This First Person column is written by Pearl Lorentzen, who lives in Slave Lake, Alta. For more information about CBC’s First Person stories, please see the FAQ.
I was sitting by the gas fireplace in the coffee shop and talking with a stranger about writing. I learned that, like me, this lanky fellow with massive work boots had moved to Slave Lake for a job. Unlike me, he had a terrible impression of the town.
As I listened to him talk about seven years of isolation, drugs and boredom, it felt like we lived in different universes. I’d only been here for a
