Making sense of the world

Dear Ones,

I hope you are doing well in your corner of the world.

I am healing, and rest is a big part of that. I balance my physical and social activities according to my needs by listening to my body.

I read a short novel that I would like to share with you.

Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio [Scontro di civiltà per un ascensore a Piazza Vittorio] is a novel by Amara Lakhous, which was adapted into a film. Amara Lakhous is an Italian author, journalist, and anthropologist of Algerian origin who writes in Arabic and Italian.

The city is Rome. The setting is a building off the Piazza Vittorio. Centered around an incident (a murder), the story is a series of monologues by 12 characters.

Each chapter features another character speaking to the news that Ahmed/Amedeo has disappeared and was accused of murder. Ahmed/Amedeo has a “wail” or a response to each of the characters’ monologues. The accused character is an immigrant and a beloved fixture in the community. Multicultural Rome is alive with theories about immigrants fed by the fascist news propaganda. State immigration policies’ half-lives are played out in these neighbors’ vulnerabilities and survival.

The dynamics between the characters are layered. Their countries of origin and voiced ideologies are fairly transparent and named. The reader understands that the character who was murdered was a young fascist and hears multiple community voices commenting on an incident through their lenses: a dozen distinct perspectives.

Today, it was chilling to hear the news that state lawmakers from Minnesota were gunned down in their homes with their spouses. These murders were not fictional. I am thinking about people in the family of the state representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, who were murdered. I am thinking of State Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, who were shot multiple times and injured, but survived.

I hope you are well and enjoying your evening.

xo

LF