BONNER SPRINGS, Kan. — This is Tom Swayne’s 26th and final year competing at the International Lineman’s Rodeo. He and hundreds of other linemen, who install and maintain power lines across the ...

The word liminal comes from the Latin limen, meaning “threshold”—and that’s exactly what these places are. Empty hallways, quiet airports, abandoned malls, long stretches of road at dusk: spaces ...