When the Almond Tree Blooms

Photo: A rare Bay Area thundercloud, sour orange tree in my backyard in the foreground. Sometimes, when I become engrossed in a particular work of fiction, I feel as though my reality is somehow merging with the fantasy world being presented on film, paper or television. This has become the case with the HBO television series, The Wire . Recommended to me by a friend and former co-worker, The Wire came highly regarded, a must-watch. And so it has become for me, as I near the end of Season 4. Recently, The Wire concluded its final episode of Season 5; since I don't have HBO, I wasn't able to watch Season 5 as it aired on television. This may have been for the best, since I haven't made it through Season 4, and The Wire is certainly not the show where you can skip seasons or even episodes. I've watched every episode, from Season 1, in order. When I seek entertainment, like many other people, I am often looking for an escape, to leave my reality and enter into...