Yesterday, the amazing Exterminating Angel Press Magazine came out with its latest issue, Advice to the Distressed, and I’m proud to have a short story of mine included in it. I wrote this piece, “A Field Trip to the Dark Woods,” this past summer while reflecting on some formative experiences I had in Montana years ago–and, while it’s a work of fiction, the dilemmas it attempts to grapple with are very real. You can read it here.

Despite my excitement about EAP’s new issue, I’ll admit that I wavered about whether to make this post today. Maybe, I thought, I should wait until next week, when what could be the most consequential election of our lifetimes will be over. Could my bit of fiction really have anything to say that would seem important the day before such a pivotal moment in US politics?

On reflecting, though, I realized maybe this is actually the perfect day for this post. After all, it feels like good advice for those in distress has never been more needed. I can’t claim to have any real answers regarding what those of us who care about a livable planet and a functioning democracy should do if tomorrow’s election returns to power an authoritarian president bent on unraveling the environmental and social progress of the last several decades. However, the question of how people of conscious should navigate perilous times has never been more urgent than now.

So, I invite you to take a field trip with me to one of the wildest places in Montana. And, be sure to check out the rest of this issue of EAP, which is one of the most creative publications I know of pushing us to question our assumptions and imagine a better future.