Let the Readers Feel the Fight

The Sedona Room is my writing oasis. An artist hand painted a sunrise over Cathedral Rock across the walls and ceiling, wrapping the room in warm desert hues, reds and oranges and blues stretching overhead while I sit with my feet kicked up on the couch, air conditioning humming, trying to make sense of fifteen … Read more

Into the Storm: Surviving Hurricane Bertha on the USS Cole

Matt Cavallo and Anthony Lowe on the deck of the USS Cole.

The photo is Anthony and I aboard the USS Cole circa 1996. The USS Cole cut through the churning Atlantic, slicing past the Frying Pan Shoals buoy near Cape Fear, North Carolina. The mission was clear but shrouded in uncertainty, missing weekend boaters, lost somewhere in the chaos of Hurricane Bertha. The crew didn’t know … Read more