day 7 is in the books! is that an expression? on the books? one for the books? either way, it is DONE and wow, what a delightfully varied day it was. here are some thoughts from day 7!

• i did finally manage to get into my airbnb in brentwood which was GREAT because it put me very close to my first interview of the day - less great were some very thin walls with a flatmate having a loud phone conversation til almost midnight and a cat who took a poo in the middle of the bathroom???? i guess you really never know what you're going to get!
• i had my first interview quite early in the morning, and it was absolutely lovely! i got some more really thoughtful gifts for the road - some candy (which i ate almost right away), a tiny first aid kit, and a travel sized sunscreen! so thoughtful!
• i had a delightful route which utilized a train station stairway overpass as a shortcut! WOW DO WE LOVE A SHORTCUT! we love stairs a little bit less, but it wasn't so bad. i really don't know how the map knew that i could walk over the stairs though...is that someone's job, to just go around and note better access routes for pedestrians? i bet i could contribute after this adventure!
• speaking of better access routes - today was a GORGEOUS GORGEOUS sidewalk and pedestrian walkway day! i very rarely (if ever!!!!) had to hug a random shoulder or tromp through some gnarly grasses. hooray!
• but also: boy oh boy was it sunny today! i mentioned this in another blog post (or maybe one of the video blogs i keep only halfway doing because i get busy....walking....) i am SO glad to be doing my project right now. a bunch of people were worried about it being too cold at the end of april, but honestly i think i would have been boiling any closer to summer!
• another reason i'm writing this blog post so late is that today was a TWO interview day, and i had to do a bunch of walking in-between! the interview happened in the evening, which is pretty unusual for this series. i kind of like to get them done in the AM or early PM so i can walk or rest afterwards during prime daylight hours, but this was how the cookie crumbled today! another great interview and so great to see everyone in person!!!
• the elena is a dodo moment of the day came right as i arrived at my hotel. i didn't want to jinx myself by thinking too hard about it en route but i did an AMAZING job of fastening my ankle brace today. somehow it just had all the right support, for ONCE my heel wasn't rubbing and i was like, "dang, yes. i am GROWING as a hiker"..........and then i TRIPPED on the FLAT HOTEL HALLWAY and twinged my ankle!!!! insert crying face here! i'm hoping that resting overnight will help, and i do have a more heavy duty brace that i can swap to, but dang - what a way to close the day.......and tomorrow is a BIG mileage day!
• to close off with some good news: i'm in a hotel tonight and this one HAS free continental breakfast tomorrow! i am going to eat........so many pancakes.

i'm hoping that i'll be able to do a blog post tomorrow but i have an EXTREMELY long day of walking, so don't worry if i can't get to it or if it comes at a bizarre time! you can always check my instagram for (slightly) more regular updates. see you soon!

it's day 6 and i am halfway through my project and halfway through my project and NOT halfway through my project. i'll get into the nitty gritty of what that means exactly down in my thoughts from day 6!

• for some reason nearly every single clock in every single place i've stayed has been wildly inaccurate. that lead to me thinking that i'd woken up at 4:15 AM and was pretty distressed that i couldn't fall back asleep....before i checked my phone and realized it was 6:30. a much more respectable hour!
• some of you may have been wondering about the resolution of my airbnb drama from yesterday - never fear! when it became pretty clear that my host wasn't going to have the place ready until well after 7 PM, my parents gave me a micro grant to book a nearby hotel. i even got to see my dad and my dog for a little bit since they were coincidentally in the area i was stranded! a nice night overall.
• only complaint was that there WAS NO FREE BREAKFAST probably due to the pandemic???? but they had a little area open where you could PAY EXTRA for very bad breakfast. i got a tea before i realized and had to "charge it to my room" to disguise the fact that i'd assumed it would be included. lol whoops!
• a gorgeous gorgeous day for walking, huh? a lot of people were kind of worried about me doing this in april but i have to say, i think doing it in the summer would have been a tiny piece of hell. it's not too hot, but as i walk - especially on a gorgeous day like today! i get sweaty fast! 
• only one interview today and it was great! i am obviously enjoying speaking with everyone and hearing about what they do to make long island a better place, but i also feel like i'm learning a lot about video and content creation! i won't say it's all going exactly perfectly - once in awhile i'll set up a wonky frame or forget to account for the fact that someone may gesture or lean - but for a first effort, i'm enjoying it immensely! i'm also meeting a lot of teams and coworkers and getting to explore some pretty cool new places!
• took an accidental detour on my way to my airbnb for the night and ended up (somehow????) on something a bit like a wooded trail! for a moment i REALLY felt like i was backpacking. i had some vague funny thoughts like "is this how people feel on the adirondack trail???" (which obviously: no) but it was nice to get off pavement and into nature, even for a mile or so!
• speaking of mileage - today was a light day, which was awesome! tomorrow is pretty light as well - i've got two interviews but luckily the in-between seems ok. we had to do some last minute location scrambling due to unexpected covid situations, but that's the reality of the times! i'm looking forward to a good rest tonight, and a full day tomorrow!
• last and perhaps most notably: there is a cat at the airbnb i'm staying in tonight! i really REALLY wanted it to come sit with me, so i sat on the floor and pretended not to be interested in it until it did! it's a super cute cat and very funny - i was worried that i might be too stinky to make friends, but then i looked over and it had SHOVED ITS ENTIRE FACT INTO MY SNEAKER. i was like, "wow your constitution must be STRONG, little cat!"

