Found in the Wilderness
After divorce, COM’s Ureneck reconnected with his son on an Alaskan river
Click above to learn more about Lou Ureneck and his journey to Alaska.
When Lou Ureneck, chairman of the journalism department at the College of Communication, set out on a fly-fishing excursion to the Alaskan wilderness with his 18-year-old son, it wasn’t really salmon he was after: it was a heartfelt connection with his son, something that had slipped away in the wake of a difficult divorce. Ureneck expected a few emotional confrontations with his angry teenager, but he didn’t anticipate the howling rainstorms, the frightening violence of Alaskan rivers, and the way-too-close-for-comfort encounter with a brown bear and her cub. The many trials and rewards of the trip, physical and emotional, are now the stuff of Backcast: Fatherhood, Fly-fishing, and a River Journey Through the Heart of Alaska, published in September by St. Martin’s Press. Ureneck discussed his journey and his book recently with BU Today.
Lou Ureneck will appear at Barnes and Noble at BU on Wednesday, November 14, from 7 to 8 p.m.
Robin Berghaus can be reached at berghaus@bu.edu. Art Jahnke can be reached at jahnke@bu.edu.