Streets of Fire

For centuries - hundreds of years, even - waves have lived under the tyrannical rule of the Moon and the Sun, and whatever each of those celestial bodies do to create tides. That’s really all that the majority of people, including me, know about the rise and fall of sea levels: the Moon, the Sun, and orbit. Try dropping words like “semidiurnal” or “bathymetry” into conversation and you’ll lose people pretty fast. So we have to keep it simple, in terms those of us that shop at Target will understand. “Dad, how do waves work?” a child asks his father. “The Moon, son,” the man in his early 40s says says. “It orbits around the Earth. The Sun, too. It also makes waves.” Makes sense to the kid, who goes running into waters where there is a chance, however slight, that he could be mutilated or violently killed by an underwater predator. The father is left satisfied, having earned the respect of his child without understanding the intricacies of the ocean tides. And that’s worth more than earning a degree in oceanography or whatever.

Last day of vacation.