Ali
Was born with Down's Syndrome. The beloved bright light of her family's world.
Ati
Slam poet, barbeque genius, frequent flyer and possibly the best kisser in California (and that's a lot of people).
Bao
Is one of the last knowledge keepers in the village.
Cai
Happy, well-fed and loved, she works on her flexibility every day, her back arching gracefully until she can grab her ankles with her wrists. By next year she'll be really good – good enough to busk for tourist dollars. Her father has died and her grandmother needs this to work.
Cat
Sends emoji goodnight kisses to a burning-the-midnight-oil co-conspirator.
Dai
Just learned to ride a bike. Loves chocolate cake and recess.
Daw
Somelier recently hired to work at a restaurant with a Michelin star in another country. But now the shutdown. If he's leaving, he needs to make a decision. He's bought the ring. He'll ask him tonight.
Des
She doesn't know it yet, but she's pregnant with her first child. She was hoping for the year of the monkey, but she'll take it.
Eir
Too many girlfriends. Too much dancing. A levels cancelled. Growing out an unfortunate fringe. Seventeen.
Hai
Professional beauty blogger. Suffers crippling social anxiety but has just started a new online treatment. She stands on the balcony, oddly unafraid, for the first time in four years.
Ima
Tomorrow she will talk a woman on the bridge out of committing suicide.
Ion
…is the emergency contact for eleven children.
Jai
Is six months old. But her genes hold the key to a medical breakthrough.
Lon
Medical illustrator. Blood donor.
Mai
Works ten hours a day as a cleaner in a care facility and comes home to her mother, 83. Sleeps in the apartment livingroom, wishing modestly for safety; a basement.
Nox
Has a sister in Amman who needs her.
Oba
Has been in and out of hospital her entire life with lupus and is always looking for a silver lining. Married the emergency room doctor who treated her in Sierra Leone and refers to him jokingly as her reward. Together they work with Doctors Without Borders where she provides logistical support.
Pat
Photonics researcher developing augmented reality surgical visors. Flirts in elevators, mostly just to test skillset.
Rik
Interested in the shape of the universe and dark matter and naming new galaxies. Thirteen years old.
Rui
Is only just starting out.
Sei
Spiritual guide to thousands.
Sol
Her family is searching for her desperately. On the other side of the world, she is finally ready to call her mother and come home.
Ted
Is in grade 5 and has a new best friend. Together they have pledged to devote all future video chats to the development of their mindreading powers and, later, probably telekinesis.
Tim
Personal assistant to a someone busier and more established, but less interesting.
Udo
Influential international advocate of community-based participatory Indigenous research practices.
Viv
Just completed scuba diver training and has purchased a ticket to Akumal Beach. Is thinking of going back to school.
Vuk
Running out of food. Tells her son that they will be enjoying a gourmet open-air pop-up in the jungle with gourmet smallplates instead of announcing dinner on the balcony with the last of the lettuce leaves.
Wid
Tattoo artist with a gifted, steady, slightly electrifying hand and a waiting list into the next calendar year after a New York magazine wrote that the experience was revelatory. And more than a bit sexual.
Yaz
During the day studies financial planning, time and project management and effective teamwork. Spends nights at the hospital with her father, who has ALS and can no longer speak.
Abi
Loves dancing in the rain, especially after dark, holding the hand of her smallest daughter. She is working on her temper, her taxes, and the introduction to Buddhism book she purchased at the airport.
Agu
Bouncer at a popular nightclub. He doesn't know it, but his presence at the door in the near future… his disarming smile as much as his broad shoulders… will stop a mass shooting.
Ami
Never attended primary school and was married at fourteen. Rarely cries anymore. A fine cook, getting better.
Ari
Is on their honeymoon.
Bel
Foster mother to twelve. Two children still in middle school, one a fire starter. School volunteer. Lay minister. Only slightly falling apart. Spends anxious midnight moments deciding whether or not to adopt number thirteen, a child who could change our modern understanding of physics.
Bob
Fell in love five months after she arrived in Thailand in 2012, while on a boat from the mainland to Koh Samui. She has a shark tattoo that she regrets, a law degree and a memory of a single perfect week.
