Michael R. French's Blog, page 5

A Curious Citizen

As a curious citizen, I  sometimes ask random people how they feel about discussing their political views. Seriously. I ask them NOT to tell me their own leanings. Most won’t engage me, but some do.

 I’ve put quotes around their answers; their exact wording might be slightly different, yet not in substance.   
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1. Male.  White.  Professional.  “I never talk politics, even with good friends, unless I already know they agree ninety to one hundred percent with my own thinking.  Otherwise you easily  lose clients as well as friends."

 2.  Male.  White. Gig economy.  “I like to engage my Uber fares with any and all subjects, including politics, but they have to bring up the subject first.  Too many people don’t want the stress of even thinking about politics.  Others don’t seem to think about anything else."

3. Female.  Latino.  Waitress.  “I’ve been watching the George Loyd riots on television.  Protestors, yes, looters, no way.  I feel our country  has to change from within, at the ballot box.  I intend to vote this year."

4.  Female. White. High school teacher.  “It’s very hard to speak about politics in the classroom, even if you’re teaching civics or history.  Parents worry, ridiculously, that they’re kids are getting brain-washed.  There is so much fear attached to one’s opinion being attacked.  Politics and religion are the sacred cows.  Why will it ever change?" 

5.  Female.  Boomer.  Retired.  “Hard not to feel pessimistic after  decades of polarization and how it touches everything.  This all started with after 9/11, the polarization, in my opinion.  I still vote because I care about my country.”

6. Male.  Latino.  Car mechanic.  “I think we stopped being a democracy a long time ago. If voter turnout, no matter at what level, rarely exceeds 50%, you’re getting the message you don’t count, and that special interests and money control everything. Privileged white people are sometimes the biggest racists I know.  But some are brothers-in-arms."

7. Female.  Black. Professional.  “We need  a grass roots revolution.  Sanders and Warren almost pulled it off. Racism needs to be outlawed at the federal level.  It’s a hate crime.”

8.  Female. White.  High school student.  “My friends are too busy or cynical to care about the political process.  I’m an optimist.  When things get really bad, as they are, I believe that good is around the corner.  History cycles back and forth between good and evil.”

9. Male.  Latino.  Professional.  “You have to walk on egg shells when expressing a strong political opinion. You don’t want to offend anyone.  Yet, if you don’t have convictions, and express them, you’re  a coward."

10.  Female.  Mixed race.  Gig economy.  “I let the candidates do the political talking.  I listen and discuss at my church.  I try to separate the ego-driven from those who genuinely care about issues and people in need. At my church there’s a lot of talk of candidate who follow religious doctrine. That shouldn’t be the top priority for voting."

I Can't Breathe

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​One white knee on a black neck may prove to be one knee too many.  ​The police-caused death of George Floyd in Minneapolis last week may be the galvanizing point for real change this November.  I hope so.  Racism is on the ballot.   Like COVID-19, racism too is a virus, an invisible pathogen passed down from generation to generation.  It can hibernate from time to time, but in four centuries, it has never been dormant for long.  Please help kill this virus by voting.  Please study the history of the candidates. Please turn out the noise and listen to your mind and heart.  My novel, Once Upon a Lie, publlshed a few years ago,  was my small contribution to insights into  American  racism of the Eighties and Nineties.  I learned so much in writing it:   The kernel of the virus is always the same.  If you don’t have discussions with those who don’t agree with you what that kernel is—don’t give up. Keep talking, keep protesting without  violence. Having the courage to substitute dialog for polarization may save our democracy."

Interview - KidsFirst.Voice America

​In my new novel, The Beginner’s Guide to Winning an Election, I was pleased to be recently interviewed on a podcast by a savvy, knowledgeable sixteen year old student activist on KidsFirst.

