The thing is, I wanted to extend past just stories about the lakes… I wanted to pass on those other stories - of travels in South America and to Greece kayaking and base camp and just some of the other adventures. I wanted them to be included... – Cate Belleveau
Cate Belleveau’s life is one for the books… she’s a woman with wanderlust and an innate curiosity about the human experience and the natural world. She’s taught in Kyrgyzstan, New Zealand, Red Lake, Cass Lake, Ponemah, and inner-city Milwaukee (among other places!). She’s traveled to Japan on a Fullbright Teacher’s Fellowship, she’s written and produced thought-provoking theater, started a theater company, and even built a solar powered theater and arts space north of Bemidji. And these are only a scant few of her many accomplishments! She is, quite simply, a woman who does. In her new book, Kayak Cate: One Woman’s Journey to Discover Her Lake Country Backyard, she weaves tales of fascinating world travels, native wisdom, scientific discoveries, relationships, and true love of family into her quest to kayak the nearly 300 lakes of Beltrami County in northern Minnesota.
Learn how Cate was inspired to take on the challenge, what she learned along the way and how she hopes the book inspires readers in this segment of Area Voices!
Part of what I kept thinking about was how we've become humans that spend way too much time indoors…sometimes what I call the overculture that wants us to be a certain way and put us in a box - it takes away the joy of being innovative and creative and thinking outside the box. And I think a lot of us have to return to “home”…my greatest hope is that whatever that is for each person, whatever is that thing that they're like, “I can't do that. That's too crazy. It's too innovative.” … [after reading the book], they will…move forward and do it. - Cate Belleveau
