First, in the Saturday Essay, Katie Anderson Howell reflects on a fond and revealing appreciation for the wacky cartoon satire Futurama. The antics of its irreverent protagonists, the time traveling Fry and the one-eyed space captain Leela, loop comfortingly in the background of Howell’s real life. Futurama reassures Howell and provides encouragement in moments of self-doubt.
Then, Liska Jacobs’s romantic camping trip with her husband to California’s Santa Catalina Island serves as the nostalgic focus of the Sunday Essay. Jacobs recalls a passing storm, a “technicolor” sea, and a mysterious Catalina Island fox, “her ears big, a sweet little triangular face.” She summons memories with lyrical precision, which is all the more important when they predate tragedy.
