@bayviewwonder.bsky.social
Homecoming
One last ball game on the old black and gold gridiron.
jjakin.substack.com
October 12, 2025 at 9:35 PM
Reflections while washing chalk off the administration building at a liberal arts college.
www.bayviewwonder.com/p/chalk-on-t...
www.bayviewwonder.com/p/chalk-on-t...
Chalk on the Admin Building
On protest, responsibility, and growing up.
www.bayviewwonder.com
September 21, 2025 at 8:16 PM
Reflections while washing chalk off the administration building at a liberal arts college.
www.bayviewwonder.com/p/chalk-on-t...
www.bayviewwonder.com/p/chalk-on-t...
Some days it don't come easy. Tales from the South Metro Karaoke Circuit, circa 2011-2013.
www.bayviewwonder.com/p/some-days-...
www.bayviewwonder.com/p/some-days-...
Some Days It Don't Come Easy
The South Metro Karaoke Circuit
www.bayviewwonder.com
September 17, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Some days it don't come easy. Tales from the South Metro Karaoke Circuit, circa 2011-2013.
www.bayviewwonder.com/p/some-days-...
www.bayviewwonder.com/p/some-days-...
September 10, 2025 at 2:16 PM
What do Mountain Dew, Top the Tater, and a ragtag group of teenagers known as the Sweet Dreams Speed Team have in common?
Read the latest from Bayview Wonder: www.bayviewwonder.com/p/sweet-drea...
Read the latest from Bayview Wonder: www.bayviewwonder.com/p/sweet-drea...
September 7, 2025 at 3:00 PM
What do Mountain Dew, Top the Tater, and a ragtag group of teenagers known as the Sweet Dreams Speed Team have in common?
Read the latest from Bayview Wonder: www.bayviewwonder.com/p/sweet-drea...
Read the latest from Bayview Wonder: www.bayviewwonder.com/p/sweet-drea...
I’m not sure exactly when we got engaged. It might’ve been somewhere between Chippewa Falls and Wausau, Wisconsin.
It was early July, 2018. We’d been dating for six months and it had been serious from pretty much day one. It was time to talk about marriage.
jjakin.substack.com/p/lucky-charms
It was early July, 2018. We’d been dating for six months and it had been serious from pretty much day one. It was time to talk about marriage.
jjakin.substack.com/p/lucky-charms
Lucky Charms
Roadtrip conversations and questions of life.
jjakin.substack.com
September 3, 2025 at 1:16 PM
I’m not sure exactly when we got engaged. It might’ve been somewhere between Chippewa Falls and Wausau, Wisconsin.
It was early July, 2018. We’d been dating for six months and it had been serious from pretty much day one. It was time to talk about marriage.
jjakin.substack.com/p/lucky-charms
It was early July, 2018. We’d been dating for six months and it had been serious from pretty much day one. It was time to talk about marriage.
jjakin.substack.com/p/lucky-charms
The flags outside the campus center hung at half staff on first-year move-in day.
It was Friday of Labor Day weekend, a still morning on the hilltop campus above the Minnesota River Valley. I couldn’t decide if the lifeless flags looked tired or ashamed.
jjakin.substack.com/p/tears-and-...
It was Friday of Labor Day weekend, a still morning on the hilltop campus above the Minnesota River Valley. I couldn’t decide if the lifeless flags looked tired or ashamed.
jjakin.substack.com/p/tears-and-...
Tears and Flowers on Labor Day Weekend
A reflection on the individual, the community, and the nation.
jjakin.substack.com
August 31, 2025 at 2:45 PM
The flags outside the campus center hung at half staff on first-year move-in day.
It was Friday of Labor Day weekend, a still morning on the hilltop campus above the Minnesota River Valley. I couldn’t decide if the lifeless flags looked tired or ashamed.
jjakin.substack.com/p/tears-and-...
It was Friday of Labor Day weekend, a still morning on the hilltop campus above the Minnesota River Valley. I couldn’t decide if the lifeless flags looked tired or ashamed.
jjakin.substack.com/p/tears-and-...
