union

i was at home this time, watching the inauguration on tv, witnessing the pomp, the historic firsts, the carefully-chosen and welcome words of unity. democracy at this hour did prevail, and the transfer of power was peaceful, but looking outside my window it’s hard to ignore the civil war millions are quietly fighting in their own lives against not just a raging plague, but against an economy, a government, and a healthcare system no longer working for them…

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JK Montane
carnage

i remember the president’s speech about the forgotten men and women of this country, and his promises to bring back what america had lost: our jobs, our borders, our wealth, and our dreams. it was "going to be america first"—in the name of lifting up american workers and families. it was cold that day, and grey, the air was light and brittle, carrying the feeling that the next four years were going to be distinctly different, divisive, maybe even explosive.

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JK Montane
infamy

the tunnels went dark, we'll say, and in our indefinite isolation we aged rapidly into fear and division, reacting frantically to the crises and the symptoms masking our greater malady: an america in decay. for too many, for too long, injustice kept finding the innocent, plague inflamed the inequality of a heartless economy, representatives abandoned their voters, news and facts fell to the lucrative spell of opinion and fantasy…

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JK Montane
infamy

the tunnels went dark, we'll say, and in our indefinite isolation we aged rapidly into fear and division, reacting frantically to the crises and the symptoms masking our greater malady: an america in decay. for too many, for too long, injustice kept finding the innocent, plague inflamed the inequality of a heartless economy, representatives abandoned their voters, news and facts fell to the lucrative spell of opinion and fantasy…

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JK Montane
be

it's strange to think he was younger in this photo than i am today. a guess tells me this was taken in the late eighties, in a living room in louisiana by a celebrated photographer named mom, whom i can just picture smiling in that house, squinting behind the lens saying “alright guys look serious.”

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JK Montane
be

it's strange to think he was younger in this photo than i am today. a guess tells me this was taken in the late eighties, in a living room in louisiana by a celebrated photographer named mom, whom i can just picture smiling in that house, squinting behind the lens saying “alright guys look serious.”

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JK Montane
win

… but they will not decide the outcome. a college of 538 americans known as "electors" will decide the presidency. if they fail to reach a verdict, the final say could fall into the hands of 9 justices…

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JK Montane
married

mtv was signing on, lady diana in london was wedding prince charles for the fairytale cover, and across the pond in the city of atlantashire, mom and dad were courting.

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JK Montane
tomorrows

i now realize they were just leaving theirs—sunny teenage years in the tumult and discos of 1970s america—an unlikely pair against the world…

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JK Montane
rollercoasters

the wheels beneath my feet have a way of turning the tapes inside my head, rewinding and replaying the memories of forgotten days of who we used to be, of who they used to be—of who you used to be.

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JK Montane
road

like most stories our parents tell us, they often live in our imagination until something gives them life—a picture, a tape, a letter, a place. i didn't find the hotel that day, but i found the bright lights, and it wasn't long before the polaroids of their wider smiles flashed in my eyes as i strolled the city…

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JK Montane
inn

like new clothes on a first date, the days unfolded around them, and on the road to their dreams they met in a crowd of four billion, working part-time, of all places…

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JK Montane