We have advantages. We have a cushion to fall back on. This is abundance. A luxury of place and time. Something rare and wonderful. It's almost historically unprecedented. We must do extraordinary things. We have to. It would be absurd not to.

We would oppose the turning of the planet and refuse the setting of the sun.

But Saudi Arabia is surprising in a lot of ways. Like any place, or any people, it relentlessly defies easy categorization.

Love is implicit in every connection. It should be. Thus when absent it makes us insane. (You Shall Know Our Velocity)

I still get my news from the newspaper in the morning. I just have an affection for paper, and that's no secret, I guess.

I have no idea how people function without near-constant internal chaos. I'd lose my mind.

Loneliness is just a thing that I'm not personally interested in. So far, it hasn't been on my docket of things to write about.