bird by bird

A year ago I wouldn't have used words like "political," "activist," or "protester" to describe myself. A year ago I was an optimistic and complacent American citizen who thought that as long as I was kind to people, the rest would work itself out. I thought I'd let Washington deal with the big stuff, like laws and policies, and I'd focus on the small stuff, like donating to non-profits and holding the door open for people. But in the past 12 months I've realized that it's not enough to hold doors open for people, and it's not enough to be kind. The truth is, I wasn't really participating in democracy. I was avoiding uncomfortable conversations about conflicting candidate choices, and I was assuming that the election would reflect my values and the values of most of the people I know. But I wasn't doing anything. But now all that has changed. If I have to think hard (really hard!) about one good thing to come from this ele...