Chu
Researches a sibling cord blood collection program and will, if they live, pioneer the use of cord blood to cure cerebral palsy.
Dee
Lives in the back of a tourist hotel in Siem Riep and is working on a remarkable book of poems, late night, on an old laptop left behind by a family visiting Angor Wat. No, he hasn't deleted the original data. And if he stares too long at the life in those pictures, who would judge.
Dua
Voted internist of the year. Twice.
Ebi
…is eleven years old and has never been kissed. But she has a plan and a photograph in her pocket and a sense that once the kiss happens she will be able to concentrate on math and the next project: bridge building.
Efe
Angel investor based in Nigeria with $27 Million to put into African early stage startups in renewable energy, healthcare, education and agriculture.
Eka
Is a twin. He jokes that he is the “bad twin” and it's not really a joke, because his brother is utterly lovely and this has allowed for considerable Bad Twin freedom, so often a reckless single adventure away from ruin. But no one else speaks that knowing secret language of the womb. Aches wondering about what it would mean to live on, twinless.
Eli
Multilingual with fast fingers and an eye for beauty. Member of the Bahala Na gang. Supporting six.
Eus
Arrived at Heathrow in January without a winter coat and learned a beautiful working English within four months. Enough to say both ‘thank you’ and ‘I want.’
Fai
Never did get to be in a band but plays a mean air guitar. It makes his son laugh. The heart of a large family. Loved.
Fil
Newly divorced and just starting to date when all this happened. Is rather desperate to be good in bed and has managed to find at least three partners in early March who found this charming. Or said they did. Trying to stay positive. Writing a screenplay.
Gad
Apprentice to a mountain man living in remote wilderness. Is learning to trap and skin beaver, trading the meat for blueberry preserves. Is a careful listener because one day it will be up to them to show others.
Gen
Only child. Planning to become a firefighter.
Gry
Gave up smoking fourteen years ago, coughs blood into a handkerchief and tells his brother he has never felt better.
Hie
…is a fabulist with invented ancestry and a lovely laugh who never really went to Julliard…. But he can really play the viola. Really play.
Ian
Winner of the Booker Prize.
Ife
Is sure that if they try harder and stand straighter they will surely be adopted this time. Rehearses virtue in the mirror. Four years in foster care.
Ira
Tuk tuk driver. Works ten hour days and keeps a living map of the city in his head. Enlightened student of human nature.
Iva
Math prodigy, lover of Lorca, friend to squirrels.
Jas
… is the first person to dance at a party.
Jen
Immigrant from Gambia working as a dishwasher in a busy, urban restaurant. Until last month.
Jil
Sings Dangdut perfectly and bravely from the back of a truck in Pondok Labu, Jakarta, so that her family will have money for food.
Jon
Made a furnace out of plaster of Paris and sand after Christmas. Cannot wait to melt down aluminum cans and test their molds.
Jud
First person in the family to attend college.
Kai
Raised Anglican but is now Resident Sadhu at the morning market, studying both the Nyingma Masters and improvised music. Grandchildren on three continents. Self-taught photographer of miracles.
Kei
Is earning a law degree, fulfilling her father's dreams and also some of her own now, her focus shifting from intellectual property to human rights law. Top of her class.
Keo
As a joke, got ‘Gnome of Zurich’ written on his business cards. But when he thinks about it, it's not inaccurate. He has the security that comes with considerable wealth. Soon he will evidence the life-changing generosity that can accompany it, too.
Kim
ESL teacher in Japan. Adventure traveler, zip line enthusiast and beloved mentor to hundreds. Completed a dissertation on Elizabeth Bishop in the 90s, a fact that surprises strangers, but not intimates.
Kol
Amateur geologist and semi-professional poet, though he'd gathered the downpayment for his home with landscaping jobs and was paid almost nothing for the poem that had taken him the better part of two years to write. Keeper of an alphabet of stone.
Lee
Financial analyst in Iran. Favourite colour: orange. Cat person. Introvert. Aquarius. Brave.
Liu
Recently lost her bartending job and now teaches Flamenco dancing and tap online. Is planning a two year round the world trip with her childhood best friend who has just lost her son to cancer and will never, ever, say it might not happen now.
