TRACES

Every place we pass through leaves a trace.
Every event leaves its mark.
We are the sum of the traces life leaves within us.

Fulvio Kostas

The Desert

God created lands with lakes and rivers so that man might live. He created the desert so that he might find his soul.

— Ancient Tuareg Proverb

“𝑆ℎ𝑒, 𝑡𝑜𝑜, 𝑏𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛, ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑑𝑟𝑖𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑎 𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑒𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑢𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑠.
“𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝐿𝑖𝑏𝑦𝑎,” 𝐼 𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑑. [… …]
𝐴𝑠 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑇𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑔 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑏 𝑠𝑎𝑦𝑠, ‘𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑙𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑠𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑚𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒. 𝐻𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑡 𝑠𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑙.”
𝐼 𝑝𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎 𝑚𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡.
“𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑡’𝑠 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑒. 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡’𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑙𝑦 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑡.”
“𝐼𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑒,” 𝐼 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑒𝑑, “𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑒𝑎 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡. 𝐷𝑢𝑛𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑚 𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑦𝑒𝑡 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑓𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑒𝑑𝑔𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑠 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑝 𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑏𝑙𝑎𝑑𝑒, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑏𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑘, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑠𝑢𝑛𝑙𝑖𝑡 𝑠𝑙𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑠 𝑔𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑘 𝑟𝑒𝑑, ℎ𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑦 𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑐ℎ𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤. 𝑆𝑜𝑓𝑡 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑒𝑠, 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑦, 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑎𝑟𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑦𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑙 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑑𝑜 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚.”
𝐵𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒, ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑒𝑦𝑒𝑠 𝑓𝑖𝑥𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑛.
“𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠,” 𝐼 𝑤𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑛, “𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑠, 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑎𝑧𝑒 𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑧𝑜𝑛, 𝑎 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑎𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠. 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑙𝑦, 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑑, 𝑠𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟𝑠, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑛𝑒𝑐𝑘𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑠 𝑙𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑛 — 𝑝𝑒𝑟ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑡 — 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑙 𝑑𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑤𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑤𝑟𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑏𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑛𝑑.”
𝐴𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑎 𝑚𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑:
“𝐼 𝑤𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑡’𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑎𝑡 𝑛𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡… 𝐼𝑡 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔.”

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The Forests of Canada

The Calm Before the Storm

“𝐼 𝑓𝑒𝑙𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑓𝑢𝑟 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑟, 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑆𝑎𝑠𝑘𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑤𝑎𝑛 𝑜𝑟 𝐴𝑙𝑏𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑎, 𝑝𝑎𝑑𝑑𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑙𝑦 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑎 𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑑 𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑒, ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑙𝑡𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑠ℎ𝑙𝑦 𝑏𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐼𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑠. 𝐻𝑖𝑠 𝑒𝑦𝑒𝑠 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑙𝑒𝑓𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑏𝑎𝑛𝑘𝑠, 𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟, 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑜𝑑𝑔𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑤𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑜𝑛 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑖𝑓 ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑑, 𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑖𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑜. 𝐻𝑒 𝑐𝑙𝑢𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑 𝑡𝑜𝑜 𝑓𝑖𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑏𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑡; 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑠𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟. 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑜 ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑦𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑖𝑑𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚, 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑠 ℎ𝑒 𝑘𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑎𝑝𝑖𝑑𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑟. 𝐵𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑝𝑙𝑢𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑎 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑎𝑙𝑙, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑠𝑒: 𝑐𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑙𝑡𝑠 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑏𝑜𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑎𝑣𝑒 ℎ𝑖𝑚𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓, 𝑜𝑟 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑝. 𝑌𝑒𝑡, 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡, ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟’𝑠 𝑠𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑒𝑒𝑝𝑙𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑝, 𝑜𝑥𝑦𝑔𝑒𝑛-𝑟𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑎𝑖𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑝𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑏𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒. 𝐻𝑒 𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑘 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑦 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑖𝑚, 𝑙𝑒𝑡 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑟𝑖𝑓𝑡 ℎ𝑖𝑔ℎ 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑡𝑜𝑝𝑠, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑏𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑚𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓 𝑡𝑜 𝑎 𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡, 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑒, 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑒 ℎ𝑖𝑚 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑦.”

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The Collapse of Lehman Brothers

The Largest Corporate Bankruptcy in History
(and Its Profound Impact on Italy)