I like the term “active witness” a lot. I certainly felt myself transform into one. With Failed States, I was in Austin, Texas, coincidentally on my way to the university tower, which in 1967 was the site of the first major school shooting in America. Suddenly guards ran by with their weapons out, and I ran with them and ended up seeing them tackle this man named Fausto Cardenas, 24 years old, who had walked out onto the front steps of the state capitol and shot six bullets into the sky. He was arrested for committing a terrorist act against a government institution.