What do you tell someone who’s seven months pregnant and just lost her husband to a brain hemorrhage?“BE STRONG.” Immediately I feel stupid. Who am I to tell her to be strong? I’m not family. I don’t even classify as a friend.I’m sitting next to her in a crowded room. The walls are in much need of a fresh coat of paint.

Living in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, Alice Banfield spent her time stori-ing with her adopted family, running post-conflict human rights workshops, and trying not to get rained on throughout the night.MOST DAYS I WAKE around six, and today is no different. It’s already light, but the sun is still low enough behind the coconut trees outside my room that I don’t have to face its full intensity for a little while yet.

I hate driving. I always have. I don’t like sitting behind the wheel. I don’t care about going fast. I much prefer walking, biking, skipping, hopping and even crawling to getting in a car behind the wheel. I’ve been this way as long as I can remember, too.When we first moved to Salta, we lived in town, so it was possible to get around without a car.

BUFFALO PARK TRAIL curves in a figure-8 through a meadow below the San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff, Arizona. In a wet May, spring peepers sing from a little ephemeral wetland. In a generous monsoon summer, Evening Primrose and Sego Lilies lie in the deep grass like fallen stars. In October, grasses have gone gold and silver; evening is the heart of a tourmaline.

Alana Seldon gets her wish to see a close friend one more time.I WAKE UP ALONE. But the lingering heat of the four people who slept in the other bunks still haunts the hostel room; the ripe scent of last night’s rum, sweat, and morning breath hangs in the air. The side of my face is sticking to the bright new tattoo on the inside of my left bicep.

Chris Bryan captures rare images of the world’s heaviest wave at 1000 frames per second.JUST CLICK above and watch in full screen. This was from this past August’s Billabong Pro, during the waiting period.Video grab from Phantom Gold HD can deconstruct movement and wave action, slowing it down, which ironically lets you appreciate the speed and power even more.