The black mountain crackled beneath our feet with every step. 10,000 feet above the Mediterranean Sea, we were climbing Europe’s most active volcano.
I had no idea which way I was facing or how far I’d come, and there was no use in counting. The stairs trailed up forever. There was no use in stopping either. I had no place to...
“My friend, can you take a photo for us?” The Brazilian couple leaned against the marble bridge. They were about my age, and I think the picture turned out nice: the Siene flowing below them, the Louvre posing...
Hot coffee spilled from the vending machine, searing my hand. “Bonjour,” said a finely dressed man. I didn’t know what to say. It was painfully awkward, for a moment, the man staring at me, me staring silently into...
The dead man lay sprawling on the floor. His fingers were curled into a ball, shielding his head from the ground. His hair would have blown in the breeze, had there been any inside the British Museum. Somehow,...
The young Scot walked up to the wall carrying a black stone. A pair of blue, rubber gloves separated his hands from the layer of moss covering the rock; and as he lifted it into place atop the...
Salt Lake City International Airport, Gate A2— It’s out there, the wild. For a weekend, we danced together. The mountains, the salt flats, the vast expanses of primordial goo from the lake shore, caking to my shoes in...
The van sputtered to a halt near the edge of the DMZ. That’s where we lost Ronnie. We sat on plastic chairs by the side of the road, our bodies wedged between a muddy railroad track and a...
Darkness was closing fast, and our time was running out. A raven called in the blackening canyon. Canyonlands National Park covers over 500-square miles of red, Utah desert. Driving between its borders can require hours of time and...
There are places where the broken bones of this country stick up from the soil, where shadows of old wounds and past victories are still laid bare for all to see. These are the places where you can...