The week I turned 24, I emptied my savings account to buy a used Harley Sportster from my friend’s mom’s second ex-husband.
jjakin.substack.com/p/misadventu...
jjakin.substack.com/p/misadventu...
Misadventure on the Open Road
Steel horse sojourns along the blacktop ribbons of Minnesota.
jjakin.substack.com
August 27, 2025 at 12:53 PM
The week I turned 24, I emptied my savings account to buy a used Harley Sportster from my friend’s mom’s second ex-husband.
jjakin.substack.com/p/misadventu...
jjakin.substack.com/p/misadventu...
Five traps per trawl and 56 trawls means that 280 lobster traps need to be checked, cleaned, baited, and reset. This takes place six days a week from May 1 - June 30 on our little corner of the Atlantic.
Read about my first excursions on the lobster boat...
jjakin.substack.com/p/markets-an...
Read about my first excursions on the lobster boat...
jjakin.substack.com/p/markets-an...
Markets and Canners
Sun or swells, the lobster traps need to be cleaned and reset.
jjakin.substack.com
August 24, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Five traps per trawl and 56 trawls means that 280 lobster traps need to be checked, cleaned, baited, and reset. This takes place six days a week from May 1 - June 30 on our little corner of the Atlantic.
Read about my first excursions on the lobster boat...
jjakin.substack.com/p/markets-an...
Read about my first excursions on the lobster boat...
jjakin.substack.com/p/markets-an...
Fish Camp:
A meditation on masculinity through the lens of an annual multigenerational fishing trip. And some poetry to boot.
jjakin.substack.com/p/fish-camp
A meditation on masculinity through the lens of an annual multigenerational fishing trip. And some poetry to boot.
jjakin.substack.com/p/fish-camp
Fish Camp
The family cabin affectionately known as the Loon's Roost has seen a lot—especially on one particular weekend each year.
jjakin.substack.com
August 20, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Fish Camp:
A meditation on masculinity through the lens of an annual multigenerational fishing trip. And some poetry to boot.
jjakin.substack.com/p/fish-camp
A meditation on masculinity through the lens of an annual multigenerational fishing trip. And some poetry to boot.
jjakin.substack.com/p/fish-camp
When I met my now-wife for the first time, I was wearing short denim cut-offs and a leather tool belt.
We didn’t start dating until over a year later, but with an introduction like that it’s really no wonder she found me so charming and all-around irresistible.
open.substack.com/pub/jjakin/p...
We didn’t start dating until over a year later, but with an introduction like that it’s really no wonder she found me so charming and all-around irresistible.
open.substack.com/pub/jjakin/p...
A River Valley Fairy Tale
Every love story should include costumes and holiday parties.
open.substack.com
August 18, 2025 at 1:57 PM
When I met my now-wife for the first time, I was wearing short denim cut-offs and a leather tool belt.
We didn’t start dating until over a year later, but with an introduction like that it’s really no wonder she found me so charming and all-around irresistible.
open.substack.com/pub/jjakin/p...
We didn’t start dating until over a year later, but with an introduction like that it’s really no wonder she found me so charming and all-around irresistible.
open.substack.com/pub/jjakin/p...
A lot of people look at me and think I used to be a wrestler. I get it.
But back in those schoolboy days, once autumn wore on and the weather turned cold, I didn’t wrestle or play hockey or shoot hoops.
I was on the swimming team.
open.substack.com/pub/jjakin/p...
But back in those schoolboy days, once autumn wore on and the weather turned cold, I didn’t wrestle or play hockey or shoot hoops.
I was on the swimming team.
open.substack.com/pub/jjakin/p...
Lutefisk, Lefse, Copenhagen Snuff
A tight squeeze into the moldy swimsuit of memory.
open.substack.com
August 13, 2025 at 1:03 PM
A lot of people look at me and think I used to be a wrestler. I get it.
But back in those schoolboy days, once autumn wore on and the weather turned cold, I didn’t wrestle or play hockey or shoot hoops.
I was on the swimming team.
open.substack.com/pub/jjakin/p...
But back in those schoolboy days, once autumn wore on and the weather turned cold, I didn’t wrestle or play hockey or shoot hoops.
I was on the swimming team.
open.substack.com/pub/jjakin/p...
