Open any door of a house along a dead-end street on Santa Barbara's West Side and you'll find lives full of desire, rage, loss, joy, and chaos. This collection tells their stories including The Opera Singer who practices more than her afternoon scales; the boyhood friends who build A Bridge Between Trees that brings tragedy and triumph; The Japanese Wife who struggles to raise a mentally disabled child at a time when they were shunned and labeled; a black couple who try to find A Better Neighborhood; a stressed-out lawyer riding his own personal Midnight Tornado; The Cabinetmaker trying to reach out to a neglected boy; and four young men Driving Without Lights into their uncertain futures. These 17 tales are written from the points of view of the young and old, the moral and questionable, from white-bread Americans and people of color. These are glimpses into lives both compelling and revealing.

Open any door of a house along a dead-end street on Santa Barbara's West Side and you'll find lives full of desire, rage, loss, joy, and chaos. This collection tells their stories including The Opera Singer who practices more than her afternoon scales; the boyhood friends who build A Bridge Between Trees that brings tragedy and triumph; The Japanese Wife who struggles to raise a mentally disabled child at a time when they were shunned and labeled; a black couple who try to find A Better Neighborhood; a stressed-out lawyer riding his own personal Midnight Tornado; The Cabinetmaker trying to reach out to a neglected boy; and four young men Driving Without Lights into their uncertain futures. These 17 tales are written from the points of view of the young and old, the moral and questionable, from white-bread Americans and people of color. These are glimpses into lives both compelling and revealing.