My story “Wild at Heart” won the Judge’s Choice Award in the IDAHO Magazine fiction contest. It’s just a short story and it’s written in three languages. I didn’t figure it would go anywhere, let alone get an award. You’d think that would be cause for celebration, but you’d be wrong.

Americans are hateful and spiteful, and I’m tired of that vitriol being spewed my direction. It’s why I wrote “Wild at Heart.” Authors usually avoid autobiographical characters, but I figured, why not?

Read Wild At Heart here.

So my story, is really an essay that could just as easily be titled, “A Day in the Life of Khaliela.” The only differences being, I work for the Census Bureau, not the Department of the Interior and I want demographic information, not water samples. Unfortunately, the people I meet are the same. I’ve been shot at while working in the field and I get death threats on occasion. The frustrating part of being a federal employee is, you are the target for the nation’s anger. In Idaho, a good many people cannot tolerate anyone who is different from themselves. When that anger is unleashed, it gets directed at me simply because I’m the one standing in front of them at the time.