okay! time for stretching, snacks, and probably watching some run bts episodes. i listened to the new psy song that suga produced like 2,700 times this morning. what a bop. 

wowie zowie, i walked A LOT today! i'm actually still about two miles from my resting place for the night, but i'm having a bit of an airbnb odyssey (thus the evocative blog title) that i'll get into down in the daily bullet points. here are some thoughts from day 5:

• today was my first longer distance day since day 1 and WOW it was.....okay? hard? it's always difficult to quantify how i feel on these longer distance days because everything feels like a moving target - my destination, my body, how much i need to pee, whether there is or is NOT a sidewalk...
• speaking of sidewalks: we LOVE a sidewalk! we love them. now, what i do not love so much is how sidewalks just end??? indeterminately??? i can't tell you how many times i'll be walking along and suddenly the sidewalk will just....stop! i feel like i'm in a perpetuating rendition of the shel silverstein poem "where the sidewalk ends" because DANG i could tell you where every sidewalk ends in nassau and suffolk county!
• speaking of suffolk county: I AM IN IT! I AM IN SUFFOLK COUNTY! i crossed the border near melville and it was super anticlimactic lol! unlike when i crossed into nassau, there was no sign so i realized (somehow) through my limited knowledge of long island geography and the appearance of some sort of western suffolk county public works facility. i also ALMOST made it to the long island welcome center - i was on a service road that went RIGHT by it, but there was a big ass fence which kept us from meeting. woe, and woe again.
• speaking of woes: my body is SORE!!!! today! i woke up feeling pretty good which was amazing, but my body definitely took a minute to adjust on the road. i am continuing to be deeply in love with my compression sock, my ankle brace, and ibuprofen. truly gifts from supreme beings. i'm also DEEPLY grateful to jeremy for letting me offload a few of my belongings and gifts that were adding weight to my backpack - thank you, jeremy!
• speaking of the kindness of strangers: i am currently writing this blog from a wendy's instead of the airbnb i'll be staying at for the night. due to some unknown mix-up, my host hosted someone else last night and wasn't able to clean the room for my stay today. initially, i'd told them i planned to arrive around "dinnertime" (although their check-in is listed as 1 PM on airbnb). so when they told me they'd need some time to clean the room, i said i could delay my arrival til 6PM (friends i have been sitting in this wendy's since 3:30 PM now lol) and got a message back saying i might need to do a "LATE CHECK-IN." i am TrEPidACIouS about the vagueness of the word LATE in that sentence. hopefully it's not LATE late because - 
• speaking of lateness: i'm still going to bed pretty early and waking up pretty early. my dreams for this evening post-walk were mostly to take a long hot shower, continue my fierce battle with my heel blister, stretch my aching limbs, and lie as flat as i can until my interview tomorrow. hopefully, a lot of that can still be achieved just, you know...........later.

i'll check in with you again tomorrow!!!! see you then!

day 4, day 4, day 4! i had the latest start so far today - i didn't need to be on the road until after noon but my body has gotten used to getting up early. it probably doesn't help that i'm still conking out around 9 PM lol. i had a pretty chill morning of getting rick rolled in a dunkin' donuts while i mooched off of the free wifi and a really lovely walk to my first interview of the day!

