To Shake the Sleeping Self: A Journey from Oregon to Patagonia, and a Quest for a Life with No Regret

by Jedidiah Jenkins

“It’s just the truth. The U.S. runs the world through coercion, through fake news stories, through control. Everyone knows this that’s outside of the U.S. They keep Americans arguing over guns and black people so they won’t look outside the country and see that the U.S. is an empire.”

For me, only mountains and canyons have this effect on me. The ocean, much bigger than any mountain, lies flat to the horizon. The flatness doesn’t have the same effect on me. But seeing a mountain, I am frightened by the giant standing over me, looking down at me with indifference or maybe love.