He saw things he recognized but his brain, befuddled with chemicals released by fear, couldn't locate the words to describe them: the twin stacks spewing plumes of dirty white smoke, the abandoned custom's station with a faded red star painted above the door, the line of white-washed bee hives on a slope near a copse of stunted apple trees.

NPR: Excerpt: 'Legends'

He's the first boy to win the bee since 2008, and the first champion from the Big Apple since Rebecca Sealfon in 1997.

WSJ: 'German curse' no more for NYC Spelling Bee champ

Now like a good modern worker bee, I left fully prepared with my SIM card and the entire suite of Apple devices in tow.

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