I’ve been thinking about how frustrating it is to feel that so much of the experience of rural America for visitors is affected by the sometimes antagonist posture of those on the right (i.e. the sign I saw when picking up my kids from camp in the Adirondacks that said Trump 2024: F your Feelings) As a Black woman in these spaces, I feel like there is no hiding, and wonder what can be done to turn down the temperature so interactions can be less fraught.
I loved this, Jane. I will try to do this as well – push aside the anger and focus on what we have in common. I do remember a time in my life when I didn’t hate Republicans!
Jane, what a good example for me of Mindfullness - yes - that seems like the right word for what you practiced. I will try to follow your example. What 2 huts did you stay at?
As a "sixty-something" myself, I wonder how that descriptor factors into your expectations of the Texan hiker. My experience has been that many people my age are much more open-minded and liberal than those a generation or two behind us. Many of my sons' friends are far more conservative and right-leaning than their parents. All were raised here in Blue Massachusetts.
All that being said, this is a fine piece, and I share your anger. Although I have learned to, almost literally, put my blinders on when traveling. It's interesting, on my way to work in Lynnfield, I pass more Trump/Brandon/blue line flags than other types. I see it (them) as a testament to free expression and an endorsement of nonviolent ways of expressing one's views. The signs won't change anyone's minds, but it makes people feel better to put them out.
I can't wait to read Society of Shame and to see its cover!
Well at first I kind of liked it with Mario's name there, as though The Waterproof Texan were just blindly, predictably mad at the whole Cuomo fambly forever. But that would not be fair to this duct-taped, pumpkin-curried hiker. I spent a little time in TX, and I'll go to my grave insisting that Texans are some of the finest people on the planet. :)
I’ve been thinking about how frustrating it is to feel that so much of the experience of rural America for visitors is affected by the sometimes antagonist posture of those on the right (i.e. the sign I saw when picking up my kids from camp in the Adirondacks that said Trump 2024: F your Feelings) As a Black woman in these spaces, I feel like there is no hiding, and wonder what can be done to turn down the temperature so interactions can be less fraught.
I loved this, Jane. I will try to do this as well – push aside the anger and focus on what we have in common. I do remember a time in my life when I didn’t hate Republicans!
Jane, what a good example for me of Mindfullness - yes - that seems like the right word for what you practiced. I will try to follow your example. What 2 huts did you stay at?
As a "sixty-something" myself, I wonder how that descriptor factors into your expectations of the Texan hiker. My experience has been that many people my age are much more open-minded and liberal than those a generation or two behind us. Many of my sons' friends are far more conservative and right-leaning than their parents. All were raised here in Blue Massachusetts.
All that being said, this is a fine piece, and I share your anger. Although I have learned to, almost literally, put my blinders on when traveling. It's interesting, on my way to work in Lynnfield, I pass more Trump/Brandon/blue line flags than other types. I see it (them) as a testament to free expression and an endorsement of nonviolent ways of expressing one's views. The signs won't change anyone's minds, but it makes people feel better to put them out.
I can't wait to read Society of Shame and to see its cover!
"Mario" Cuomo?! That is hilarious.
Ha!! That may have been my mistake....he probably just said Cuomo. Correcting now!!
Well at first I kind of liked it with Mario's name there, as though The Waterproof Texan were just blindly, predictably mad at the whole Cuomo fambly forever. But that would not be fair to this duct-taped, pumpkin-curried hiker. I spent a little time in TX, and I'll go to my grave insisting that Texans are some of the finest people on the planet. :)