Liz
Is the only teacher at the village school.
Luz
Interpreter. Newlywed. Lover of the hottest vindaloo, live jazz and women who speak with their hands.
Meg
Video game developer inspired by both Bioshock and Catullus. Graduate of Brooklyn Latin high school and lifelong self-taught coder. Khan academy fan. Closeted. Lonely: “Vivamus mea Lesbia, atque amemus…”
Mia
Emerging Ubud artist with a half share in a restaurant that made the best babi guling in the entire world.
Moe
Fastest boy in his class. Curious. Dyslexic. His mother is helping him learn division with the support of chocolate chip cookies and, sometimes, pie.
Nai
Had a recurring nightmare while imprisoned in Bang Kwang that had the counterintuitive effect of giving him the will to live.
Nev
Lost Love Spell Caster.
Nic
Possesses an encyclopedic knowledge of the Khmer Rouge and speaks a dialect lost to time.
Oko
Internationally ranked table tennis player and future bone marrow donor.
Oma
Barrista and animal lover. One day she hopes to open her own coffee place. Or maybe work at a shelter. Or move to the country to foster lots of dogs. She's nineteen: there's time.
Ora
Is the housekeeper, scheduler, lover, drink-pourer, confidante, secret keeper, interlocutor, safety and true partner to a person with an incredibly stressful job responsible for thousands of lives.
Osk
Semi-professional boxer and personal trainer who just purchased the building that houses the gym.
Peg
Ice sculptor and world-class recluse. Spelunker of the remote North. Trusted advisor and guide to countless circumpolar research teams.
Qiu
Transit driver, hockey coach and school board volunteer. Father of three children, surrogate father to many more.
Raj
The only midwife for a hundred miles.
Rao
Adores live music, longhand love letters and making eye contact. Remembers birthdays and what it feels like to be six years old.
Sam
Sheep farmer and dog whisperer. Peripatetic philosopher.
Sia
Petitioning city council to purchase and protect the last great local flyfishing spot and surrounding land.
Sue
Runs a community kitchen with long days organized around a ministry of soup, talking food security and taking newcomers shopping for vegetables they have never seen. These days distributes food to vulnerable clients in isolation.
Tad
Runs a detective agency out of a rear booth at Lucy's Tiger Den, Bangkok. Has rescued nine girls from human traffickers in the unpaid hours.
Taj
Textile researcher working with smart fabrics, so that the clothing of the future will capture energy from the sun and generate it through movement.
Teo
Dream analyst with a thriving online business. Her childhood sweetheart married her only after a promise that dream sharing would be off limits in the relationship. She's decided to interpret this as a vote of confidence in her abilities.
Tor
Ambitious, insecure and just received a promotion at work. Working to place items on the agenda for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
Ulf
Likes his bhaar of tea hot and is king of the adda, the corner where he sits alive with enthusiastic shouting, laughing dissent and soft, searching ideas meeting for the first time. At least that used to be his life. He'll get it back.
Una
Farmer, father of six, future solar energy pioneer
Usi
Makes machines that make other machines. With his hand to the lathe, his heart calms. There is nothing he can't fix and very little he can't imagine. Saving up money for a commercial spaceflight. Happy.
Var
Drummer, hunter, keeper of the stories.
Xan
Administrative assistant. Punctual, organized and diplomatic. Every once in a while she realizes that it's possible she's the only person who understands how this organization works.
Xue
Blackjack dealer in a state-run casino for tourists. Every once in a while they spot a cardcounter and let them keep playing. After five years they know a little bit about how much this casino makes, and how.
Yue
Saved two small sisters from a sniper in Northern Ireland and had their names tattooed on his forearm. More than once at last call has confessed to proximate strangers that he feels the girls' lives are somehow still in his hands.
Yun
Captain of a sailing ship.
Zaw
When he finally saw land he had started to cry and couldn't stop for hours. All things were possible.
Zhi
Sybarite: you name it, she's done it, loved it, held it on her tongue .. or wanted it, or luxuriated in it or ran from it, spent, in the breaking hours of the morning.
Zil
Hir magical superpower is that she can draw anything. Maker of zines, posters, flyers and cherished birthday cards. Indefatigable community organizer.
