In January 2026, Amy Tucker spent thirty days alone by the Sea of Cortez in Loreto, Baja California Sur, Mexico. She wrote every day. She photographed every day. And she developed a concept that had been forming for years: alonetude.
This blog — 30 Days by the Sea — is the record of that inquiry. It is also, now, the foundation of a book.
What Is Alonetude?
Alonetude is a term Amy coined to describe the intentional transformation of imposed aloneness into chosen solitude. It is the third shore: the place between loneliness (unwanted isolation) and romanticized retreat — a space of full presence with oneself, in the world, without performance or apology.
The central argument of the project is that the capacity for alonetude — for resting in one’s own company — is a human right, and that precarious labour systematically strips people of this capacity by making rest feel dangerous, guilty, or simply unavailable.
About the Research
This project was submitted as a creative expression thesis for the Master of Arts in Human Rights and Social Justice at Thompson Rivers University, on Secwépemc Territory, Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada. It uses Scholarly Personal Narrative (Nash, 2004) as its primary methodology — a form of inquiry that holds the researcher’s lived experience as legitimate data and storytelling as a valid mode of rigorous scholarship.
The blog contains over 270 published pieces: daily journal entries, original poetry, bilingual writing in Spanish and English, scholarly essays, memory vignettes, and photographic fieldnotes. Together they trace an arc from the shore back into ordinary life — asking whether what is learned in solitude can survive the return.
Where to Begin
If you are new to this project, the best entry points are:
- Start Here — a full reading guide with recommended paths through the blog
- About This Project — the full methodological and ethical framing
- Coming Soon: The Book — where this research is headed next
About the Author
Amy Tucker is a writer, photographer, and contract academic based on Secwépemc Territory. She has taught in post-secondary education since 2007. Her work is grounded in trauma-informed, arts-based, and body-based approaches to inquiry. She believes the human body is an archive of everything institutions prefer to leave unnamed.
ORCID: 0009-0006-9872-2248 · LinkedIn
