The Importance of Key West

I am writing this from Key West in Florida because after a year my wife decided I needed to get out of the house and have a vacation. I am at the southernmost point of the United States because of her concern for me. As I write this, I hear roosters crowing outside our hotel window. I don’t know why, but Key West is filled with chickens. Signs along the road say that cars must yield to the chickens. If there is an explanation for this, I haven’t found it, nor will I try. I’ll just assume the rules were made with my best interests at heart. Key West has long been a strategic location for the United States but has grown more valuable in the pandemic: Americans can experience a Caribbean Island without leaving the United States, and thus are able to return home at will. It is also filled with worthwhile sights such as Harry Truman’s summer White House and Ernest Hemingway’s home. I discovered that in 1990, Colin Powell met here with the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia to settle one of their wars. It didn’t work. From my hotel room, I can see what appears to […]