here are some thoughts from day 4:

• i LOVE sidewalks. i LOVE them. one of the biggest changes (and maybe most obvious) from queens into nassau is that nassau is SO much less walkable. luckily, my route today didn't take me anywhere without a nice sturdy sidewalk which I LOVED.
• i did a much smaller mileage today! only about 6 miles all told. honestly, it probably came at a good time as i've been trying to sort through the various body adjustments and issues that come with a long hike.
• how are all of your various body ailments today, elena? not bad, thanks for asking! i'm likely going to marry my ankle brace on the beaches of montauk in a week. who knew that having some good support for a wobbly ankle could make such a difference? the big issue of TODAY is a huge and poorly placed blister on one of my ankles. i'll be taking care of THAT ONE in a few minutes.
• my second interview of the day was with my friend jeremy (who is also running for public office in district 7 of nassau county, check it out: https://jeremyjosephforny.com/). i met up with him for an interview, as well as one of my dear friend who is currently running his campaign! it's so nice to see some familiar faces on the road and to sit and chat about stuff and think about things besides what my mileage will be tomorrow or whether i'll have to detour to avoid major roads, etc.
• i'm going to do my last interview for the day in about 30 minutes! between now and then, i'm planning to shower, DEAL WITH MR. BLISTER, and maybe lie down if i have an extra minute. tomorrow is quite a long walk (i'm crossing into SUFFOLK COUNTY BABY!!!!) but luckily i don't have any interviews, so i'm hopeful i can take it at a nice slow pace....and just keep on going!
• ahahaha i nearly forgot about the title of the blog! a few of my precious interviewees have really kindly offered to drive me to my next location. i kinda of realized that i did a bad job explaining part 2 of my work to those who are involved in part 1......yes the 118+ mile walk is part of the whole project!

see you here tomorrow for more updates (hopefully with fewer blisters)!

day 3 on the road dawned absolutely grey and gloomy! what beautiful weather to walk a mere 13 miles...or so i thought. after a nice long rest on day 2, i was excited to get back to walking feeling relatively fresh, and for the first mile or so i did feel pretty good! here are some thoughts from a roller coaster day 3!

• about a mile or so into walking, an old injury on one of my ankles began to give me trouble. this prompted some emergency texts to my sisters (who have both done multi-day long hikes), several impromptu trips into a walgreens and back again (i am single-handedly keeping them in business probably), and a slightly weepy cup of tea at a dunkin' donuts where i felt like i'd failed only three days into the project.
• side note: this walk is probably sponsored exclusively by dunkin' donuts restrooms. their new slogan can be: elena pees at dunkin' lol
• luckily, i hit upon a good combination of an ankle brace and some ibuprofen that made me feel like the world was a new and beautiful place! i'm always so cheerful the first 5 or 6 mile of the walk, which is really fun. it also makes sense because my practices walks were mostly around that length and i feel confident in my ability to go that distance successfully!
• i was startled by a jogger who blew past me at an intersection and i caught up to them at the next one (red lights are a hilarious equalizer for pedestrians). they asked where i was going and (bless them) were more excited than shocked when i said "montauk."
• i had my FIRST bad luck with detours RIGHT before i got to the location of my interview! i had to pass underneath some train tracks, and the ONLY road that went under them was closed!!!!! i ended up having to walk about 0.75 miles out of the way and then back again....which meant i wasn't able to rest as much as i wanted to! i'll post a photo of the detour on Instagram, so head over there and check it out - it's very funny on the map in retrospect!
• the interview today was lovely! my interviewee (and his co-worker!) were super welcoming and gave me a bunch of gifts on the way out, including a copy of the quran and a container of dates. luckily, tomorrow i'm staying with a friend and i'll be able to leave the gifts there so i can pick them up on my way home!
• i had my SECOND bad luck with my route and GOOD luck with a detour post-interview. for some reason, my walking directions wanted me to head down jericho turnpike despite the sidewalk ending which - I AM NOT ABOUT THAT SCARY LIFE. i took the first turn out that wasn't a dead end and managed to find an alternate route! i had to traipse across a grassy park, but it was totally worth it.
• i'm all tucked in for the night, and the name of the game is FOOD, STRETCHING, and RECOVERY. my hope is that my ankle will adjust and that the brace will help equalize me for the rest of my journey, but i had a long talk with my body about alternates in case it doesn't seem possible (if anyone sees me in about 30 miles on a bike, you know what's up lol)

i'll touch base again after my interviewssss (2, possibly 3?????) tomorrow!

