“When I read a story in the back of the newspaper about a young man who had

wandered across the U.S./Mexico border, I became curious about what his

experience must have been like. I imagined how he might wander through his

mind, talking to no one in particular, remembering his town, his mother,

and the things he heard and saw along the way—how he kept repeating that he

was ‘walking in bad circles,’ as if any of us walk a linear, knowable

journey.“