(slightly off topic but what the heck) use this Telegraph article to familiarize yourself with Hamilton (the musical and, by extension, one of the founders who got this whole shebang rolling).
Because democracy didn’t just miraculously happen and, sadly, is not guaranteed.
Because we all deserve healthcare. Check out HealthCare.gov for more information on 2017 open enrollment. Even better, eight out of ten people who enroll through HC.gov get financial help!
The Affordable Care Act protects people with pre-existing conditions, covers adult children on their parents’ plans until age 26, provides access to preventative care coverage, and more. It covers aging joints and catastrophic illness if you’re older, and if you’re young and healthy and devil-may-care, well… Obamacare would also cover you if you’re just riding your motorcycle down the street and get T-boned by a car. Just saying:p
Writing is hard, almost all of the time. It’s been said before, but imagining a new world, reducing it to marks on a page, and sending it out to be reconstituted by another person is a lot like a magic spell. (Or mind control. Or sea monkeys, but hopefully more realistic;) It takes concentration, and focus, and clarity.
All of those things seem to be in somewhat short supply these days. There’s a lot going on in this world. And I fear that I have been neglecting you, fair readers.
So here’s what I’m planning to do: post more. No crazy promises I’m sure to break, like a post every 23 hours and 59 minutes, because let’s get real. I’m aiming for success, not self-recrimination:) And if a photo or quote is what I’ve got for the day, fine. With luck, it will cheer, inspire, amaze, or similarly affect you as it has me.
Because when it comes right down to it, isn’t that what it’s all about?
Slate has invited ten writers to envision the possibilities of a Trump future. As Ben H. Winters, author and the editor of this series explains, “fiction has a special power to clarify, galvanize, prophesy, and warn.” Writers include Héctor Tobar, Ben H. Winters, Nisi Shawl, Saladin Ahmed, Lauren Beukes, Jeff VanderMeer, Kashana Cauley, J. Robert Lennon, Edan Lepucki, and Elizabeth Bear.
Because as the motto says, it’s best to be prepared.
It occurs to me that one of the things we really need now is storytelling. With a Republican-dominated government in the U.S., dissenters won’t have as many direct political options to make change via laws. That leaves hearts and minds.
And what’s best for changing hearts and minds? A compelling story.
•
As I see it, an important part of our job right now as writers isn’t to bombard with facts and figures (or not only, of course there’s a place for that). Fiction writers have a special place in society. We imagine other futures, other paths, other worlds. We bring those experiences, those feelings*, to readers.
Our challenge is to inspire, to engage, to help others envision a better world. With a nod to Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, to make them long for a kinder, more hopeful, and more just sea.
– – – – –
* And as Ian Warren argues, at least part of what has happened with Brexit and the U.S. election seems to be that “what data and polling often misses, is how people think and feel” and that “the communication of effective emotional messages is currently beating data alone.”
My goal for today was to write an inspiring piece about the democratic process and the powerful privilege U.S. citizens have to, in the face of most of human history, be governed by the people, for the people.
No, it’s not perfect (“more perfect union” remember?:). And I’m so ready for this election to be over. I spend a significant amount of my day-job online, and the onslaught of election-related crazy takes a toll. It’s also cutting into my writing time (and I’m not the only one).
So, no deep-think piece about the historical moment in which we find ourselves, or my hope that we the people will remember that the tides of change can move backward as well as forward.
Just freaking vote.
•
We don’t have to agree on specific candidates or issues to share the belief that democracy is a good and precious thing. Voting is always, always, always important, and not just at the executive level.
Or perhaps you need more inspiration, possibly in the form of humor and high-profile actors? (In the midst of this nutzo election? Yes, please!)
Check out this new video by Joss Whedon’s Save the Day get-out-the-vote campaign. Their latest short stars Chris Pine as Congress, you know, If Congress Was Your Co-Worker.
Enjoy, and for the next week remember the best advice ever given to any hitchhiker from Planet Earth:
Don’t Panic!
You must be logged in to post a comment.