Sunken Treasures

Sylvia Earle On Why We Need To Protect The Oceans

We have measured a sharp decrease in oxygen in the ocean over the last fifty years. If the ocean has less oxygen, then less is going into the atmosphere as well. I don’t want to mess around with my oxygen-generating system. Ask any astronaut how important your oxygen-generating system is. Shouldn’t this be the highest priority of every man, woman, and child — to be able to breathe?

In Praise Of Incompetence

That word, competence, came to me after my six-year struggle; it came as an alternative, if not an outright escape hatch, to the daily grind of despair.

Invisible Symphony

The next two hours are the most precious I will ever spend with my father. He is alert and not visibly suffering. Though not a chatterbox, he converses with us all.

The Narrows

My sister Nell and I were standing on the banks of the Duvallis River, waiting for a man to float down it.

V.I.P. Tutoring

For a term paper I demanded a Louis Vuitton purse. For a take-home midterm, a Tiffany bracelet.

In The Dermatologist’s Office, Again

The cancer he wanted / to cut out of my back / somehow disappeared / in the month / since the biopsy.

All The While The Women

Days & nights I carried two weapons everywhere. / I wore pockets of bullets / across my chest. I wasn’t / of age.