A Himalayan Journey
THE GOOD WAY
Julie Tate-Libby
Julie Tate-Libby is an anthropologist from the Pacific Northwest. She is an adjunct instructor of sociology and anthropology at Wenatchee Valley College and has published several academic works on amenity migration, the power of place, and sacred mountains. She has also dabbled in creative non-fiction, drawing from her experiences in the Himalayas and Southeast Asia. Her writing has appeared in Cirque Literary Journal, and her poem “Fire Summer” was published on the Washington State Poet Laureate website.
The Good Way
WHEN 19-YEAR-OLD ANTHROPOLOGIST Julie Tate abandons her missionary group near Mt. Everest in Nepal, she embarks on a solo trek in the Himalayas. Battling an eating disorder and an upbringing riddled with fundamentalism, Julie’s journey is a quest to understand the sacred mountains and people of the Himalaya, and a chance to rekindle her own faith. But soon she takes a wrong turn and stumbles upon a nunnery near Everest, where she contemplates becoming a Buddhist nun. Eventually she makes her way to a village in Eastern Nepal and meets a Christian man from Nagaland who happens to be looking for a wife. Told with honesty and humor, Julie’s story chronicles her struggle to grow up and find a deeper faith, even when things fall apart.
Gallery:
Southwest China, 2012
Praise for The Good Way
“Evocative blend of ethnography and memoir, The Good Way is a revelatory account of a young woman whose questioning of rigid religious expectations leads her to undertake an anthropological pilgrimage to remote Himalaya passes, for which she is alone and scarcely prepared, but courageous enough to venture. As insightful as it is poetic, this book will be welcomed by anyone who has dared to seek, for a variety of social science and methodology courses, and by mountain lovers everywhere.”
James Loucky, Professor of Anthropology, Western Washington University
“The Good Way is a heartfelt story of a young girl’s quest for truth. At the vulnerable age of nineteen, Julie Tate leaves her safe home in Washing State and treks halfway around the world to answer the question that tugs at her soul. Living with villagers in the Himalayas, Julie compares her strict Christian teachings to the more flexible faiths Hinduism and Buddhism. Trekking alone across the tall mountain peaks, she endures the wilds of freezing temperatures, illness, and rushing rapids. She must decide whether God lives between the pages of her bible or somewhere inside a Buddhist temple. Throughout the pages of The Good Way, Julie shares her most intimate fears while facing life-changing events. Julie must either accept her life and return home to her Christian faith or be brave enough to embrace a new spiritualism. She does so by seeking the answer to one of the most difficult of questions of all times: Where does God truly exist? The Good Way is a must read that will enlighten any heart.”
Lynn Yvonne Moon, author of children’s inspirational novels; The Tower and Whispers
“Brought up as a devout Christian, 17-year-old Julie Tate discovers the rituals and spirituality of other cultures on a missionary trip to India, and begins to doubt her and her family’s devoutness to Christianity and Jesus. Several years later, as a 19 year old anthropology student, Tate’s search to define her own spirituality brings her to the heart of the Himalayas of Nepal, where she treks alone to study isolated and unknown cultures hidden deep in the mountains. Heartbreaking, and beautifully written, The Good Way, chronicles a young woman’s courageous quest to break with the past, make sense of a bigger world, and find her own god.”
Lee Montgomery, author of The Things Between Us
Contact
