I’d Like To Get Lost, Too

“Vanish: Finding Evan Ratliff”, Wired

Like I told my friend Esther when I just found this article – weirdly, forwarded to me by my dad, I dunno what he’s trying to say there, but Dad does forward me some really good articles – “OH MY GOD!!! I AM SO INTO THAT SHIT.”

Ineloquent, but apt.

Not only do I think about stuff like that pretty much at least twice a week, and for sure every time I go out, but I had a conversation with Erin about just this very thing less than a year ago. We were at Menkui Tei. I said, “Sometimes I think about what I’d do if I were a fugitive.”

Erin said, “Oh yeah, me too.” (Or something along those lines.)

The set-up we discussed was one where we, the innocent, found ourself embroiled in a conspiracy that meant we had to flee for our lives, immediately, with no warning. We talked about ditching cell phones. We concluded we definitely needed to stop by some kind of hardware store. We spent over an hour discussing how to get enough money to go on the run. Our debate on how we’d go about getting transportation took us from lunch into our next journalism class. We decided we would ideally be able to carjack some kind of SUV, with tinted windows, and that we definitely need to change license plates (hence screwdriver, hence hardware store). Our plan was yes, largely based off books/movies, though I’d like to think that common sense would carry us through what movies gloss over/exaggerate/make up.

Anyway, the article is about Wired writer Evan Ratliff’s amazing experience on the run. It was more hide and seek than completely disappearing, but then again, hide and seek has always been the scenario I’ve imagined.

I’m bummed that I found this Wired series after it’s already wrapped up, ’cause it would’ve been great to follow it as it unfolded. Glad I found it in the end. Thanks, Dad.

Read it here: Writer Evan Ratliff Tried to Vanish: Here’s What Happened