A week ago, I got caught in the closest thing Pictou Island has to a traffic jam when I stopped for two minutes so the mail plane could take off from the stretch of gravel road that doubles as a runway.
jjakin.substack.com/p/back-in-th...
jjakin.substack.com/p/back-in-th...
Back in the Valley
Are we headed for a workaholic relapse or a new way of approaching the job? Probably a little bit of both.
jjakin.substack.com
August 10, 2025 at 2:45 PM
A week ago, I got caught in the closest thing Pictou Island has to a traffic jam when I stopped for two minutes so the mail plane could take off from the stretch of gravel road that doubles as a runway.
jjakin.substack.com/p/back-in-th...
jjakin.substack.com/p/back-in-th...
Just in!
Bayview Wonder stickers, including the first one seen in the wild at Nate’s Barber Shop in Saint Peter, Minnesota.
See what they’re about: open.substack.com/pub/jjakin
Bayview Wonder stickers, including the first one seen in the wild at Nate’s Barber Shop in Saint Peter, Minnesota.
See what they’re about: open.substack.com/pub/jjakin
August 8, 2025 at 10:38 PM
Just in!
Bayview Wonder stickers, including the first one seen in the wild at Nate’s Barber Shop in Saint Peter, Minnesota.
See what they’re about: open.substack.com/pub/jjakin
Bayview Wonder stickers, including the first one seen in the wild at Nate’s Barber Shop in Saint Peter, Minnesota.
See what they’re about: open.substack.com/pub/jjakin
The summer washer toss tournament on off-grid Pictou Island, Nova Scotia, is much more than a lawn game. The annual tournament is a distillation of life in all its joy, sorrow, competition, and community.
jjakin.substack.com/p/washer-toss
jjakin.substack.com/p/washer-toss
August 6, 2025 at 2:37 PM
The summer washer toss tournament on off-grid Pictou Island, Nova Scotia, is much more than a lawn game. The annual tournament is a distillation of life in all its joy, sorrow, competition, and community.
jjakin.substack.com/p/washer-toss
jjakin.substack.com/p/washer-toss
I signed up for a ghost tour.
“…I approached a man holding a clipboard and wearing the sharp black suit of a Victorian undertaker. A top hat and spectacles completed the look. I introduced myself and handed him a twenty. He directed me to sign a waiver.”
Read:
jjakin.substack.com/p/that-place...
“…I approached a man holding a clipboard and wearing the sharp black suit of a Victorian undertaker. A top hat and spectacles completed the look. I introduced myself and handed him a twenty. He directed me to sign a waiver.”
Read:
jjakin.substack.com/p/that-place...
That Place Beyond Understanding
A ghost tour of Pictou results in laughter and uncertainty.
jjakin.substack.com
July 27, 2025 at 5:15 PM
I signed up for a ghost tour.
“…I approached a man holding a clipboard and wearing the sharp black suit of a Victorian undertaker. A top hat and spectacles completed the look. I introduced myself and handed him a twenty. He directed me to sign a waiver.”
Read:
jjakin.substack.com/p/that-place...
“…I approached a man holding a clipboard and wearing the sharp black suit of a Victorian undertaker. A top hat and spectacles completed the look. I introduced myself and handed him a twenty. He directed me to sign a waiver.”
Read:
jjakin.substack.com/p/that-place...
Lawn care is a growth area for me in Nova Scotia.
There are a lot of growth areas.
But even if I didn’t know it at the time, I’ve been training for this since that first visit to the province back in 2019.
Read now: open.substack.com/pub/jjakin/p...
There are a lot of growth areas.
But even if I didn’t know it at the time, I’ve been training for this since that first visit to the province back in 2019.
Read now: open.substack.com/pub/jjakin/p...
On Lawn Care
Raking in Nova Scotia in July. There's more to it than you think.
open.substack.com
July 23, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Lawn care is a growth area for me in Nova Scotia.
There are a lot of growth areas.
But even if I didn’t know it at the time, I’ve been training for this since that first visit to the province back in 2019.
Read now: open.substack.com/pub/jjakin/p...
There are a lot of growth areas.
But even if I didn’t know it at the time, I’ve been training for this since that first visit to the province back in 2019.
