Excerpt:

Our house in the Mission had a secret—an illegal basement, a rarified space underground with a window that peeked onto Lexington between the magnolia leaves in our front yard.

I knew now that this was my path forward—out of the spotlight, and instead seeking clandestine spaces like this from which to watch the tangled war of highs and lows, saviors and predators, while feeling my way to the right side of truth.