Sometimes it’s walking an envelope to the mail.
A great Opinion essay can be a pundit prognosticating on the future of politics, or a prime minister making an appeal on matters of war and peace, or a renowned scholar explaining the intricacies of science. But sometimes it can be a novelist describing her mother walking an envelope to the mailbox. In her essay today, Katherine J. Chen does just that — and so much more. |
Katherine’s piece is about her mother, who emigrated from Shanghai in 1989, casting her first vote this summer in New Jersey’s vote-by-mail primary. It was the middle of a pandemic, anti-Chinese racism was surging, and America was engaged in a painful conversation about race after George Floyd’s killing. Katherine’s mother was feeling the pressure from all of these things, and she wanted to make her voice heard. So she voted. |
Katherine’s mother has a deep respect — it’s almost like a reverence — for America’s political ideals and institutions. You may share that or you may be more skeptical. But what I love about this essay is how the author describes the details of the act of voting as much as the big ideas behind it: “A pamphlet contained instructions in large print to complete the form and select a candidate, then to place that form in a separate envelope,” Katherine writes. “She did this slowly, as if she were performing a delicate ritual or assembling, like a clockmaker, separate small parts to a fine instrument.” |
This piece reminded me (and I hope it reminds you) that behind the big stories that make up history books — immigration trends, decisive elections, pandemics — there are these moments of intimacy. |
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