
Aboard Amtrak - akg_67
http://spnzr.com/aboard-amtrak
======
kibwen
I want to love Amtrak. Trains are such a fabulous way to travel. But I've just
gotta vent at how embarrassing and seemingly inept the train system is in my
country.

This very morning I went to pick up a friend who was riding Chicago to
Pittsburgh. The train was due to arrive at 5:00 AM, giving me plenty of time
to get her home and get myself to work by 8:00. But knowing how these things
tend to unfold, I was savvy: I told my boss that I might not be in until 9:30
or so, giving myself enough headroom to breathe even if the train was an
unthinkable three hours late.

I was naive. The train was _five_ hours late.

Meanwhile, I have friends who work for companies who write the software that
control train scheduling throughout the country. After what they've seen, they
refuse to ride on trains, and from the stories they've told I don't blame
them.

It's easy to attempt to excuse this state of affairs. Our rail infrastructure
is some of the oldest in the world. The country is huge and sparsely
populated. The system was designed for hauling freight, not passengers. But
none of that keeps me from reading pieces like the recent HN article on
Japan's bullet train ([http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/sep/30/-sp-
shinkansen...](http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/sep/30/-sp-shinkansen-
bullet-train-tokyo-rail-japan-50-years)) and longing for something so punctual
and efficient.

~~~
wcummings
I take the train between NYC, Boston and Providence very frequently (dozens to
hundreds of times a year), and to DC occasionally (MBTA between Providence and
Boston, usually). When I worked in NYC, I could leave Providence on an early
train and know I'd make it to Midtown in time for work. Boston and NYC (and
DC) both have good public transit, so I can hop on a bus or a train on either
end to get around the city. The northeast corridor has _decent_ trains, at
least compared to the rest of the country from what I can gather.

tl;dr I live in the Northeast without owning a car and it's _OK_

Our shitty rail infrastructure might have to do with the interests of the
automotive industry [1]

[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspi...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspiracy)

~~~
pasbesoin
I've reached the conclusion that the East Coast... "commuter" corridors are
simply a different matter, although from what I read they have problems, too.

I live at a cross country termination point, and I have had friends and family
travel here by Amtrak. They are always, invariably, _many_ hours late.

For their return trips, the departing trains generally leave from this
originating station on time. They simply have no chance to make it down the
tracks in a fashion that comes anywhere close to maintaining their schedule.

As offensive as anything, is the simple unreality of the schedules and _their
continued persistence of said schedules, year after year._

If they were more truthful, at least the unsuspecting one-time or occasional
traveller could plan accordingly.

~~~
cjslep
> I've reached the conclusion that the East Coast... "commuter" corridors are
> simply a different matter

I reached the same conclusion and have had similar experiences to your friends
and family. 5 years ago I took the Charlotte-Raleigh train a handful of times
over the period of a year or two. Only once was it on time when arriving at my
destination, and only once did it depart from my departing station late (by an
hour). The worst I experienced was about a 5 hour delay in-transit, putting
the time at 2AM instead of 9PM.

I quickly dropped the train as a reliable mode of transportation.

------
linker3000
NY to Atlanta on a visit from the UK - about 1995:

* Train hits a tree on the line and grinds to a halt near Philadelphia. After about 30 minutes, the conductor announces that they have tried plugging some of the holes in an air tank (brakes, presumably) with wood, but it hasn't worked (!!!) so we'll have to wait for the following train and change on to it - we have broken down on a section of double track so the next train pulls alongside.

* Made it to Washington on a really packed train. We are due to have the dining car hitched up to us here, but it has an electrical fault so nope - no cooked food for the journey! Delays while faulty car unhitched.

* Drunk woman staggers through train shouting 'Goddamn it, has anyone got a Budweiser and a Cigarette!'

* (Still in Washington) Drunk woman and a man she met are hauled off the train by police for getting a bit too..er..'romantic' in a corridor!

* Outskirts of Atlanta - running slow for some reason - we hit a man walking to work down the track. Train stops and we can see police, fire and ambulance out the window. Man is hauled off to hospital by police and paramedics with nothing more than badly cut arm. Conductor announces that the man didn't hear us coming and has apologized for the delay he has caused.

* Made it to Atlanta station - receive phone call from the people picking us up...they have never used the train and don't know where the station is. We give directions.

