James McWilliams at The Hedgehog Review:
I had a book come out last July. It was about a dead poet and it led to many speaking engagements (be careful what you wish for). Nearly every weekend during the fall semester of 2025, I was on the road or in the air. Once, on the water.
Typically, I spend my days monastically alone at my desk. But these trips took me to universities, book festivals, bookstores, public libraries, record shops, and music venues. Just as significantly: interstates, airports, hotels, motels, Ubers, taxis, restaurants, food trucks, gas stations, drug stores, grocery stores, bars, and diners. In other words, democratic spaces where American strangers encounter American strangers.
What I witnessed in these spaces alarmed me. Basic human interactions seemed poisoned. Instances of rudeness and aggression that I once thought rare were routine. People were noticeably hostile, inconsiderate, paranoid, jumpy, rushed, pissed, straight up mean. Most of the conflicts I witnessed were small, but they led to a big hypothesis: kindness is dying. Maybe it’s already dead.
More here.
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