Read now: open.substack.com/pub/jjakin/p...
"The inland miles of the route looked like the cutting-room floor after a postcard photoshoot, pretty enough to capture on film but nothing that anybody’d buy at the drugstore to send home."
- A Love Letter from the Sunrise Trail
jjakin.substack.com/p/a-love-let...
- A Love Letter from the Sunrise Trail
jjakin.substack.com/p/a-love-let...
A Love Letter from the Sunrise Trail
A meandering journey along the Northumberland Strait.
jjakin.substack.com
July 20, 2025 at 3:00 PM
"The inland miles of the route looked like the cutting-room floor after a postcard photoshoot, pretty enough to capture on film but nothing that anybody’d buy at the drugstore to send home."
- A Love Letter from the Sunrise Trail
jjakin.substack.com/p/a-love-let...
- A Love Letter from the Sunrise Trail
jjakin.substack.com/p/a-love-let...
100 subscribers! Thanks to all who've started reading about the view from my little corner of the world as I make the move from Minnesota to Nova Scotia.
Want to see what it’s about? “A Love Letter from the Sunrise Trail” drops tomorrow morning!
Catch up (and sign up) here: jjakin.substack.com
Want to see what it’s about? “A Love Letter from the Sunrise Trail” drops tomorrow morning!
Catch up (and sign up) here: jjakin.substack.com
Bayview Wonder | JJ Akin | Substack
Click to read Bayview Wonder, by JJ Akin, a Substack publication with hundreds of subscribers.
jjakin.substack.com
July 20, 2025 at 12:19 AM
100 subscribers! Thanks to all who've started reading about the view from my little corner of the world as I make the move from Minnesota to Nova Scotia.
Want to see what it’s about? “A Love Letter from the Sunrise Trail” drops tomorrow morning!
Catch up (and sign up) here: jjakin.substack.com
Want to see what it’s about? “A Love Letter from the Sunrise Trail” drops tomorrow morning!
Catch up (and sign up) here: jjakin.substack.com
I woke up Saturday morning thinking I’d spend the afternoon at the beach.
Pictou Island had other plans.
open.substack.com/pub/jjakin/p...
Pictou Island had other plans.
open.substack.com/pub/jjakin/p...
Extra-Step Island
Everything went smoothly until 7 a.m. It was a great day on the Northumberland Strait.
open.substack.com
July 16, 2025 at 4:00 PM
I woke up Saturday morning thinking I’d spend the afternoon at the beach.
Pictou Island had other plans.
open.substack.com/pub/jjakin/p...
Pictou Island had other plans.
open.substack.com/pub/jjakin/p...
I'm among the sixth generation of my family to be raised in the same small town in Minnesota. Soon, I'm moving 2,000 miles to Nova Scotia.
Read the first edition of Bayview Wonder: open.substack.com/pub/jjakin/p...
Read the first edition of Bayview Wonder: open.substack.com/pub/jjakin/p...
July 13, 2025 at 6:30 PM
I'm among the sixth generation of my family to be raised in the same small town in Minnesota. Soon, I'm moving 2,000 miles to Nova Scotia.
Read the first edition of Bayview Wonder: open.substack.com/pub/jjakin/p...
Read the first edition of Bayview Wonder: open.substack.com/pub/jjakin/p...
Join me on the move from the flat, rich farmland of Minnesota to the heavily forested hills and rocky shores of Nova Scotia.
I’m moving to a community called Bayview—and I’m keeping my eyes open to wonder.
open.substack.com/pub/jjakin/p...
I’m moving to a community called Bayview—and I’m keeping my eyes open to wonder.
open.substack.com/pub/jjakin/p...
Life Update In Progress...
Coming soon: reflections from the edge of the continent.
open.substack.com
July 12, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Join me on the move from the flat, rich farmland of Minnesota to the heavily forested hills and rocky shores of Nova Scotia.
I’m moving to a community called Bayview—and I’m keeping my eyes open to wonder.
open.substack.com/pub/jjakin/p...
I’m moving to a community called Bayview—and I’m keeping my eyes open to wonder.
open.substack.com/pub/jjakin/p...