Review by Vicki MaykIt was an unremarkable Sunday, Risa Nye writes. There were pancakes for breakfast, newspapers to be read, school projects, Disney videos and an early play date for one of her three children. Those moments of normalcy on October 20, 1991 did not last. Before the day was over, a wildfire would destroy…
Kevin Oderman had recently returned from Italy when I interviewed him for Hippocampus – an appropriate segue to discussing his recently released book Cannot Stay: Essays on Travel.
My father never had a driver’s license during my lifetime. Family photos showing him behind the wheel of a 1950 Buick sedan proved he must have been a driver before I was born. I’d once asked my mother why he gave it up.
The first time I heard the story of the opera Aida, I was sitting on the screened porch with my grandfather. Out beyond the screen, the fireflies sporadically lit the velvet darkness. On the porch, the light from the kitchen window cast a soft glow touching the top of my grandfather’s balding grey head. It didn’t quite reach me, lying prone on the old metal glider. I remained in darkness, hearing the story of the Egyptian princess who died sealed in a tomb with her lover Radames.
