
With all the recent political coverage, what comes immediately to mind for me is How Can People Think That Way??!! There will be some differences in densely-populated areas vs. rural, or regarding national decisions that affect a small area. There seems to be more to it than that, though, and this article made some sense of that. Within the discussion was the map of eleven American Nations, regional cultures in North America. American Nations is also a book by Colin Woodard, one that I just ordered to learn more about it. Another work cited is Albion’s Seed by David Hackett Fischer, an earlier work which discusses four cultures but weighs in at 950 pages to Woodard’s 370. I plan to read both, but admittedly the smaller book will be first as it will be easier to carry on my commute.
I moved around quite a lot growing up, with seven childhood homes in four different regions. I can understand how some places are familiar and some feel more foreign to me, and how they shaped my affinity for the place I chose as an adult. What I realized recently, though, is about my mother’s relationship with where she lives. She is 1300 miles away from where she grew up, but it’s still the same region. She’s in a neighborhood with many people of the same age and interests. Because she is from the north and now lives in the south, though, she feels like an outsider. There are some different political views, but plenty of values in common.
What I see in her is what I see in much of the news coverage: a concentration on the differences instead of on the similarities. People all want the same things, but just have different ideas of how to get there. We want to be able to contribute with pride. Besides the basic needs of life, we want beauty and happiness, and to see that future generations will enjoy the same. How is it, then, that people are so easy to divide?
I’m hoping that the books will give me some better understanding, and I’ll let you know how it goes.
Love, Khouzhan Lucy
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