Interview Link Here

​​“No man is an island,” wrote John Donne, the 16th Century English poet and cleric.  In politics, this metaphor seems especially relevant.  It is convenient, especially with social media, to be insular and self-protecting of our cherished political beliefs.  We often hang out with people who feel and believe as we do.  What is not easy—what takes courage—is to open our minds and listen to other points of view on climate change, immigration, women’s reproductive rights, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict…you name it.  Anyone unswervingly committed to one position needs to engage in civil discourse with someone equally committed to another position.  This is choosing debate over polarization.  It’s building a bridge, not a wall.  It’s allowing our political institutions to breathe again, and be effective before they break down and break our country apart.  In my new novel, The Beginner’s Guide to Winning an Election, I was pleased to be  interviewed on a podcast by a smart, savvy sixteen year old student activist.  I gave him  my thoughts about my 18-year-old heroine, Brit, who learns the necessity of speaking up about politics —dispassionately, diplomatically, and using research and history as her guide.  History teaches us that being “islands”—going it alone without interacting, helping, or learning from others—is to capitulate to cynicism, apathy and stagnation. The lesson every generation should learn, starting in middle school and high school, is not to shy from politics but to embrace them.  

Finding your political voice

There are numerous benchmarks of achievement in high school, whether social, athletic, academic or personal growth.  School is a busy, often overwhelming journey, and carving out one’s identity may include a mix of of the above.  What is often missing, however, is one's political voice.  For many, cynicism about politics starts at the dinner table, but for others so does the realization that, no matter how bad things are in Washington DC or your own community, one dismisses politics at his or her own peril.  Politics affects our lives in subtle, sometimes seemingly invisible ways; if we’re not paying attention, it’s our fault. The Parkland, Florida shootings sparked an awareness that one’s protest, combined with others, can lead to a movement, and a movement can lead to significant change. But the effort requires courage, time, and an understanding of history. 

My new novel, The Beginner’s Guide to Winning an Election, centers on a history teacher who asks his AP students to write their term  paper on where their lives will be in ten years.  Britain, a political novice, finds her entire identity challenged in a student body election.  Once the gates of self-knowledge open, it feels both dangerous and overwhelming, but she doesn’t run from her new voice, she runs to it.  She rewrites her essay for history class, realizing  where she wants to be rather than where everyone expects her to be.  


“This novel contains political and socioeconomic messages about the current state of things and the recent future as well. Its brilliance is that it wraps complex concepts into an easy-to-follow story that is surprisingly relatable to all ages.  An incredibly engaging book." - Gerry Orz, an eleventh grade activist, author and filmmaker, attending Connection Academy in Capistrano, California.  ​

Is it Political? - Facebook

A strange thing happened when I tried to do a Facebook “boost” for my new young adult novel, The Beginner’s Guide to Winning an Election.  It’s a look at an Indiana high school presidential race in the year 2025, when the country’s economy has seriously deteriorated along with its polarized politics. 

For two or three weeks the “boost” attracted a lot of interest, aimed at readers thirteen to thirty, until suddenly an employee or committee or watchdog at FB declared the novel “a political ruse” and suspended the boost.

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​We had to fight hard to get the decision overturned and the boost reinstated.  I understand the company’s sensitivity to wiping clean the slate of its lazy oversight of political messages—this problem will be dogging them  for some time, I imagine—but isn’t it the ethical thing now at least to contact the suspected party before unilaterally making judgment and lowering the boom?  It’s something to which all authors and anyone on social media should pay attention.

Timely Novel for Uncertain Times

​I'm not adept at writing series and sequels that stick with one major character.  All of my novels differ from one another.  I like focusing on people, themes and situations as varied as the memories that pop into my head:  artists in crisis, race relations, crime and violence,  horse racing, sports, and smart people who still require luck to survive.  

