A journey through the heart of despair to find what’s on the other side.
Lauren Markham
Lauren Markham is the author of A Map of Future Ruins: On Borders and Belonging, The Far Away Brothers: Two Young Migrants, The Making of an American Life, and Immemorial. She lives in Northern California, where she also works at the intersection of education and immigration. Follow her on X @LaurenMarkham_ and Instagram @laurenemarkham.
Posted inSeptember 3, 2012: Identity Politics, Montana Style
In rural California, a Liberian family finds an agricultural refuge
On a historic 50-acre ranch in Northern California, Cynnomih Tarlesson and her nine children drop watermelon seeds into the ground. Behind them, her father, Roosevelt, uses a tractor to churn up the dirt for tomatoes, zucchini and eggplant — along with some lesser-known crops, like the Tarlesson-named ‘Billy Goat Pepper,’ from the family’s native West […]