The Year in Dispatches, Prose

Looking back on a year of dispatches, I’m proud to report that we’ve had essays from five continents. I heard from writers in places both famous and obscure, as well as some remote areas that were unknown to me. More than once, I found myself zooming in on Google maps, trying to get a glimpse of the locations described. My hope is that some of this year’s dispatches inspired the same curiosity in you. Here are a few highlights from throughout the year, ones you may have missed the first time the around:

Samantha Ender confronts a snake in Rwanda;

Aaron Gilbreath forages for vintage bottles in the Californian desert;

Noreen McAuliffe dissects fish in Mongolia;

Elizabeth Abbott inspects a war zone in Balad Ruz, Iraq;

and finally, Julian Hoffman finds a birding bridge between Greece’s Prespa Lakes and Ottawa, Canada.

 

Photo from Flickr Creative Commons

The Year in Dispatches, Prose

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A mile into the woods, I am always slightly afraid. Fear’s lace knots the cuff of an otherwise lovely afternoon. Nights, when I peek out of the tent, the moon is a bright friend too far away to help.