I had passed by this quaint block countless times before on my bike commute to and from work, but this time it felt macabre as a horror story coalesced around me. The dissonance between the crime scenes I’d read about and their plain existence made my head swim. Seeing this unremarkable block through new eyes, I was struck by how normal
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In any given city, I am in search of two things: good food and good bookstores. Independent institutions of books and food indicate to me that someone has cared enough about their community to invest in it and contribute to the culture of a place — to surround others in the things that comfort themselves. […]
On Nov. 26, 2017, the Hawai’ian government reinstated the “attack warning” siren amidst growing fears of a possible missile attack from North Korea. My wife, Julia, and I were living in Wailuku, a town on the island of Maui. Along with the rest of the citizens of Hawai’i, we had watched with growing apprehension as Trump and Kim Jong Un began their volley of insults and threats with our islands stuck in between. […]
The daily summer temperature in the Chihuahuan Desert, the land that stretches from the middle of New Mexico and southeast through Texas and Mexico toward the Gulf, frequently surges above 100 degrees. The desert itself receives about 9 inches of rain a year, and very little of that during the summer months. Mix in devastating dust storms that often darken the sky and choke people to death in 70-plus mile-per-hour winds, and you have one of the most inhospitable places in the country. […]
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