrolling at Duke—I vowed to earn my college degree without...

The day after my article published the phone at the Liberal Studies Department office was “ringing off the hook.” My program director...

Damn she’s pretty. We were in the basement of a coffee shop off campus. She sat with her back to me, typing in a laptop surrounded with a...

Last month my parents and aunt visited me in North Carolina. My mom and aunt hadn’t taken vacations in a while and because my father was...

I titled my head back and dumped four tiny pills into my mouth from a small paper cup. It was the first time in years I’d taken a drug. I...

Thi'm thalking thike thith now becauth I thurt my thod thamn thongue. I was a minute into a two vs. two pickup basketball game when one...

My friend Shannon gave me a haircut recently. Ever since I moved out of Alaska, I’ve been thoughtlessly paying professionals to cut my...

I could feel the heat of the fire from 50 yards away. Helicopters pitter-pattered far above and students occasionally incanted “Let’s Go...