The Land With No Vehicle Inspections
A fenceless state where hummingbirds pee
The windshield is cracked
Ambrosia salad is a mix of canned pineapple, mandarin oranges, marshmallows, sour cream, and shredded coconut from a bag
It’s quiet out here on the mesa in southwest New Mexico. The longer I am here, the more I realize it is too quiet — for me, anyway. I like to sit on the patio and watch the hummingbirds get into fights at the feeders, squeaking, wings buzzing, as they urinate all over the place. Every time one sips, it pees — a second later — in mid-air. I love watching the hummingbirds’ peeing and beak-stabbing, but even so, this place gets too quiet for me. You can tell, usually, when you’ve been somewhere too long. Unless we win the lottery, I don’t see an escape.
We had run out of hay for the horses and had to drive the truck into town so Robert could get more bales at Barwheel Feeds.
Generally, I wouldn’t go in the truck.
The truck is from around 1975, with a big printed label on the dashboard that reads: OPERATOR IS RESPONSIBLE FOR CHECKING OIL AND ALL OTHER FLUIDS.
We …
Why Big Festivals Still Matter
Riot Fest is one of the biggest alternative music festivals in America, with three days of music, and genres across the spectrum. They even have their own alcoholic soda brand and a chapel inside of the festival.
I desperately wanted to go to Riot Fest last year, but the festival was scheduled during Rosh Hashanah so a terrible calendrical accident deprived us of the chance to see The Cure headline, which depressed me and my father for many months. This year, Riot Fest was perfectly timed between birthdays and the beginning of school, so we bought tickets before the lineup came out.
Mind you, the lineup, when we got it, was strange. NOFX was a headliner for every night. NOFX also had their own stage, which featured an awesome assortment of semi- famous pop-y (but not pop-punk) punk bands, including Circle Jerks, Descendents, The Dead Milkmen, and The Vandals. Apparently, NOFX was planning …
None But the Rain
The French Broad River keeps rising
Asheville is laid waste
Anatomy of an American disaster
“...mountains drowned;
and gods and demons came out of the South...”
— Thomas Wolfe, Look Homeward, Angel
I.
ASHEVILLE, NC: The water gauge on the French Broad River was reading two feet. 1,620 cubic feet of water were passing through it per second. Not a scary lot of liquid. River rocks were still jutting out under Pearson Bridge, the water white where it spilled over them. Further south, the gauge on the Swannanoa River was also reading: two feet. 158 cubic feet spilled through its thinner channel, moving west to meet up with the French Broad. It was 2 PM, September 25, 2024.
The rain started just before 5. It came from a cold front, air passing west to east. The cool air dragged moisture to …
