Smart
Outward Bound, Super Camp, tutors, counsellors, mentors—my parents spared no expense in trying to figure out my 2.33 cumulative high school GPA. Nothing worked.
Notes From Captivity
0734:
Bobby pin located by companion, lock picking commenced. She picks. I pick. The lock is deemed unpickable.
This, Too
But the sun comes out and doughnuts exist and there’s a one-eyed cat who likes to roam the school grounds and often visits my window. This happens, too.
Bussing It in Cambodia
Driving in Cambodia is not a careful endeavor. It is not orderly. The rules are, at best, flexible.
Nothing Goes as Planned
Last fall, my much-delayed Megabus dropped me off in Chinatown at 2:30 a.m. I had seven percent battery life, four dollars in cash, and no idea how to get to Brooklyn.
Graying
The grate creeks and I move to step off, but it snaps under my weight. I’m falling. I thought I could grab the side of the sidewalk, but I can’t.
The Biggest Sucker in Budapest
Don’t look back, keep walking, project confidence, don’t run, keep calm, almost there, almost there, almost there – RUN! Lose yourself in the crowd!
Chimera
At dinner, we held hands and prayed out loud at the restaurants. Everyone did. To different gods.
Prologue
I had no cell phone service. No way to leave. I had ridden here in the back seat of a minivan, lurching through miles of winding and branching dirt roads, through a night black with trees and dust and stories of fights.
All This Happened, More or Less: a Travelogue
I went to Denmark. For my first trip to Scandinavia. In January.
