.png)
I sit here on my couch listing to American radio stations, glued to the senate and house vote being streamed live last night and think this afternoon: Two narratives are being written here, and I am not sure which one will win the accepted orthodox history.
Sometimes I think the cracks in our American foundation stone (Who deserves to be an American? Who deserves to have privilege more than their neighbour?) will subsume my country. I feel my nation has experienced and felt yet another aftershock. Depending on our choices, we will decide if we crack and crumble or repair the damage. I am more of a believer pragmatic circumstance, then for all-out patriotism. But I do care about my nations ability to follow their "better nature". My thoughts turned to Lincoln's words when he said:
"A house divided against itself, can not stand”- Abraham Lincoln. So much more so if there is a crack in the foundation of our nation.
While listening to the radio today, I started my small daily sketch, and my husband's speakers hit me with the notion of this dual narrative. I began to draw, and the more I drew, the more the division grew between the speakers in my mind.
It's not apparent in the drawing, but I think the feeling of division too subsumed me to draw correctly. But in some way, the fact the picture is not incredibly sharp-( It has no real depth or contrasting highlights, nor says what it means in my mind) says something more fundamental then if I drew with full attention to what I was doing. Cause I don't feel my nation knows what it means to say or do about these foundation cracks either.
Like lots of art, it's a failed attempt. But it doesn't mean we should not try again. There is always a new sheet of paper, waiting for the mater-peace of success.