~~~
bane
I did a D.C. to Miami (and back) voyage many years ago that sounds vaguely
similar. It was scheduled as a "mere" 24 hour trip and ended up taking over 30
(flying takes less than 3 and costs about the same and driving takes about 15
hours).

At one point our section of the train was disconnected and transferred to
another train, except that train was 2 hours late. All told we waited 4 hours
with no electricity or lights and nowhere to get off in the meanwhile.

We weren't in cabins and it was virtually impossible to sleep because of all
the kids and drunk people opening and closing the doors to the cars all night.

We had a working dining car for approximately 1 meal going down and 2 meals
coming up.

It was an excruciating enough that I've sworn off ever riding trains in the
U.S. again. I did briefly consider taking the Accela recently on a D.C. to NYC
trip (in theory it takes just about the same amount of time), but decided it's
just easier to fly.

I've taken trains in Italy, France, England and South Korea and they're
glorious experiences by comparison.

It's a shame too, because the U.S. is a beautiful country to see travelling by
land...except at least on the routes I've been on which run mostly through
hard neighborhoods or industrial wastelands.

~~~
colanderman
DC<->NYC/Boston is actually not bad (Acela or not). A lot more businessfolk so
it's kept up more nicely. If you get there early enough you can get on the
"Quiet" car. People are serious as shit about the "Quiet" car. Business class
is pretty nice too (and surprisingly affordable).

~~~
wahsd
Second it for the NEC (North East Corridor) from DC as far up as Boston. The
train saved me on several occasions during this and past winters when snow
storms snarled up the airways and airports. Although trains will also stop
running at some point, it takes way more to do so.

In the case of travel between DC-NYC, it's even better since Union and Penn
Stations are right in the hearts of the cities.

For example, flights were snarled for days and cancelled all day this last
winter and I ended up getting a ride on empty, snow covered streets only plows
were running on to the train that was still running with only slight delays.

~~~
colanderman
Not just DC and NYC; in both Boston and Providence the Amtrak station is right
in the middle of downtown.

------
jzwinck
Amazing writing, I couldn't put it down. Don't miss the Amtrak Tips page
linked at the bottom.

For anyone fascinated by rail travel, I can recommend the train from Bulawayo
to Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe). It's definitely like he writes, hard mode, but
it's only for one day or night, and when I was there first class tickets cost
$7 US.

Also worthwhile: South Korea (trains galore, hard mode only due to the writing
system). Sri Lanka's Hill Country (the train goes about 10 kph and you will
wish it would slow down--the views!). Oslo-Stockholm (easy but expensive
mode).

And finally, [http://www.seat61.com](http://www.seat61.com) \- OK, it's got
ads now, just ignore them, this is a gem of Web 1.0.

~~~
lmm
If you're thinking of a European trip, do it _right now_ \- Deutsche Bahn are
withdrawing many of the sleeper trains in December as they're unprofitable.

I went London-Tokyo by train and ferry. Chinese sleepers were probably the
best - both luxurious and cheap, particularly in the northwest there is
gorgeous desert and canyons out the window. But the train from Moscow to
Uzbekistan was fascinating in its own way, red leather and steaming samovars,
fresh-caught fish being sold on the platforms of these rural stations
alongside enormous kebabs of mysterious meat. Carriage attendants knocking the
snow off the steps with pokers at every stop. Looking out the window and
seeing a solitary line of telegraph poles across the empty snowfield, the only
human thing as far as the eye could see. A bunch of men lining up on one side
of the corridor as we passed the steaming silos and metal towers at Baikonur,
hoping to see a launch.

~~~
gsnedders
> If you're thinking of a European trip, do it right now - Deutsche Bahn are
> withdrawing many of the sleeper trains in December as they're unprofitable.

The same is true across Europe — HSR has helped kill sleepers in recent years.

------
peterwwillis
On a recent 'Guide to living in DC', an editorial noted how awkward it is to
go to a beer garden. If you go to meet one other person, you can either try to
sit right next to each other, or across from each other. Across is ideal, but
then "you have to share elbow space with a stranger."

The dining and lounge cars in a train are about the only place left for city-
slickers in American society where it's not a social faux pas to intentionally
interact with a stranger. On elevators, in subways, on buses, even at many
bars, you're supposed to mind your own business. But on the train, you have
nowhere to go and nothing to do. Faced with the barren reality of the
situation, people seem to finally lower their guard and just be humans, and do
what humans are naturally apt to do: share an experience. It's so tragically
sad that we've bred ourselves to have to be forced like cattle into a metal
box hurtling across the countryside just to engage in scenarios and people
foreign to us.

------
snake_plissken
Train travel is by far the most pleasurable way to travel, in every aspect.
The scenery is (usually) amazing and you meet SO many different types of
people. I don't know what it is about trains that attract anarchists. I took a
2 week train trip around China a couple years back, long haul jawns, each leg
ranging from 20-27 hours. We'd stop in a city for 1-2 nights and then keep
moving on. It was amazing and one of the best things I have ever done in my
life. And I met like 5 anarchists.

I love and hate Amtrak. It's great when it's working. I wish it was a little
more affordable and that there were communal sleeping cars, so that the long
haul routes would become more popular.

On a side note, sometimes I wonder if U.S. culture is compatible with an
efficient and graceful long haul train system. This is from the top comment,
"Drunk woman staggers through train shouting 'Goddamn it, has anyone got a
Budweiser and a Cigarette!'" I don't know if, in general, we U.S. Americans
are respectful enough to make train travel work.

