Table of Contents
Introduction Kevin Allison xiii
Bad Samaritans
With Great Beauty A. J. Jacobs 3
The Gift Michele Carlo 12
The Riverside Jan Scott-Frazier 18
Morning Shifts at the Horseshoe Hanna Brooks Olsen 26
Long Way Home Jesse Thorn 35
Dressing the Wound Jim Padar 42
Bitter Pills
The Power Tori 53
Chasing the Sunset Tom Coleman 62
Heart and Hands Tracey Segarra 72
It's All Happening at the Zoo Kitty Hailey 83
Man Up Max 91
Uncle Louie Roy Lazorwitz 100
Trauma and Transcendence
Always a Woman by Morgan 111
The Duel Lili Taylor 120
Redemption Pollo Corral 124
Another Saturday Night Ts Madison 137
Surrender by Marcy Langlois 147
Dylan Kyle Gest 157
A Bridge Too Far
Outside the Comfort Zone Christopher Ryan 171
The Stranger Dan Savage 182
Judgment Day JJ 191
Ham and Samurai Kevin Allison 198
An American Family Nimisha Ladva 206
Slave Mollena Williams-Haas 214
The Ring of Fire Michael Ian Black 230
In Plain Sight
High Fidelity Jonah Ray 239
Every Day Is Halloween David Crabb 245
The Downward Spiral JC Cassis 254
Like Mother, Like Me Ames Beckerman 278
In the Shadows Moloch Masters 285
Asking and Telling Walter Zimmerman 292
Making the Best of It
OMG Aisha Tyler 303
Unbreakable Melanie Hamlett 312
Hookers 'n' Blow Marc Maron 331
Doing Good Chad Duncan 336
Who Talks Like That? Paul F. Tompkins 346
Comfortable in the Water Ray Christian 351
Afterword 359
Acknowledgments 361
About the Editor 366
Contributor Bios 367
Permissions 378
