Monet Patrice Thomas

If Auster comes too soon then nothing shall be left in the fields for us to harvest. Does that mean we shouldn’t till the land and plant the seeds? Plant nothing and our love will starve. Remember: we know the history of this place,  how some years the south wind didn’t come until after we had pulled everything of value from the fields. Other years he swept in so early that our crops were still sheltered in the ground. And then there were the years of total loss. Nevermind.

I’d been to Thailand’s Grand Palace before—back in 2020 when Covid was just hitting Wuhan—with another American tourist. We’d met on a food tour and when it had ended, the guide told us that the palace was just around the corner. We both wanted to go, so we went. This is the best part of traveling, to me: connecting with strangers in a new place and having unique experiences together.

Meet Our New Rumpus Interviews Team! After three years of wonderful work, our phenomenal interviews editor Monet Patrice Thomas will be stepping away to focus on other projects. Also stepping away will be assistant interviews editors Janet Frishberg and A. Malone. To say this team has been an asset to the magazine is an understatement, and they’ll be greatly missed.