~~~
smeyer
I think the challenges to American train travel are less cultural and more
geographic. Train systems seem to work in small countries with dense
populations, and in fact we see in the northeast that trains are effective and
widely used. I live in Boston, and people use the subway in the city, commuter
rail near the city, and Amtrak to get to places like New York. But flying just
seems so much more practical around most parts of the US.

~~~
gsnedders
China's hardly small, but is pretty dense in the east.

Trans-continental travel is nowadays without question the purview of air
travel (though I was surprised when I looked up the classes of air travel
across the US — a flight from the EU to the north east of the US gets you so
much more than a trans-continental flight, despite the lengths of the flights
being near identical!). That said, a quite look at a population map it look
like a fairly comprehensive network as far west as Chicago should be viable,
extending down to Virginia on the coast. Otherwise, Houston–Austin–San Antonio
seems doable (possibly with a spur off that from Austin to Dallas and Fort
Worth), as well as most of California (and probably Phoenix from there).

That said, don't take this as carte blanche support for any proposals for HSR
in those areas — I know at least the Californian proposal is pretty
ridiculous.

There are other challenges, but ones that likely aren't insurmountable. Most
notably, you almost certainly want for many travellers the destination to be
the central business district, but in many cities this makes it hard to have
large car rental places — necessary given most of these cities don't have
good, comprehensive transport networks.

------
chiph
> Two zero axles zero faults, said the computer.

There are infrared sensors along the tracks that look for overheated wheel
bearings. They're called hot box detectors.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defect_detector](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defect_detector)

These allowed the railroads to eliminate cabooses and their crews.

~~~
kalleboo
That's interesting, why would you put it along the track and not on the train
itself? In the 60's it made sense but today wouldn't it be cheap to put
digital temperature sensors on the trains like cars have?

~~~
chiph
Probably cost. There are millions of rail cars, both here and in Canada (not
sure if the railroads run trains in Mexico) that would need to be taken out of
service and fitted with them. Plus, easier to test to see if the detectors are
working - just run a work train past them with a resistance heater hanging off
it to simulate a hot bearing.

And -- the sensors would have to communicate with the crew if there's an
alarm, and they could be a half mile away (long trains are long) inside a
tunnel. There aren't any data connections between cars (and wouldn't be
reliable if there were), so the on-car detector would have to have a powerful
radio. Added cost & complexity.

------
buro9
Great writing, could almost be there on the train living it.

One day, if I find the motivation, I'll write up the experience of sleeping
rough in the UK and hitching from town to town. 2 winters spent outside, 30
months in total.

A country is full of so many people, such incredible diversity, and yet some
patterns as well... groups always seem to form of similar types. It's deeply
fascinating stuff just to meet so many people and just talk.

