A Church is Burning
Tomorrow, millions of Americans will cast votes that will determine if we are to carry on living in our poverty of true and decent leadership. They will join millions of their fellow citizens who have already done so in defiance of plague and often of their own government, deciding if we are to live in a world where military strength is matched by moral restraint, wealth with wisdom, power with purpose. May your vote be an act of shedding the illusions and naïveté that once held us back. Of reclaiming the innocence, imagination, faith, generosity, pride, and friends we have lost. The future is now, and it’s time to take a stand so that the lost bells of freedom can ring out in our land. You can burn down my churches, but I shall be free.
America was supposed to be about content of character, not birthright
I was heartened by 4th of July well wishes from two of my fellow Americans. One is Russian. The other is Irish. Both are now also American—yes, both are celebrating their first Independence Day as American citizens. I was grateful for their reminders of hope in dark times. They’ve also inspired me to share nearly the entirety of Chapter Five of Field Blends (below) in which the core group of characters find themselves out in Virginia’s wine country debating the essence of what it means to be American 🇺🇸