My new novel (my seventh young adult book) centers on American politics. The year is 2025 and Washington D.C—shaped by lobbyists and hypocritical politicians who have been creating chaos for fifty years,  are the target of public rage, including from high school students tired of their leaders’ ineffective polarization. The "guide" in

​The Beginner's Guide to Winning an Election is nothing less than history itself--or perhaps it's Mr. Wilson, who exposes his AP class in an Indiana high school to the intricate patterns of history.  Those who run for student office, like my heroine, Brit Kitridge, may lack an outgoing personality and charisma, but their knowledge of the past leads them to understand where the future is going. Novice and “science brain”  Brit takes on a popular incumbent, a boy whom everyone loves but no one really knows well.  His secrets, she eventually learns, are tied to the agenda of a mysterious lawyer with his own agenda for public education.  Brit knows her chances of winning rest on sorting through the shadows of her117 year old school, the hidden life of her opponent, and developing a strategy to withstand the lies of  his team of supporters.      Available on Amazon

Midterms -Gloria Soto

With only a few days before the much-anticipated midterms, my wife and I attended a small fundraiser for a 29-year-old Latina running for a seat on the Santa Maria City Council.  Gloria Soto is a political novice who, if she wins,  hopes to give voice to approximately 70 percent of the population of a city sixty-five miles north of Santa Barbara, home to Vandenberg Air Force Base and lots of productive farms reliant on inexpensive labor.  Most of the  approximately 73,000 Hispanics in Gloria’s city perch on the lower rungs of the economic ladder.  The city faces a significant deficit, underperforming public schools, lack of a plan for raising revenues, an inadequate social safety net, and a predominantly while, older city council. 
 
Gloria wants to challenge all that.  She describes herself as a fighter with a dream, and as I listened to her speak, I thought of the heroine of my novel, The Beginner’s Guide to Winning an Election.  My story takes places in Indiana in 2025, where politics is hostile and combative even in high schools, and my heroine, like Gloria, is a fledgling at what feels too often like a blood sport.  The two young women—one fictional, one real—merge in my mind.  They both run grass roots campaigns that combine instinct, courage ,and new ideas with  a refusal to be dissuaded  by those who tell them to quit, or wait their turn, or focus on some other future besides politics.   
 
   As a writer and, like so many others, a voyeur of American politics, I think it’s the youth that have the best chance of saving our struggling democracy.  In assessing any candidate, I frown on the tyranny of ideology and agendas, and celebrate those who embrace  common sense and pragmatic solutions.  I want to see candidates who reject excuses for apathy at the polls, and view public service as the highest calling that a democracy can offer. Getting elected can be more difficult than going to med school or becoming a particle physicist.  Maybe that’s why so many people young people shy from politics, but those who want  to climb the mountain, and aren’t afraid of challenging the status quo, they deserve my support.

Vote for Me

​In 2017, I began wondering how the new political norms in Washington would filter down to a  public high school election, say, in 2025.  I made middle-of-the-night notes.  Then I put those notes into  pages.  Then I made the pages into a novel.  Then I rewrote the story a half dozen times… until I began to see how it could all come true.  