~~~
NickPollard
I would love to read that, you should definitely do it. Where in the UK did
you travel?

~~~
buro9
Everywhere except Hull and Liverpool. Hundreds of towns and cities, I stayed
one night, and then moved on. I found it safer to travel in the days than to
wander the streets.

At nights I'd sleep in fields (outside small towns) or in building sites (site
offices have a heater and kettle and were usually unlocked - perfect for
winter).

During the deep of winter I did the most travelling... I'd try and hitch for
most of the day as it would mean somewhere warm for those hours. Scotland to
London and back was a regular whenever it snowed.

For money I did odd-jobs along the way, but mostly I would go to student
unions (always potential to work for bands playing live - sell their
merchandise when they were coming off-stage) and just meet people, have a
drink, and that would lead to a sofa to crash on, a shower and cheese on toast
in the morning.

It's a very long story, mostly blurred together with some parts more memorable
than the others (the extreme lows and highs - hearing gun shots in Manchester,
being mugged in Birmingham, falling in love in Glasgow, shivering through the
first nights of snow, etc).

One also acquires an incredible awareness for a town, I could be dropped
anywhere and know which way the town centre was (look for the lay of the land,
the river and the basin), where the rail station was, where the bus stations
are, the key routes in and out, and where McDonald's was likely to be (the
only place to get a hot meal at 6am-7am). That is a wonderful skill which has
proved useful almost everywhere around (the world except the USA - you guys
just drop your cities anywhere, and damn the land).

~~~
peterwwillis
From what I can tell, our cities were shaped by pilgrims, fiefdoms, pioneers,
immigrants, and waves of commerce (including rail). We didn't drop the cities
anywhere - they sprang up, first in town-form, then counties and eventually
cities. It's very hard to find a european-style city center in America.
Perhaps if we were split into 30 countries and had a millenia or two of
history there'd be more clearly defined and planned-out cities, but we're kind
of an ad-hoc do-it-yourself baby nation. That said, if you're near the water
there's bound to be a town nearby.

~~~
saraid216
The difference is largely in that Americans had access to more advanced
technologies at the time they founded their townships. You can see us moving
away from "European-style" city centers as you shift from East to West.

------
reustle
If you're interested in getting a taste of Amtrak while coding, I've been
working with Amtrak on a hackathon from NYC to SF. Join us!

[http://Amhacks.com](http://Amhacks.com)

~~~
asciimo
Awesome idea. But it looks like the hackathon in behind schedule. When do you
think it'll leave the station?

~~~
reustle
Right now we're shooting for spring / summer. It is turning out to be a really
great event, we're all excited!

I will be posting updates about it too if you're curious:
[http://twitter.com/reustle](http://twitter.com/reustle)

------
WD-42
Awesome writing. Reminded me of Kerouac, with some good historical tidbits and
photography dispersed throughout. Its a shame and predictable that the top
rated comments basically say "Amtrak sux" obviously the commentators failed to
actually read the piece.

------
djloche
As someone that did San Diego to San Francisco to Salt Lake to Chicago to New
York City to Rochester to Washington DC and back again by train: it was a
crazy, interesting, fun, and tiring experience well worth it.

If you ever have the opportunity, take the train on a cross country trip. If
you don't upgrade to a sleeper car, make sure to stop every second day if your
trip is longer than 5 days. You will want to shower, sleep, and enjoy some
quiet before getting back on the train.

This article definitely captures the feeling.

------
theklub
Was this a product of Amtrak hiring writers?
[http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/feb/27/amtra...](http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/feb/27/amtrak-
writer-residencies-us-trains)

~~~
iancarroll
> and the 45 day Amtrak pass was cheaper than rent.

