Still, I fear this part of me, the small but undeniable pull of disaster. It's something we all must have inside us.
-- Elisa Gabbert (Magnificent Desolation)

Importance: Throughout "Magnificent Desolation," Gabbert explores the ways in which humans historically have responded to catastrophic events. Using her experience watching a simulation of the sinking of the Titanic as a throughway into her conversation, Gabbert wonders why observing such events is addictive and obsessive. In the above lines from the essay's final paragraph, Gabbert holds that such distorted responses to disaster may be innate to human nature. Adopting her usual confessional tone, she admits her own draw to disaster. At the same time, she questions this penchant, while also relating it to a more wide scale cultural commentary.

Nothing is safe. Everything's fine.
-- Elisa Gabbert (Doomsday Pattern)

Importance: In "Doomsday Pattern," Gabbert expands her explorations regarding disaster by studying the Manhattan Project and the ways in which the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki...