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Six seasons came before any of this. Durango Helitack. The Ukonom Hotshots, out of Six Rivers. A sawyer, cutting line, often the only Asian man in the crew photograph.

plate III

I do not lead with it. It is not a headline and it was never a brand. But it is under everything: the pace, the plainness, the refusal to grade myself on effort. The fire taught me what finished looks like. Everything since has been an attempt to build things that are finished in the same way.