Against all expectations, I got out of bed this morning! There was a brief moment where I thought "Uh-oh! These legs aren't going to DO what they're supposed to do!" But I was out on the streets of Long Island by 5 AM and wow, who knew there was a quiet time? Or a time without bumper to bumper traffic? I ended up walking down some little suburban road called "Intervale" and began to worry I might have entered an alternate universe.
Here are some overall thoughts from Day 2!

• My interviews were both in the morning, thus the early start! It also meant that I got to take my time heading to the Airbnb for tonight - which was really nice! Unfortunately, my route took me through more of a concrete jungle than yesterday...so I ended up sitting in some creative patches of grass!
• Some notable Nassau places I saw in my journey: The Nassau Coliseum, Hofstra University, whoops that might be it haha!
• How am I feeling today? Glad you asked! Pretty stiff in the morning. My hip flexor was probably the worst of it, but luckily that loosened up as I walked. Some other small issues - blisters, sore shoulders from the pack, and one ankle that just isn't sure what's going on...all in all though, I feel MUCH better finishing my walk today compared to yesterday! (I also walked about half the distance today but WHO'S KEEPING TRACK?!?!?!)
• And I did have an ardent admirer today! Someone pulled their car over to tell me that I was gorgeous and ask for my number. Normally, I don't like that kind of stuff (and I still didn't give them my number lol) but it's since to know that I don't LOOK like I'm limping towards the finish line of a VERY long day....it definitely feels like that!
• The most wonderful part of all of this is (of course): the interviews! Each one has been so inspiring and diverse and emblematic of all the reasons I wanted to do this project in the first place. I'm looking forward to sharing them with you in the documentary...but this experience has also made me wonder if there could be an opportunity to release the full footage of each? Or maybe send the raw footage to each advocate in case they'd like to use it!
• The BIG news (well maybe it's not BIG but it's a change for sure!) is that I'm going to add a day to my little journey and finish on May 4th instead of the 3rd! I just looked at that last trek out to Montauk and thought..............that's too far! So I'll be taking an extra night, so I can finish strong and enjoy the last leg rather than oozing into the Sound/Ocean like a sad tired slug.

And that's everything! One interview tomorrow! 

Hey all! It's Elena. I'm stopped for the night and I had a shower and FINALLY! put my feet up. Wow, today was hard! Definitely fun, definitely interesting, and definitely hard. It was one of my longest mileage days right off the bat, which was no joke! I felt really, really good for the first 12 miles and after that, things slowly got slower...but: here are some amazing thoughts from a great day.

• I was supposed to start right by the Brooklyn bridge, but I SOMEHOW MISSED that the Brooklyn half marathon was TODAY and the cops had already blocked off my starting point! I ended up starting from a different part of the Brooklyn bridge park, which I think added a little mileage to my day. Shout out to my dad for getting me to the starting point despite snoozing through his alarm.
• Walking through Brooklyn felt like no time at all! I was shocked by how quickly I moved into Queens which (coincidentally) felt like an ETERNITY. I didn't realized Queens was so big until I was literally walking across the entirety of Flushing. I will say - the route that I ended up taking was super beautiful - lots of parks and pedestrian overpasses and water! 
• I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO EXCITED TO SEE THE NASSAU COUNTY SIGN!!!! It could not have come at a better time. I was getting a bit tired and hungry, so I was thinking maybe I would take a little break and THEN I SAW THE SIGN! I SAW THE SIGN! so i pushed on for a bit more.
• This turned out to be a mistake haha! The area of Queens that I was in had A LOT of shops closed on Sunday. I kept pushing on to look for lunch and sort of ran out of options. But LUCKILY i found an open diner!!!! If there's one thing you can count on, it's an OPEN LI DINER.
• My first interview took place in Port Washington, which is really a very beautiful town. I walked right on the water past the Band Shell (where I coincidentally did a production of As You Like It back in 2016)! There were also a lot of bench and walls and places to sit for a few minutes.....which I VERY MUCH TOOK ADVANTAGE OF. For some reason, the last two miles before my stop felt like the most difficult....is that how runner and athletes feel? Am I a runner/athlete now?
• The interview was GREAT! NO SPOILERS! Tune into the documentary later this summer!
• Which brings us back to now! I've got some pizza and ginger ale and I am ENJOYING being horizontal. Who knows what the morning will bring in terms of lingering soreness, but for now I'm going to relax and get some rest. I'm providing (slightly) more regular updates on my Instagram story, so be sure to check it out! And keep an eye on my channel for my "usually scheduled" content, including today's video! https://youtu.be/XGWmxYcOkAg

