Exodus

The English word Exodus comes from the Ancient Greek: ἔξοδος, éxodos, meaning "going out", from ἐξ- (ex, “out”) + ὁδός (hodós, “path, road”).

Westward route out of Sacramento, California. Date long forgotten.

Exodus, 5th century BCE (or earlier): As told in second book of the Torah (included in the Old Testament of the Bible), the Israelites left Egypt and began their long wanderings in search of their homeland.

"The Crossing of the Red Sea". Nicolas Poussin, 1634.

Exodus, 2015 CE: I left California for Indiana, part of a trend of my peers leaving our home state. We found ourselves in Idaho, Oklahoma, Indiana, North Carolina, countries in Latin America and Asia...
I was relieved to be away from the fire and the drought, in a place where it rains.

Leaving Yosemite by way of the Tioga Pass. California, 2015

Lost somewhere in Fortville, Indiana. 2015. 

Exodus, 2019 CE - Part 1: Following 2 years of service in Peace Corps Ukraine, I returned to the US to work at Exodus Refugee Immigration. Our office was filled with people who had trudged miles through jungles, who had jumped out of windows while handcuffed, who in myriad ways had made their respective escapes from war and persecution.

Leaving Cherkasy. Ukraine, 2019.

My work commute to Exodus Refugee Immigration. Indiana, 2019

Exodus, 2019 CE - Part 2: In one day, five Exodus staff members had to make unexpected farewells after being laid off or otherwise deciding to leave following the Trump administration's decision to drastically reduce refugee admissions.
I was one of them.
For us and for the thousands of refugees left waiting in dire circumstances, perhaps this is more accurately called Exile.

Photo with an Exodus coworker. We knew not everybody agreed with our message, but we did not know that my last day would be exactly one month later. Indiana, 2019. 

Exodus, 2020 CE: I have decided to leave Indiana. I am taking the road out; beginning a long and wandering path through the woods of Indiana and Arkansas, through the deserts of the vast American Southwest, bound for my homeland.

California, 2012. I'll be seeing this sign again soon.