Agency

Agency

“You the app whisperer.” “They needed something to explain my being with him in the first place.” “‘Beta tester with a wild talent’? Decent hook.” “That was the lede on a Wired article, but only because I was with...
Congo Journey

Congo Journey

In a stretch of comparative quiet, by a shore of white sand, a bird I recognized at once was wading carefully in the shallows: rook-size, it was brown all over, but its head was remarkable: a big broad bill balanced by a triangle of crest projecting from the back gave...
Nutshell

Nutshell

I stay awake, I listen, I learn. Early this morning, less than an hour before dawn, there was heavier matter than usual. Through my mother’s bones I encountered a bad dream in the guise of a formal lecture. The state of the world. An expert in international relations,...
The Wall

The Wall

Mornings on the Wall, dawn and dusk and night, were times for poetry. Skyconcretewaterwind. Afternoons were for prose. Ten thousand kilometres of Wall. A Defender for every two hundred metres: fifty thousand Defenders on duty at any time. Another fifty thousand on the...
Shooting An Elephant

Shooting An Elephant

The Sporting Spirit Sport is an unfailing cause of ill-will. And how could it be otherwise? I am always amazed when I hear people saying that sport creates goodwill between the nations, and that if only the common peoples of the world could meet one another at...