Long-Distance Call: Recent Episodes
Michael Ventura
American essayist, cultural critic, novelist and screenwriter, Michael Ventura offers commentary in this moment of history before the 2020 election.
Trump's super-spreader rallies should be reported as what they are: Murder. The electorate is too crazy to predict, but as we near Election Day it's not crazy to think Biden can win.
We are part of an enormous project, whether we know it or not: the redefinition of human nature.
What's happening here is a 21st century crossroads, and I've got a feeling the whole century's riding on it.
A poem entitled "The Leader of the Synagogue."
The hell of it is: now, when the miracle is facing you,
You cannot accept it.
When I consider Christianity and I consider Donald J. Trump, I end up wondering about his Christians: Who is this God you believe in?
While more or less a thousand of us a day die because of Trumpian incompetence and many thousands believe any nonsense to justify their complicity in Trumpian catastrophes . . . while climate change scorches and floods us, the Weeping of that . . . but coming as far as we can with a recognition of The Weeping, we’re faced with a question, as we always are when we’ve come far enough: How do I take responsibility for what I know?
With distress piled upon distress as 2020, like a rising flood, rushes on toward a presidential election, there is one faction-less element that unites this historical moment: The Weeping.
"What can we do?" is a question that the young ask with an urgency that their elders find increasingly disturbing. It's a question that they have every right to ask.