Places
Searching for the Internment Camp Where My Father Was Held
The phrase used was “barbed wire fever”—what we now call post-traumatic stress disorder.
Lessons from My Mother, the Grave Gardener
I witnessed my mother work twice as hard as the men under the hot sun. All she had were her hands.
Notes From a Young Professor: Writing and Teaching Through Charlottesville’s Culture Wars
The police are there, expecting us, academics in revolutionaries’ outfits.
Waiting to Go Home: On Being a Traveler in Trinidad
“Tourists accumulate photos and mementos; travelers collect memories and friends.”
In the Sahara, a Little-Known Nuclear Wasteland
“There’s nothing nuclear in what I do. It’s just rocks we dilute into powder.”
The Law of Historical Memory
A strange inheritance from a grandfather resisting Franco and fascism in 1930s Spain.
Monuments and Memory: Working at Arlington National Cemetery
“It was an alternate world, where the dead came everyday, and we treated it as normal.”
Writing Behind Walls
Teaching a creative writing workshop at a men’s prison in Iowa.
Borders of the Past: On Europe and the Berlin Wall
The idea of a peacefully united continent that acknowledges identity must prevail.
A Conversation About Disability Rights in Education
“We need to move our schools toward increased inclusion and disability justice.”