I'd assume not.

~~~
T-hawk
It's competitive. The price is $879, for those who missed it deep in the
article. There are many places where 45 days worth of rent at that price will
get you worse environs than a train.

------
moron4hire
I really liked this article. I enjoyed the writing style and the subject is
one that interests me a lot, as I've also managed to have a lot of fun
traveling-and-working by Amtrak. But I guess I'm going to violate the entire
moral of the story with the rest of my post. Because I kind of stopped and had
to ask myself what the author was thinking with this line:

>> I didn't know how to reconcile his witless alcoholism with his tremendous
sacrifice.

You must not know many soldiers. Or just people in general.

I know there are a lot of different people out there and a lot of different
experiences, so I really don't need anyone replying with "my buddy did it for
such-and-such and has never touched a drop of alcohol in his life". Not
interested. But judging from _literally every_ ex-soldier I've met, "witless
alcoholism" is what defines and unifies military service. To some extent, that
even includes my own parents, who I suspect didn't drink very much when I was
a kid specifically because of their experiences in the military. And really,
in a lot of respects that's just being young, sowing wild oats and whatnot.
What is the difference between kids in the military and kids in college (and
do not forget for a second that soldiering is mostly done by adults-in-name-
only)? I suspect not much, other than a generally higher degree of physical
fitness in the military.

Also judging from these ex-soldiers, joining the military is as much about
"serving one's country" and "making a sacrifice" as going to college is about
"learning", i.e. that's not really actually why most people do it and it only
happens out of circumstance. I can't tell if any of the soldiers I've met had
given any serious thought to the concept of injury or death before they
volunteered. Because really, how much serious thought on such concepts is an
18-year-old even capable of? As a society, we literally force some of the most
life-changing decisions on the people who are almost universally unprepared to
evaluate their full set of options correctly. Most people seem to do it (both
college and the military) because they're expected to, because they aren't
aware of other options, and/or because they think it will be a good time. Or,
at least in peacetime, I'd say that was the case.

Today, I don't know. Being 18 year olds, it's probably the same motivations.
But we've been in active shooty-stabby-bomby action for thirteen years
straight (I also really don't need any pedantic replies about official
declarations of war). Living in DC, it's kind of hard to not notice the 11th
of September pass by, thus my wife and I tend to avoid being in town on that
day. And it's kind of hard to remember what day it is just about anywhere
else. It's been a long time. Vietnam was slightly longer and I doubt anyone
thinks we'll be done soon. Is this what Pearl Harbor felt like in 1953? Hell,
we'd already been into and out of Korea by that time.

My point here is, if you're in the military now, you're volunteering for war.
If you're an injured soldier, I'm sorry you got hurt. You didn't deserve it,
because nobody deserves war and mayhem. But you volunteered for it. We need to
stop saying "support the troops". We need to start saying "prevent kids from
joining unjust war".

~~~
carlob
> My point here is, if you're in the military now, you're volunteering for
> war. If you're an injured soldier, I'm sorry you got hurt. You didn't
> deserve it, because nobody deserves war and mayhem. But you volunteered for
> it. We need to stop saying "support the troops". We need to start saying
> "prevent kids from joining unjust war".

A thousand times yes! About a year ago I was flying in the US for a conference
and I noticed a soldier in uniform getting bumped to business class.
Apparently this is standard AA policy.

This led me to ask some questions about the military to some coworkers which
turned into some sort of a fight. My position is exactly the same as yours:
American society forces its most vulnerable to join unjust wars and then
rather than provide them with welfare, social and medical services relies on
this kind of obscene corporate brandwashing and cheap respect and support from
the public.

I refuse to _support_ the troops, we have to stop kids from being duped into
joining the military altogether. But apparently this is a rather unpopular
position, especially with those who have family members in the military.

~~~
saraid216
> But apparently this is a rather unpopular position, especially with those
> who have family members in the military.

See: Sunk Cost Fallacy.

People who have emotional investments in the military are unlikely to roll
that back just on your say-so.

------
kendallpark
Amtrak is great when you aren't on a schedule. I love the railroad travel
experience. Waiting patiently for that high speed rail between St. Louis and
Chicago...

I will admit, I did check the prices for a 45-day pass after reading this.
Sometimes I wish I could go effectively homeless and work on personal
programming projects for months at a time.

~~~
Scuds
> Amtrak is great when you aren't on a schedule.

Not on a schedule - or - for shorter trips the overhead of flying is just too
much. Airports are far away from a city center, and there's always lines for
security.

I rode Amtrak Cascades[1] from Seattle to Portland a few weeks back and the
train station is only a few blocks from the city center. Leg room resembles
first class on a plane, and being able to walk around and sit in an
observation/dining car is better than anything. Four hours, $50. I'd have
spent more on gas just by itself if I drove.

[1] -
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amtrak_Cascades](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amtrak_Cascades)

> Sometimes I wish I could go effectively homeless and work on personal
> programming projects for months at a time.

or remote on full salary :D

~~~
delecti
The trains on the Seattle/Portland route are really exceptionally nice too.

I rode Rochester/NYC a few times, and while still nice it wasn't quite _as_
nice.

------
brightsize
I've taken Amtrak cross-country several times now, each trip combining the
Lake Shore Limited and Empire builder. The trains have been on time and
service had been fantastic (note: I was riding 1st class with a private cabin,
which is quite expensive). I just now priced out a Washington
state=>Springfield, MA trip, 2700-odd miles, and the coach price is $223. 1/3
the cost of a flight. For that money I can travel without standing in queues,
without anyone grabbing my crotch, and with time and space to work and code.
It's a pretty compelling proposition.

