The essay is about connection to his homeland. It's about honoring his parents, and the importance of ritual.

Often, taking stock takes place in the context of a crisis. This is maybe a not-so-painful way to do it.

The series is not reactive, not angry, not a debate; it's reflective and premeditated. We very deliberately haven't opened any online discussion boards. So many people today listen in attack mode. We want to enforce listening.

He has snuck into laboratories and zoos, found people with monkeys as pets. The story is amazing because of the extent he's gone.

I run to get out, when I have been stuck inside, reading to escape from life, not even able to sit up straight in my tiny bunk. I run to feel like I am doing something, when I am overwhelmed by all the things I can't do anything about.

I am not the lonely human, plunked down on earth to aimlessly wander. I am a part of that earth and not going anywhere- just like the spider up in the corner, the dust on the sill, and the cat I buried in the backyard. -Jamaica Ritcher.