Part 1

Sometimes I just sit and ride the subway for hours, staring out the fogged plexiglass windows. I watch as the sky darkens from a light baby blue to a metallic orange, and finally a blackish purple. I always choose the seventh seat in the seventh car, because seven is my favorite number. This seat also gives me the best view.

From my seat, I see the most beautiful skylines of Washington D.C., and comfortably visit the most dangerous neighborhoods. Benning road is one of the first stops from New Carrolton, and as we begin to slow to the platform, I can almost imagine the beauty this area had once seen. Now, it is a dump, the crack heads hideaway, and the broken down driver's nightmare.

Today, we quickly pass through the station, because there was an active shooter in the area. Charging through the town, all I could hear were the blaring sirens of police cars, ambulances, and fire trucks.

The next stop is in the tunnel, a long passageway of concrete and flashing lights. With each stop, the passengers grow, filling the vehicle to the brim, but almost in an instant, they are gone. Now, the only riders are a young teenage boy, an army officer, the conductor, and myself. We are headed to Vienna, where I will wait for the next train back. In the meanwhile sleep is my only comfort.

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Part 2


People say beauty is only in the eye of the beholder, and while this may be true, I have seemed to experience otherwise. Living and working in Afghanistan has shown me the wonders of true beauty, which cannot be interpreted.

Life in the snow capped mountains of the northern region was a fight for survival and, at the same time, a surreal dream. Through our translator, we talked to locals, and discovered they believed the same.

Nothing could have seemed more perfect the day I arrived. However, the more we withdrew into those mountains, the more aware I was of the looming danger. We were not afraid of avalanches or rock slides, but rather of our mission: to find and kill a prominent Taliban leader.

Months of blood and bullets seemed like years to me, and now I no longer see those mountains in the same light. I used to envision picnics and snowshoes, but today I replay scenes from battle again and again.

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Part 3

<I hate prom> #prom
<Prom is so stupid> #prom
<Should I ask her> #feeling nervous
<Life is complicated> #conflicted
<I'm a idiot> #dumb
<I'm gonna ask her> #psyched
<Who am I kidding> #what to say
<She what> #shocked
<uhhhh> #disappointment
<There's always next year> #NEGU


*twitter feed of a teenage boy

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Part 4

You think the world is all fun and games
Until you met the demon we all call sane
Who lurks in the shadows
And waits in the rain

Life is like the brick lane
Smack in the middle
Of the city in which dream
However in reality
The story is a never ending tragedy

And in denial
We sit and we Gawk
At those who have
Danced
Tick tock tick tock

But we never really know
How deep we are
Until all that is left
Is our shirts and our vests
Our badge that says slave
As if to test
How much we gave
To be the best

So, next time you laugh
At someone like me
Just remember you're
Laughing at the killer in
Your dreams

*excerpt of conductors book

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Part 5

"Four passenger, including the conductor, were killed today in a train collision on the metro. At this point, we believe the conductor was reading during the moments leading up to the accident. The three passengers, killed on impact, were all seated in the seventh car."

*last nights newscast