I once asked my writing class, which was attached to a course in communication, to identify themselves as Republican, Democrat, or Independent, group up, then write a description of their party—the values that united them. Then I asked them to write a description of what the other groups believed. When they were finished, they […]
If you grew up with Walt Kelly’s comic strip, Pogo, you know the image above became the icon of the age. Americans acknowledging the mess they’d made of the world. This is part of a strip published on Earth Day, 1971. Today we need another such image of the mess we’re making of our democracy. […]
One of the frustrating aspects of the current polarization is that it freezes everyone in place and eliminates the journey through multiple groups and identities that we call life. For a writer, that is a deep freeze, for stories lie in the journey, in crossing the boundaries out of the world where you were […]
To deal with conflicting cultures is to be American. If you’ve grown up and passed through adulthood without dealing with religious, national, racial, or social class conflict, you are probably unusual. I grew up– in an Ivory Tower community attended elementary school with children primarily from Appalachia in a city know as a great cultural […]
In END OF THE RACE, the polarization caused by the Vietnam War is almost fifty years old; the racial split is, of course much older, but Ezra Klein, in WHY WE’RE POLARIZED, sees a radical shift in political attitudes caused by the Civil Rights movement in the Sixties. Living through those times in a college […]
In the last post, I talked about how fiction transforms my conflicts and struggles into story, and that is probably why I’ve found my home in contemporary fiction. However, occasionally non-fiction strikes home, too, and Ezra Klein’s, WHY WE’RE POLARIZED, examines an issue I’ve struggled with all my adult life. The culture conflict that divides […]
If you’re wondering why vote, you don’t understand what’s going on in this country. If you’re sick of politicians and consider them a bunch of crooks, your negative judgment is contributing to a problem that is consuming the democracy you take for granted. Democracies die of apathy and cynicism. Wake up and look at […]
Are we all so caught up in mobocracy we can’t change course? Is hatred really so much fun?
I’ve always been fascinated by America, the American experiment, the American experience. In college, I found my place in the sociology, anthropology, political science and literature of the American people, their values and ideals. My novels are born of the culture of merging, conflicting cultures we, as Americans, were born into and from my conviction […]
Judith Kirscht lives and works in the beautiful Puget Sound area. She is the author of four published works of fiction with more to come soon!
