Let me recount this short tale—a thin slice from my recent life—exactly as it happened. On a warm afternoon earlier this month, outside an old inn that overlooks an east-coast estuary and that was once owned by a prolific persecutor of witches, I met a recent immigrant to the British Isles. It was immediately obvious that she was nervous in the presence of a new … Continue reading A knowledge for thirst: Water, empathy, and kinship