Reasons to be Cheerful David Byrne’s online magazine has a new edition. This time around it tackles division within society. This edition went online on September 17 and can be accessed until November 20.
The title of the new series is “We Are Not Divided” and brings along “stories of places and institutions that are succeeding in overcoming division.” It is a multimedia series that brings together written features, infographics, video content, and interactive storytelling “to infuse the public dialogue with a perspective that highlights the human capacity for finding ways to move toward each other”.
According to Byrne’s press release, “this series is hopeful at a time when that is in short supply,” Byrne said. “I realize the title might come as a shock. Not divided? Are you kidding me? What world are you living in?
“I am more than a little aware of what’s happening, but the truth is there is evidence that we can find ways to come together – I have to believe that or I would sink into despair. Luckily, there are people and initiatives out there that we can look to for inspiration, and boy do we need it.”
Topics included in the latest edition are a British Columbian city that toppled a statue in a way that “led to reconciliation rather than acrimony; a community of Congolese refugees in New York who used theatre to end the tribal strife that had followed them to their new home; how Ireland’s unusual model of having citizens advise the government led to a lasting friendship between a conservative postal worker and a gay IT manager who helped change the fate of Ireland’s gay marriage law”.
Also, “We Are Not Divided” will feature a week-long video series entitled Bridging Divides hosted by storyteller and artist Scott Shigeoka in which he interviews people with extraordinary on-the-ground experience bridging divides.
