View this feature story package in full here.
With our nation at a turning point, and so much at stake for the economically and politically disenfranchised, and with grave threats posed to our climate and natural resources, and deeply ingrained patterns of racism and sexism beginning to be turned on their heads, the editors of Pacific Standard set out to document the state of our union.
We contacted writers and public figures in each of the 50 states—plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. territories—and asked them to write about something that has captured the attention of their community in this time of great divisiveness and unrest.
(Illustration: Elias Stein)
What kinds of openings has a polarized America presented, we wondered, and what are the different ways that people are stepping into them and reshaping what it means to be American? Are there glimmers of unity, or of unified purpose? What is the shape of the resistance, and where is it getting some traction in restoring justice and fairness to our institutions and our democracy? The result is a state-by-state accounting of some of the best and worst things happening in our country at this moment in time.
In the dispatches that follow, you will read about local issues, and about national issues as seen through the lens of different locales. There are communities divided, and communities coming together to right a wrong. There are stories of wonder, and stories of hardship; stories not just from the big coastal cities but from all over, even the small, out-of-the-way places that tend to get ignored.
The new American narrative isn’t one single story. It is a multitude of stories playing out in diverse and far-flung places. Here are 52 of them. Together, they provide a mosaic view of our country and our moment. We hope you enjoy them. And perhaps, in here somewhere, you’ll find a sense of who we are as a country, and what truly makes us great.
View this feature story package in full here.
A version of this story originally appeared in the March/April 2018 issue of Pacific Standard. Subscribe now and get eight issues/year or purchase a single copy of the magazine.
