I never expected Garland, Texas to be the place where my career—and my sense of self—would fracture. I had covered tense protests, courtrooms buzzing with verdicts, and the aftermaths of natural disasters, but never war. I had witnessed anger, grief, and resilience, but never the raw terror that would find me on May 3, 2015. The event at the Curtis Culwell Center had just wrapped up, and the cartoonist had accepted his award when gunfire cracked through the air and changed everything.