A girl from Rexburg, Idaho

She could see now that her cheery disposition had backed her in a corner.

Forced to live in Rexburg, Idaho from the beginning, she'd done all the right things--4h club, volleyball, volunteer work welcoming soldiers back from combat, babysitting.

When she was old enough, she took a job at the new Costa Vida, one of a chain of Mexican restaurants in which the the surf culture was celebrated, with surfboards adorning the walls and videos of famous surf spots and surfers were shown on big screen tv's on a continuous loop. This seemed strange to her, as Rexburg, Idaho is landlocked and most of the boys she knew didn't know how to swim. But she needed the job as her parents were poor, not living in one of the nice homes up near the Mormon Temple but in a much more modest house down in the flats near Albertsons Market.

One day she Wickipedia'd Rexburg and found it described as 'the reddest place in the nation.' The next day a busload of schoolkids were heard chanting "assassinate Obama" the day after he was elected President. And though the mayor apologized,
Rexburg would never be the same for her.

She moved away to go to college and worked on progressive political causes in her spare time, receiving a degree in environmental studies.

Today, she works for the forest service and is stationed in Yellowstone Park where she monitors themal activity in the geyser basin, including the remarkable Grand Prismatic Spring.

She's just discovered the poems of Wallace Stevens, and won't be going home again.