The terror is real. I am frightened by the creeping specter of fascism, by the prospect of attacks on the freedom of the press, on civil liberties, on the safety of our immigrants; I fear that we will reverse course in our pursuit of racial justice, of a progressive Supreme Court, that we may lose the fight to save our fragile planet. But I also believe that a deep wound— festering in our body politic for some time— can no longer be ignored, and that we all bear some responsibility for its severity. I planned a while back to take some time just after the election to see parts of America that I’m less familiar with, to ride the rails and talk to people different than I am. I thought it would be happening under different circumstances. At any rate, wanted to let you all know that I’ll be completely off the grid for the next twelve days, putting in just under 10,000 miles around our country. I hope that you all will start conversations from a place of love and empathy, and to remember that as furious and dumbfounded and heartbroken as many of us are, there are millions of Americans who, having felt ignored and shamed for some time, have made a desperate cry to be heard. While their candidate is one of the most despicable, bottom-dwelling human beings to have sullied our nation, and whom I vow to work tirelessly to defeat by any & all peaceful means, we *must* acknowledge that a great many of those who voted for him did so not out of lack of decency, but out of vulnerability and hopelessness. I do not mean to explain away an iota of the bigotry & hatred that has bubbled and boiled throughout the campaign, but rather to suggest that we work, beginning today, to build a bridge over that seemingly uncrossable chasm that has left us feeling utterly bereft. If we are truly progressive, and thus truly committed to diversity and inclusion, we must reach out to those who feel excluded from our increasingly global & cosmopolitan culture, and acknowledge that the irreducibly important progress that has been made on behalf of the voiceless or marginalized *cannot* happen at the expense of others. If progress is a zero sum game, friends, we are fucked. Love to all of you.