“The Arab Spring actually began in autumn in a small camp in Western Sahara,” says Salka Barca. Barca doesn’t note that this fact is known by too few, but it is implied in a facial expression that is equal parts pride and exasperation.    

The good girl in the Tom Petty song loves her mama, Jesus, America, horses and her boyfriend, too. Petty doesn’t specify if the order is a ranked one, but does equate them all to something centrally pure, something uniquely American. The horse is not on the list by accident.   

Gas money. That’s why Tina Karle and her husband scrap. They both work, he as a maintenance man, she as a writer of hiking guides, but scrapping is something they do to fill their tanks and make their paychecks stretch.