Monkey Butlers

This piece was originally published in Exiles.

One of my long-term goals is to be the kind of person who could be dropped onto an uninhabited island and survive with nothing but my wits and physical capabilities. To not only survive, but flourish. To build a coconut radio. And when the rescue party arrives, to have built a tiny island paradise, complete with monkey butlers and a wooden roller coaster.

That might be a small exaggeration, but it is a guiding principle of how I operate and what I...