Sorry to paraphrase Martin Luther King, but I am so tired of the polarization of our political and social culture and how complex values and opinions are minimized into “package deals”. “Red” and “Blue”? Let’s save these simplistic designations for soccer games. In any conflict—violent or nonviolent—there are always two sides (or more); members of each group believing deeply in the inherent correctness of their views. At worst the opposing side is vilified (maybe even shot at); at best they’re treated with condescension, in the hope that they’ll come around and see the light. But all involved are human beings, all sharing the same basic human desires and experiences. It doesn’t stand to reason that one side is absolutely right, and the other absolutely wrong.

In “It’s Always 9/11” I give both “left” and “right” wing characters depth and validity. This comes from a very deep place where my mind feels absolutely cracked open. While writing, I was particularly influenced by a cross country trip my husband, teenage son, and I took in 2018, driving him from our home in liberal Portland, Oregon to college on the East Coast. We spent 10 days driving the Northern Route, (Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ontario, Upstate New York, Massachusetts) then returning by driving to Chicago and following Route 66 through New Mexico, then north through Colorado, Utah, and Idaho. The following year, inspired, we toured obscure areas of Georgia and the Florida Panhandle. On all these adventures, we met many people, the vast majority of whom were open, friendly, kind and curious, even though (or maybe because) we were clearly not local. Politics rarely came up; children, music, favorite hiking trails, often did. While researching my novel, I read lots of sites that no doubt confused my algorithm, but gave much insight into the thinking patterns of those who wrote and read them. Last but not least, the past couple of years have given me a huge appreciation for personal freedom, how it can be taken away, how it must be defended.

Are there enemies in “It’s Always 9/11”? Yes. But they do not divide along ideological lines. The enemies are the people who blindly accept conventional wisdom as it’s been curated for them by the news sources they read and as it resonates through the echo chamber of other people in their cultural/demographic silo. People who don’t question. Who don’t explore. Who simply assume.