“It’s been a poignant, thought-provoking journey, punctuated by two monuments: one to a way of life; one to life extinguished; and both inextricably bound to the mountain.” In this longread, George Kitching guides us over the Coniston mountains in the English Lake District, diving into the history and culture of the area.

A mom reflects on preparing her 12-year-old sons to fly alone, to grandma’s house in today’s America: “I thought we would at least get to girls before we got to guns. But this has been an extraordinary year, full of violence and bigotry.”

Allison K. Williams ruminates on the fear of failing: “Publication or not getting hurt feelings. What do you love more?”

Christine, who was diagnosed with a desmoid tumor in 2012, responds to unsolicited advice: “I’m telling you my hands hurt. I’m telling you I can’t perform a simple task, a task that a child does all day long. I’m telling you I can’t express myself. My creative outlet is gone. . . . Hear that.”

“Vietnamese food must always have balance. There is bitterness, there is sourness, there is the pain from heat, but there is also sweet. This is the goal of Vietnamese food: to have all the emotions of life in one bite.” Antonio Perez describes his culinary adventures in Vietnam with vivid, sensory details.

“Can anyone have this moment? Or is poetry only for some people — the smartest, the richest, the something-est?” At Nerdy Book Club, K-8 librarian Sarah FitzHenry recounts a school event with poet Kwame Alexander in which students discover the power of poetry.

“I’ve discovered that a city, while you’re vacationing there, behaves similar to a person on a really good first date.” Los Angeles writer Ze Luiz at StripSearchLA describes his first visit to Seattle, Washington.

From Michael W. Twitty: “Your show concept is cool until we begin to think of all the other alt-history moments that would be equally provocative but seem unimaginable because of our addictive, national obsession with structurally racist ideas.”

“My mind was spinning. Love with a Chance of Drowning was due to publish in three months time but the love itself was drowning.” Torre DeRoche had to promote her memoir at the same time she and her partner had split. At The Fearful Adventurer, she explains what happens.

“It was only in getting back into baseball cards that I realized that there were a couple of years in the late 1980s when my classmates had accurately identified a mixed-race adult for me to look like.” Nick Vossbrink at njwv writes about dealing with the “what are you?” question while growing up.