carybrunswick.com
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Thoughts For a New Century
Columns 1999-2018
By Cary Brunswick
Nearly everyone growing up in the post-World War II era learned that America was an exceptional nation. We came to believe that we were the most powerful, richest and most economically and socially free country in the world — and that God blessed us in that way. It was our divine destiny.
It became common to refer to this stance as “American exceptionalism.” It is also commonplace today to debate what has happened to that ingrained belief shared by so many baby boomers, for most studies and experts agree that it has been in decline, especially for the younger generation.
Many of the columns in this collection focus on the leadership and issues involved in the decline in this exceptionalism since the beginning of the new century. We may have the power, but our riches are more and more concentrated in the hands of the rich, as the middle classes struggle to recover from the 2008 economic crash, and now the global pandemic. Our wars in the Middle East continue. And, as we all know, our own government still is violating our civil rights.
Our society is changing, our values are changing and our ability to deal with the economy, the environment, and social issues is compromised by the infighting in Washington.
Studies today, however, show that our values and optimism are waning even more, especially since the election of Donald Trump as president. The conditions that should help us create a better life for most citizens have been thwarted and thus have been unable to lead to an “exceptionally” successful nation.
In a post-Trump world, perhaps we can begin to recover those attributes that had made the United States a truly exceptional nation. These columns diagnose many of our problems. Let us hope the new generation can find the right solutions.
Walking across the Peace Bridge connecting Buffalo and Ft. Erie, Ont., I’m amazed at what’s happened to my life in the last, what, I’ll figure it out, yeah, 600 days or so. When did it all start? Where did it go right, or wrong, as most people might say?
At the apex of the bridge over the middle of the Niagara River, there’s a white line. Stepping over it, I’m thinking, “now I’m in Canada. But I still have to go through customs. I wonder if they’ll let me in.” I start down the Canadian side of the bridge, with cars and trucks visible a couple hundred yards ahead, waiting in line for questioning. “I guess I have to go into that customs office since I’m walking. How did I end up here,” I keep asking myself. “Well, it’s pretty clear my own country only wants me so I can be sent to Vietnam to fight and kill or be killed. And if I’m not snatched up by the Army, what, I’ll continue to be harassed and thrown in jails for no good reasons. No way; I’m making the best decision by getting out. I just hope I can find her in Toronto and that she’s OK. Well, here goes.”
Thanks to the Associated Press and the History of American Journalism project at the University of Kansas for use of the above photographs. The latter photo shows police attacking protesters in Chicago's Grant Park during the 1968 Democratic Convention. The iconic Kent State photo taken by John Paul Filo on May 4, 1970, shows Mary Ann Vecchio crying out and kneeling over a fatally wounded Jeffrey Miller. The photo was put out on the AP wire. This novel is fiction. While it deals with historical events and personalities, and with some of my personal experiences during that period, the book's characters are imaginary and any similarities to actual people are coincidental.
Novel shows young people dealing with war, sex, drugs, and authorities in the late 1960s
Book includes four unusual short stories
“Anyway, I’ve been working on some stories, fiction. And I’d like to talk about those because they naturally reflect my experiences over the years as a reporter and an editor. “Some of you may be aware that my daughter Amy moved back to Florida a few months back. Before moving back to Naples, she went through some intense experiences working as a social services caseworker in upstate New York. “Based on my talks with her, I am working on a fictionalized account of what she went during those final weeks before she decided to leave. Much of the cause for her trauma took place on a Buncombe Road, so that’s what I’m calling the story. Yes, she tried to talk me out of it, but I’m doing it anyway. “When I was a young reporter in Rochester, N.Y., yes, I was young once if you can believe it. One day the city editor dispatched me to a small town south of the city for what she thought was one of those walk-away, missing-person Alzheimer stories. Well, it wasn’t that, but ended up being one of strangest stories I ever encountered, to this day. One of my fictionalized accounts is about that experience, called ‘A Home on Rosy Mountain.’ “Another story I’m planning involves the process of investigating a case of a doctor abusing a nurse in the local hospital. I was managing editor of that paper at that time and the hospital was trying to cover the incident up, but I had a great reporter to work with and we got the story. Despite some interference from the publisher, I might add. “My story will be able to attach human faces and feelings to the people involved in that case, which the newspaper at that time was unable to do. “Lastly, I am still polishing a different kind of a story, set here in Florida. A few years ago, I saw a story in a newspaper up in Port Charlotte about an incident in North Port. The story described the scene at a motel where a man and a woman were found with a monkey. The circumstances leading to that discovery were never fully reported, so this story, almost entirely fiction, is seeking to fill in the blanks. We’ll see."