What is a Cult based on thirty seconds of internet searching
By: Elena Faverio, Aged 28


I realized instantly that I don’t know what a cult is, so I googled cult definition.
Then I realized I don’t want definitions, I want transfiguration of meaning through time
so I googled “cult etymology” not entomology which is about bugs.
The word cult comes from Latin “cultus” which meant first: tended, cultivated, tilled - like a field is
then: care, labor, cultivation, culture, worship, references
And from French “culte” which is worship, homage, and late a particular form or system of worship.
Popular before the 17th century, obsolete for two hundred years, and then revived in reference to ancient or primitive systems of religious belief and worship in the 19th century.
I wonder at the difference between ancient and primitive, how the words couple and converge along Caucasian feelings and findings.
I have gotten most of this information so far from exactly one (1) website: which is:
entymoline.com
under cult (noun)
And it looks hella plagiarized as I read it back so please leave me alone. This is how information is passed in these non ancient and non primitive Western societies. This is how we learn about shit, and learn it good.


I am not convinced by any of these definitions so far, but we’re in luck because
NEXT UP is Hugh Rawson, who apparently wrote something called Wicked Words,
which I will pause and research.
According to fifteen seconds of googling and the top link
(Amazon, surprise surprise)
Wicked Words: A Treasury of Curses, Insults, Put-Downs, and Other Formerly Unprintable Terms from Anglo-Saxon Times to the Present by Hugh Rawson is availed in Paperback form from $24.44. Condition: Good. Sold by Bay State Book Company. And Amazon.
What the fuck is an Anglo Saxon?
Hold, please.


According to the Oxford Dictionary and Google - Anglo Saxon is an adjective (what the fuck? an adjective? Okay) relating to or denoting the Germanic inhabitants of England from their arrival in the 5th century up to the Norman Conquest.
Or a noun (yes this is what I thought):

1. a Germanic inhabitant of England between the 5th century and the Norman Conquest. (checks out)
2. Another term for Old English.

Hmmm. Old English is hyperlinked for bozos like me who are on a late night Wikipedia odyssey of terms that they only sort of know, definitely have an idea of what it encompasses in their head, but could never adequately or accurately describe or convey that knowledge to another person. We’ll leave it for now.


Back to Hughie Rawson and his wicked words!
According to Hugh, the word cult means “an organized group of people, religious or not, with whom you disagree.” Incidentally Hugh wrote this definition in 1993 which is the year of my birth which means it’s time to talk about me. NICE.


According to Hugh, here are some things that are cults:

• The disgusting PBA and all cops
• The Westborough Baptist Church
• The entire Republican Party of America
• Nassau and Suffolk County legislatures
• Golf fans
• People who enjoy eating tomatoes in any form other than ketchup or pizza sauce or as a small cup of marinara in which to daintily dip a mozzarella stick
• Tarantulas. To be honest, I don’t necessarily disagree with their viewpoints. I disagree with their existence. It is really terrifying that people can feel that way about other groups of people. In this way, maybe I am not so far from a despot.

Wait, what the fuck is a despot?
Oh okay, according to Oxford it is a ruler or other person who holds absolute power, typically one who exercises it in a cruel or oppressive way. So I was using it correctly.
Although wait apparently there is also a rapper known by the stage name Despot, birth name Alec Reinstein, who was born in Queens in 1982. Not much info on him. Oh shit, I googled him and he’s a white guy. Weird. Is it ever possible to be a white rapper and not be constantly appropriating from and profiting off Black culture?


Some more cults, according to me:
-White suprematists
-Anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers
-Parents who yell at Board of Education meetings
-People who want to have children
-People who’s favorite season is not fall.
-People who liked the film LalaLand.


I would turn in this valuable research, but I learned about Despot on Wikipedia, and my teachers always told me that’s not a viable source of information.