Field Notes

I never got the chance to know my great-grandmother, but my mom and dad tell me I was at her funeral when I was just four years old. To her friends, husband, children, and grandchildren, Helen was just a middle-class white woman from Oklahoma. Sure, she never talked about her childhood and had never returned to her home state, but that wasn’t too strange, right? Wrong. The scope of Helen’s story widened the second my parents found discrepancies in the Oklahoma and California censuses, nearly a decade after Helen’s death. What seemed like a clerical fluke quickly became an intriguing narrative that had been lost to time. As my parents dug deeper and deeper into my great-grandmother’s past, they found more pieces of Helen’s story that unveiled who she was.

During an extended stay in the small town of Pendleton, Oregon, I learned that tourists and travelers were being drawn to this town for reasons more than originally met the eye. Though Pendleton has historically been known for its famous Round-Up (hosted every September for rodeo enthusiasts across the world), there was and is something more beneath the surface—literally. There is some speculation about the truthfulness of events about the town beneath the town, but once you take a closer look, it is clear that some stories about the underground dens and galleries below Pendleton are warranted.

As you venture through Slovenia’s highest pass, the Julian Alps surround you in a stunning panorama. The drive is just 15 miles (24 km) long, but it has a dangerous twist: The steep, skinny, and twisting pass has 50 hairpin turns that guarantee a breathtaking drive in more than one way. However, you’ll find that the historical attractions, mountain lodges, and natural wonders along the way make Vršič Pass well worth the hair-raising ride.

Slavery. When you hear that term, Roman conquests or the American Civil War might come to mind. The sad truth is that slavery is still very much alive today in the form of human trafficking. According to the US Department of Justice, human trafficking “is a crime that involves compelling or coercing a person to provide labor or services, or to engage in commercial sex acts.” Both victims and perpetrators of human trafficking wear many faces and are not exclusive to specific genders. Anyone can be a victim. Anyone can be a perpetrator. This horrific practice is a global issue, but the Nepali–India border is notorious for it. One organization’s fight against human trafficking in Nepal is providing hope for the future.