~~~
Bzzzzt
It is great riding it cross-country, I just finished up my second trip from
Los Angeles to New York City in August (Southwest Chief + Lake Shore Limited).
I enjoy being able to finish books and get some coding work in, and the
amazing views like riding through the midwest at night and having a far off
lightning storm in the background. All the people I've met on the trains are
really nice, and interesting. When I tell my friends here that it is actually
quite a nice trip they think it is ridiculous to take a train for 72 hours,
but it really isn't about the destination for me -- just the trip. I also
prefer it to airplane travel.

------
VLM
The cars going west from Chicago are different model (double decker) from
train cars going east. The cars going west have dramatically superior
facilities. Going east you have like a picnic table and a snack bar, but going
west you have a bar and 360 observation windows in the rec car and card tables
and a greasy spoon in the lower level.

Something to do with tunnel heights.

~~~
DanBC
Once all the nice trains going west have gone west, how do they get back?

~~~
VLM
LOL from Chicago. Or more accurately I'm told "mostly west of the mississippi"
routes have the nice double decker cars and "mostly east of the mississippi"
routes have the dumpy single height worn out cars.

I also heard they're starting to use new cars out east that are nice but I've
never seen one outside fawning journalist articles (they may be nice, they may
not, but coverage is overwhelmingly positive). Maybe next time I take an
overnight to NYC I'll get to try a new model train car.

------
tedks
What a beautiful article. What a shame so many people here didn't read it. If
you're in this thread to bicker about train regulations and government
spending, stop wasting your time and read the story that was shared with you.
It's beautiful.

------
virmundi
I really wanted to like Amtrak. I live in Palatka, FL. I've thought about
getting a job in Jacksonville. That's an hour commute both ways by my car.
There is an Amtrak station just a few blocks from me. I thought, "Hey, I could
commute into work while working."

Unfortunately, it's a nonstarter. They cost $20 bucks to go one way. They have
limited times that make no sense from a job perspective unless I worked second
shift. And Jacksonville doesn't have DC/NYC style local light rail. Finally,
the times the same. So if I were to go that way, I'm driving.

------
jostmey
I used to ride Amtrak from Chicago to KC. But because the track deteriorated
so badly they starting putting the passengers on buses. What was the point of
buying a _train_ ticket?

------
wehadfun
Took a train from Dallas to Detroit and back. Rode the sleeper there and coach
back.

1\. The sleeper train is in the front and almost under neath the whistle. The
whistle blew all night made sleeping hard.

2.With The sleeper the food is free. The food looks O.K. but taste terrible.

3\. No beautiful scenery from on the trip.

------
smackfu
It's $879 for 18 trips within 45 days. So that's going to lot of sleeping on
trains.

~~~
saraid216
It is worth noting that 18 trips != 18 segments.

If your trip is from Seattle to LA to Dallas, that's actually 2 segments for 1
trip.

~~~
smackfu
Interesting, is that because it's two named routes ?

~~~
saraid216
There's a FAQ somewhere on the site explaining how segments are determined. I
found it yesterday, but I can't find it again.

------
sauere
Time for more some more railroad porn in this thread
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGES75OYIl0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGES75OYIl0)

------
ANTSANTS
"I’ve met so many, anarchists to Pentecostalists, Ivy League and Cherokee.
I’ve found our diversity shocking. My fellow Americans can be
incomprehensible. They say the indefensible. Do the indefensible. I think of
that veteran, his struggle from party weekly to wounded gravely. And yet, he
explicitly said he’d do it all again, the substance abuse, all the solo
travel, the putting himself over a bomb for flag and country. I think that’s
crazy. But I’m not him. I ain’t ever taken one step in his moccasins. We are a
nation predicated on individual liberty and also a people wholly
interconnected and interdependent. It’s crazy chaotic contradictory and
increasingly I’ve found it beautiful.

Gallery requires javascript."

~~~
ANTSANTS
In case anyone was wondering, that wasn't intended as a snide remark about
Javascript. The way the "Gallery requires javascript" message appeared in the
middle of the text like it was part of the essay just touched my funny bone in
the right way.

