September Issue
Leaving the “good life” to farm on a Caribbean island
By Sarah Ratliff
Raised in New York city by the head writer at ABC News, I had my pick of plum jobs after studying at one of the country’s top journalism schools. The problem was that I was unable to settle on any one of them as the years started ticking past. “A rolling stone gathers no moss,” my mother would warn. In truth, I didn’t think I was suited for a news station or corporate life, but I couldn’t yet say it out loud. “We grew up in the Great Depression,” my father would chime in. “Opportunities were few and far between.” Read More
How one man defied cancer, traveled the globe, and learned to listen to his spirit guides
Interview by Aaron Kenedi
In the early 2000s Jefre Outlaw was living a single, free-wheeling, and financially rewarding life in Austin, Texas. Making a great living in tech and real estate, with all the trappings of wealth to show for it, including a 5000 square-foot mansion, a boat, and two Range Rovers (“one for me and one for the girlfriend du jour.”) But in 2004, at the age of 43, he was diagnosed with Stage 4 Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, which, after chemotherapy, went into remission. Read More
Ukrainian resistance and defiance shine through war-time street art
By Liz Cookman
For most of 2023, my bedroom window looked out onto a 30-foot-tall, blue-gray mural of the heroic Ghost of Kyiv. Word of the flying ace’s exploits spread like wildfire in the days after Russia’s late February 2022 invasion. He was said to have downed six Russian aircraft as enemy forces attempted to take the capital. Read More
On a hike in rural Egypt, a teenager gains some valuable perspective
By Tiphini Axtell
One evening late last year, my husband, our three teen children and I found ourselves trudging up a mountain of sand in remote Egypt led by a local man named Fahmi. If I hadn’t been there to see it all happen, I might’ve wondered, how did we get here? Read More
One woman’s watery journey of self discovery and letting go
By Ekin Balcıoğlu
When I was around seven years old, my parents took me to the thermal pools of Pamukkale, a four-hour drive inland from our coastal hometown of Izmir. I remember being vaguely excited about the trip, but unsure what to expect. I loved the sea, but this place, as they’d described it to me, sounded completely different from the enchanting azure of the Aegean. Read More
