"You can feel the death here," said my roommate of a few days, as we passed each other at the Nova Festival site, after each exploring it on our own for about fifteen minutes. A casual remark said without any emotion, on a beautiful sunny day at around 5pm - the time of day where you have to be careful which side you take a picture from, as one way will face the shining sun as it gets ready to set, and the other will give your shot exquisite lighting.

To imagine mastering a practice with such grace, that you could be stolen by a terrorist group and manage to not just sustain your own light but spread it - teach it - bringing light into the darkest tunnels of horror - that is nothing short of holy work.

It must take a minute to digest that he is home – that after 16 months of horror and agony – that her father came back to her family alive.

"I have always depended on the kindness of strangers," wrote Tennessee Williams for his classic play "A Streetcar Named Desire," for the...