“For my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.”
–Ulysses by Alfred Lord Tennyson
Welcome to Kvasir’s Mead, my collection of musings, travel writing, and photography. In Norse mythology, Kvasir was a god who traveled the realms of the cosmos seeking wisdom above all else. He eventually became so wise and rich with knowledge that his blood was distilled into the Mead of Poetry, a drink bestowing the ability to express the Sublime and the Beautiful.
I am a wanderer, eternal student, and seeker. After completing a bachelor’s degree in religious studies at Harvard, I sold my possessions, grabbed a backpack, and moved to a breezy surf town in the tropics of Brazil, earning my bread working in restaurants and teaching English. Unquenchable curiosity has since taken me to some of the planet’s most isolated regions: the Highlands of Papua New Guinea, the depths of the Amazon rain forest, and the ancient cities of the Silk Road, just to name a few.
Most of the photos on this site are my own, but some are from Creative Commons and are cited are such.
Check out a curated portfolio of my published work and personal essays here.
Feel free to drop me a line at johnnymotley@gmail.com.
