Best of Essays

Take another look at James Salter on France and A Sport and a Pastime, introduced by Paul Yoon; revisit Damascus with Tricia Khleif as she recalls music lessons in “Abu Musa.”

 

Photo from Flickr Creative Commons

 

Best of Essays

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On Drowning

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On a Pacific Northwest wild-fire summer evening, Emmett and I drive the babysitter while the edges of the world burn. She’s chatty and optimistic about fall classes, but I’m distracted by the sun, which is Crayola-Orange, perfect circle, unnatural and eerie.

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Crawl Space

MELANIE S. SMITH
The basement crawl space is tinged with dread. And a little bit of pride too. Because both my late husband John and my father—and even the firefighter I had to call when it flooded—hated the idea of having to go in. The dimly lit space is only eighteen inches high.