American Butterfly Stories
Lausanne Wayles Trenton was the matriarch of the family and the glue holding us all together. She moderated the war among her children. She bridged the generations.
“‘The arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice,’ [MLK] if there is a steadfast commitment to see the task through to completion.” — RBG
I propose a simple thing that will help us see the humanity in one another... to begin a conversation with estranged family and neighbors: Listen – Hear – Tell… the #ListenAmericaChallenge
The world reacted angrily to Joseph Epstein's WSJ op-ed chiding Jill Biden. But it was his editor’s piece, “The Biden Team Strikes Back,” that particularly caught my attention. Together, the two say a lot about our divided America.
Covid-19 remains a sneaky disease. It attacks individuals. It also attacks modern medical systems. In America's case, Covid-19 has further ruptured the social tendons that help hold us together...
We Americans are living in different realities. Our senses--what we hear from our friends, in our towns, from our Facebook or Twitter feeds, from our news sources--are telling us things that are true and untrue. Almost always they distort the bigger story. Sometimes intentionally. Sometimes because things move so fast that we have to keep stories extremely digestible in our post-truth, social media, reality-TV world.
The story of American Butterfly is triggered by a murder, in broad daylight, for no obvious reason. It is not likely to influence Americans to vote for one political party or the other. However, its pages might change the ways we live with one another…after the votes are tallied.
The further Americans push the pendulum to their side, the further it will eventually swing back to the other side. Like today's weather, our swings are more violent than ever.
Americans have become fond of saying that much of our news is fake. By the standard of simple bias, it may all be. Practically, we are all responsible for crafting a healthy diet of information for ourselves and our families.