What if certain places just make things better?

Hey, there-

I’m Thalia Toha.

When I worked as a historic preservation architect, I restored 15,000+ square feet town halls and 1900s-era farm homes. I also got to work on food hall projects in the desert of New Mexico—the “Land of Enchantment.” 

Before my architectural journey, I always thought places are just things we happen upon.

Now, I believe that places shape us. 

And I didn’t realize just how much it does, until I had to cross the seas on my own. Until I left my ancestral homeland in the supervolcanic regions of Sumatra and Java.

To come to the United States.

I was no longer surrounded by the smells I was used to. The buildings that sheltered me. The people I knew. The masonry I was used to touching. And the slack from the wood that anchored my chair. 

One night in a freezing North American dorm room, I remember I couldn’t sleep. I hadn’t made any friends at that point. My mother had just left in a yellow cab a few days before. I’ll never forget the look of terror on her face. To be 9,291 miles away from your teen … must’ve left some scars.

She had to bring me to America for safety. Home was burning with riots and civil unrest at the time. 

And for a few days after she left, I thought I was OK. Until that one night. When the reality of solitude started to push down. Like the weight of the blank ceiling. Staring down at me.

I just wanted to go home.

And if I was real, I wanted to go home for at least two years after that. Even though during the day, it was all smiles. Even when I was a student of New York’s Big 5 architects at Princeton University.

Places change our story.

That’s why I created “Story Arks.” 

Whether you’re interested in fictional world-creation, setting the stage in poetry, or creating your own real-life story—your way:

As a free-subscriber, you’ll get:

Email-Posts on Tuesdays | 12:00 PM US Mountain Time

We’ll cover a range of curious things, like:

• What does a Follower even mean? [On digital places and people]

• Which is better: coffee or tea? [Answers from 350 years of ocean warfare]

• I guess phones make it hard to see [On scrolling and Las Vegas slot-machines]

• Should cats and dogs sleep in your bed? [On human thrones, beds, and pets]

• The Viking girl who flew to space [On space jets and the Norse Viking tree]

• When creatives took over world-engineering [On Game of Thrones and Meow Wolf]

• Somehow, an Olympic finish needs help [On Olympic torch-bearing & finish lines]

• When burden outweighs the bearer [On the real Harry Potter Hogwarts Express bridge]

• Did we love the man? Or the mansion? [On Pemberley and Jane Austen]

• Bullish red reasons for our limitations [On amphitheaters of the Matadors]

• Art of outliving others [On Star Wars v. Dune]

• Thelma could’ve saved a Titanic (Free preview)

As a Premium subscriber, you’ll get:

THING 1: Uninterrupted access to my thinking on places

As much as I want to be everywhere for everyone all the time, sadly it’s not always possible. Especially when my work means sourcing 120+hours/week worth of:

• Restricted architectural, literature,

• Sketches, field notes,

• Historical archives, and

• Hand-drawn construction drawings.

THING 2: Support my family and contributors

• In between shoveling snow, writing on Substack, and working on projects:

• I work on teaching my kids about the vast world, putting food on the table, and saving up to put them through college. If you can afford the Premium upgrade, it would mean a lot to my family.

• If a few more people choose the Premium upgrade, Story Arks can also give back to artists and contributors whose work may be featured here.

THING 3: Join a community of like-minded people

Though most of our community threads are free for all, there are some Chat Threads reserved for Premium members. We talk about anything from day to day stuff to deep deconstructions and thought-building.

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