Literature Link June 5,2022 — Common Destiny

• “ Of History and Hope” BY MILLER WILLIAMS [poem]

“Who were many people coming together / cannot become one people falling apart. / Who dreamed for every child an even chance / cannot let luck alone turn doorknobs or not.”

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47107/of-history-and-hope

• “Jimmy Carter: I Fear for Our Democracy [an essay by our

39th President, Jan.5,2022] “ Our great nation now teeters on the brink of a widening abyss. Without immediate action, we are at genuine risk of civil conflict and losing our precious democracy. Americans must set aside differences and work together before it is too late.” He enumerates steps we must take.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/05/opinion/jan-6-jimmy-carter.html

• Walt Whitman on How Literature Bolsters Democracy and Why a Robust Society is a Feminist Society by Maria Popova. “America, if eligible at all to downfall and ruin, is eligible within herself, not without… Always inform yourself; always do the best you can; always vote.” https://www.themarginalian.org/2016/02/24/walt-whitman-democratic-vistas/?mc_cid=23ad5053f9&mc_eid=f7e16bcddc

• “Humans are basically good. This incredible new book proves it.” by Chris Taylor. [essay] “If we are monsters hiding under a thin veneer of civilization — or even just self-interested egotists at heart, as economists tend to assume — then why are most of us willing to sacrifice our wellbeing to protect vulnerable people we’ve never met? The most coherent, well-proven answer can be found in Humankind: A Hopeful History, a book by Dutch historian Rutger Bregman garnering global buzz ahead of its June 2 release.”

https://mashable.com/article/humankind-book-review

• “In This Place (An American Lyric)” by Amanda Gorman. “ There’s a poem in Boston’s Copley Square / where protest chants / tear through the air like sheets of rain, / where love of the many / swallows hatred of the few.” https://poets.org/poem/place-american-lyric

In faith, Dale Dunnigan