The day after Christmas, in search of medieval ruins and a good hike, Tom and I drove an hour from Le Broc to Chateauneuf, one of many medieval villages scattered across the foothills above the Mediterranean Coast. They’re so numerous that at night their lights look like constellations in a...

            I sensed early on that living in a medieval village for two months in the South of France, writing the second draft of my memoir, would be an initiation. I could feel it beginning long before Tom and I drove to San Francisco, and boarded our flight to Paris. I read Malidoma Some’s...