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Inside the October Issue of Southwest: The Magazine

JayHeinrichs
Adventurer B

The cover story this month is kind of unusual. For one thing, the “typography” was made by drawing on the fog of a window. For another thing, it’s about a word that didn’t exist until recently: transfarency.  It’s when an airline is clear about the prices it charges. When you buy a ticket, you don’t have to worry about extra fees for baggage or changing flights. We reported the story in Los Angeles, where Southwest Pilot Lauren Buttrick was shooting a commercial with a macaw in a botanical garden. Also shooting a commercial for Southwest: Taysha Arroyo, a 14-year-old with Hodgkin lymphoma. She told the Make-A-Wish Foundation that she wanted to be a star, so Southwest flew her from Rochester, New York, to Los Angeles with her mother and sister. Look for Taysha on a Segway in the spot. Does the heart good. Speaking of which, our senior editor, JK Nickell, wrote an amazingly moving story about heartbeats, the original human rhythm. Music therapist Brian Schreck, who works at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, records the heartbeats of his patients and incorporates them into original songs, so the parents can hear the sound forever. JK’s story journeys from hospitals to outer space. A must-read. Finally, Brad Herzog, our go-to guy on the quirky and unexpected, wrote a piece on luck. He’s had his share of it. As a contestant on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, he got to mention his book, States of Mind, “a literal and figurative journey through tiny hamlets like Pride (Alabama), Wisdom (Montana), and Joy (Illinois).” One off-hand remark to Regis Philbin briefly turned it into the best-selling book online after Harry Potter. So, can you make yourself lucky? Very possibly, says Brad.  Happy reading!