FIVE GREAT THINGS A CHILD CAN DO FOR A PARENT

Neither my wife nor I are psychologists,  but on the subject of child and adolescent behavior, we have been middle-class parents for decades. We were determined, from our son’s and daughter’s first days of life, to be good and effective parents. Blogs and books told us to focus on love, perseverance, protection, discipline,  communication, and lots more—so we did, year after year. Sometimes life went smoothly, other times were challenging. As a family, we always worked things out.
​ Yet, I think we  all missed out  on an obvious and early opportunity to build trust and solve problems more efficiently.  It just wasn’t obvious at the time.
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Children and teenagers are understandably self-absorbed, because each day there’s something new to question, learn, and process.  We guide and discipline our kids  as little or as much as we think necessary.  We want them to be the best human beings they can be. What few of us do well, however, is explain to our children how theycan help us be better and happier parents.
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Here are my five suggestions for amending the social contract of childrearing.   ​ 1. Parents shouldn’t hide that they’re fallible human beings, and kids should be encouraged to learn from a parent’s weaknesses and  mistakes as well as  their strengths.  Everyone needs equal time to speak up, not just about their happiness and successes, but  disappointments and problems.  A five year old losing a pet hasemotionalequivalency to a parent losing a job.  Learning to offer help, forgiveness and sympathy needs to be a two-way street. 2. Parents should let kids know early on that mom and dad have roles to play other than raising children.  Holding a job, nurturing friendships, dealing with aging parents, taking care of their own health, handling a divorce…the list is long.   The sooner kids accept  that a  parent may not always be around physically or emotionally, the more adept they  become at solving their own problems. They also get a glimpse of what awaits them as adults, which can seem, and Is, daunting. if they go to a party school, or announce they want to live like a hedonist, remind them they still can’t escape responsibility.   
​​ 3. A child giving mom or dad a hug, or even a sympathetic glance,  at the end of a parent’s hard day has healing qualities It’s almost as important as mom and dad hugging their child.  A lot of parents think they have to be self-sufficient authority figures,  but really, they need love, too.
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5. Many teens like to think that  they’re two or three years older than their actual age, and  in some  ways they might be   Don’t be reluctant to count on them if they have skills and insights that  you don’t, whether they’re academic, socialization, or just common sense. Authority resides with  a parent, but it doesn’t mean much to kids if you don’t have an open mind or encourage their talents. When they express gratitude to you for “being there for them,” that validation is priceless.  

When Is Honking Your Horn Necessary?

Forty years ago, my wife and I and our two young children embarked on a three week trip to New Zealand.  We rented a small camper van and drove everywhere, amazed not just by the number of sheep, forests, rivers and snow-crowned mountains, but the steady temperament of the population.  The vibe was 1950s America and everyone was middle-class.  The locals never seemed  in a rush.  No one got upset or angry.  Copacetic was the status quo.  The only person I heard ever using his horn—I swear this to be true—was me.
​ ​I remember that moment well, making a right turn behind a car I judged to be too slow.  I honked without thinking, from an impatience bred in urban America, I imagine.  It was  just a brief brassy stab, but it seemed to hang in the air for a while.  Quizzical looks darted my way from nearby drivers, pedestrians, even shopkeepers, as if something was wrong.  Had there been a  collision, a heart attack in our family, or was my camper van in trouble?  None of the above, or course.   I felt like getting out of my vehicle and apologizing to everyone.  Instead, embarrassed, I kept my eyes on the road and left that city, tail between my legs. I never honked for the rest of our trip.
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The New Zealanders had it right. Gratuitous honking should be unacceptable. Absolutely, use your horn if an accident seems imminent, or maybe a warning to an erratic or possibly drunk driver.   Otherwise, I don’t know anybody who doesn’t flinch when someone blares in his horn at them for no good reason.   At the risk sounding like a driver’s ed teacher, one’s horn should not be a musical instrument, nor an emotional outlet, nor a signal that you’re late for something and you’re blaming others for slowing you down.  Driving your car within ten feet of another’s bumper, blinking your lights madly until the driver change lanes, is telling the world that either you’re on drugs, have a very bad temper, or your stress level is heading to the moon.  If you’re totally out of control (road rage,  allegedly increasing at seven percent a year, obviously means putting more than your own life in danger), pull over for over coffee.
​ In a country of approximately 270 million registered vehicles (only China has more),  self-control is not a luxury.
​ When the future eventually becomes the present, and we’re hunkered down in our self-driving vehicles, what happens then to the lowly car horn?  Does the computer in my car decide when and where to use it, and how long the duration should be?  If I’m in the backseat, can I override the computer if I think it’s way too horn happy?   Can I finally be free to customize my horn sound, much like choosing the ring tone on my phone?  Until the day comes when self-driving vehicles are truly immune to accidents, something soothing to the ear would be nice.  I’m thinking Mozart.