Weather drives our days: where to go, how to get there, what to take. It launches our conversations with observations of the blistering temperature, drenching moisture, or evolving sky. Our dialogue, one with the weather, is filled with descriptions of “cold hearts,” “bright futures,” and “fogged memories.” For most, the struggle to grasp their curious relationship with weather has pushed it to the side; for me, however, weather is in the foreground, background, betwixt, and between. It has become a...

Fifty years ago, it was my grandparents' home. Eighty years ago, it was my great-grandparents' home. Today, it is a war zone. In Syria, ancient ruins once presided atop a sea of orange clay and brown dirt, yet today, modern ruins tarnish the landscape, blackened with ash and artillery shells. From the images of lifeless children in streets to the anguish of my family both here and in Syria, the current diplomatic and humanitarian crisis has become an inseparable part...