CULT OF JAMES

Fourth of July overnight. Shorter shift or shorter walks — either way, just over two hours and less than a mile. The fireworks were still going at midnight. Louisville doesn’t stop on the Fourth just because the sun went down. Walked outside and the air smelled like sulfur and cookout smoke. Even in the parking lot you could see them…

Night before the Fourth. NOC doesn’t care about holidays — networks don’t take days off. Almost five hours, mile and a half of wandering. Probably walked through the park more than usual since the building was dead quiet with skeleton crew. Somewhere out in the neighborhoods people were already setting off fireworks early. You could hear them popping in the…

Eight-hour overnight. Almost two miles accumulated across the shift. This was a busy one — I remember the long walks being the ones where something was broken and I needed to think without screens. The NOC had this fluorescent hum that got into your skull after a few hours. Walking outside at 3 AM in the Kentucky summer was the…

Another overnight in the NOC. Four hours, a little over a mile. Quieter night — fewer tickets, fewer calls. Walked the same loop around the building and through the park. Street lights and cicadas. Some nights you walk because there’s a problem to solve. Some nights you walk because sitting in a dark room staring at monitors for eight hours…