Dear readers,

My name is Roberto Muller and I live in Cold Spring, NY, approximately ten miles north of Entergy’s Indian Point Energy Center (Nuclear Power Plant). From March 2nd through March 21st I will be walking as part of the “No More Fukushimas Peace Walk” from Oyster Creek Nuclear Power Plant, Forked River, New Jersey to Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant, Vernon, Vermont via Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant, Buchanan, New York.

Check out our flier here: No More Fukushimas Peace Walk

As we walk, I will keep a daily journal via this blog to share with you, our reader, my thoughts and experiences and, hopefully, some images/video.

Here’s a little background about me:

I was born in San Jose, Costa Rica on June 30th, 1986 – the year of the tiger, I believe. (Accordingly, my biological father used to call me “el tigre serio,” or “the serious tiger.”) At the age of three I moved with my mother and my step-father to Garden Street in Cold Spring, NY – a quiet, tourism-dependent town surrounded by the “Hudson Highlands” State Park and a lot of large estates. As a result, our town hasn’t changed much in a long time, also due in part to our historical zoning laws. Anyway, Cold Spring has been home – or at least “home-base” – since 1989.

Growing up, I spent most of my time playing outside – sports, make-believe, chasing girls (or running away from them). Every once in a while at school we would have an Indian Point emergency drill, during which the siren would sound for what seemed like forever – now I know it was four minutes. In school we did not talk much about Indian Point, except that it was nice to break from class to go outside during the drill – although, it would have been better if the siren weren’t so loud!

Finally, I finished high school and three months later matriculated at nearby Vassar College, on the outskirts of Poughkeepsie, New York. After a year and a half of not entirely knowing what I wanted to study or why, I decided to join the then-young Environmental Studies program, which I found especially appealing because it encouraged studying abroad. So, long-story short, I loved to travel, especially in Latin America, and unknowingly channeled my studies towards a senior thesis on ecotourism, for which my experiences studying abroad in Ecuador the year before provided data and much-needed perspective.

While I was studying in Ecuador, my host-brother happened to show me a computer program with which one could learn the Japanese Hiragana writing system, and I was hooked. So, I signed up to take “Introductory Japanese” during my senior year, and during my first class found myself thinking, “Oh my God, what the heck am I doing here?!” Luckily, everyone else in the class seemed to be asking himself or herself the same question! So, I stuck with it. Little did I know where it would take me! (To be continued…)