Almost every magazine piece I've ever written, I felt like I haven't done it justice, like it was just a gloss.

Short form media is reductionist by nature.

Once you believe that God is speaking directly to you, there is no discussion.

At that stage of my youth, death remained as abstract a concept as non-Euclidean geometry or marriage. I didn't yet appreciate its terrible finality or the havoc it could wreak on those who'd entrusted the deceased with their hearts.

What if I were smiling and running into your arms? Would you see then what I see now?

I don't know what God is, or what God had in mind when the universe was set in motion. In fact, I don't know if God even exists, although I confess that I sometimes find myself praying in times of great fear, or despair, or astonishment at a display of unexpected beauty.

There is nothing glamorous or romantic about war. It's mostly about random pointless death and misery.