Director's Take

Election Reaction

11-07-2024

Dear Friend,

This is a strange week for a lot of people, and I can’t deny the confusion and worry I have for the next four years. What I’m most struck by is that there are two hugely divided segments of the population – one that assumes that doing good things and believing in the best will win the day and the other that embraces the fear or dislike of things not like us and a wish to keep our world small.
 
Neither, politically, has proven successful. And what strikes me, as a student and practitioner of government, is that love of institutions or community or the things that bind us isn’t enough right now.
 
So I’m doubling down on a few things: 1) my love of community – we need each other and we need the bigger world to give us perspective on our own little corner; 2) speaking words of love – at a time when there aren’t enough in the world, let’s not be shy about spreading hope and optimism and our appreciation for each other; and 3) like Martin Luther King, Jr. said, the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice – we must keep trying.
 
I think Downtown is a great place to do these things. It’s everyone’s neighborhood after all. Everyone’s. See you there.