Nickolas Hedtke

I dropped out of high-school mid-senior year and luckily, somehow, in that fog that guided my early years, finished my high-school diploma through a tertiary GED program. Innumerable failed attempts at college in my early 20s instilled a defeatist mindset within me and set my course in life toward uncertainty. I grew up in Duluth, MN, on Lake Superior, which around those parts, holds a certain, almost magical spell on the inhabitants, and I believe specifically, on those who were born on its shores. It was hard to leave, but I saw the world before me with great big eyes and skipped town for greener pastures. In those wandering years—between Minneapolis, various locations on the West Coast, and where I find myself now—I really learned about the world. I saw it. Saw all the details, beautiful and ugly, and I really did wander—with nowhere to go. During the Pandemic, I was brought to a threshold point: where to now? In one of the most significant years of my life, I went back to college in 2020 and although I still didn’t know what I was doing with my life, I was wandering with a purpose, and where I had previously failed, I now found myself thriving. This past year, I found my purpose in life: to write, to teach and to wander in different ways.