It Occurs to Me That I Am America

Originally published in the Ketchikan Daily News, February 2018; written by Tammy Dinsmore

Quite a few new books have been coming in and are being prepared to go out onto the shelves. Right now, I am enjoying one of those new books; A book of fiction short stories called “It Occurs to me that I am America: New Stories and Art”, edited by Jonathan Santlofer.

Many well-known authors are featured in this book, like Lee Child, Mary Higgins Clark, Louise Erdrich, Neil Gaiman, Art Spiegelman, and many more.

There is a common theme that runs through most of the stories. Pretty much all of them are political in some way, and most definitely, politics is featured in the art throughout the book.

In “Oh, Canada” by Russell Banks, Leonard Fife has lived the last fifty years of his life in Canada, claiming to be a refugee. Now that he is dying of cancer, he has a different story to tell, and he wants to tell it on camera.

In “New Blank Document” by Lee Child, A freelance reporter has received a call from a publication in France. They want him to find the brother of a jazz pianist named Cuthbert Jackson, an American who has made a name for himself in France. Cuthbert served in World War II and when the war was pretty much over he decided to stay in France. When the reporter finds Cuthbert’s brother in a small Florida town, he learns the whole story of why Cuthbert never returned to the United States.

Neil Gaiman writes a powerful poem called “Hate for Sale”. The title pretty much speaks for itself.

Mary Higgins Clark writes in “Veteran’s Day” a story about a ninety-two year old man who for the first time in years has to sit out the Veteran’s Day parade. His wife has said no to his marching in the parade because of bad weather. While he sits and watches the parade go by without him, he reflects on how it is when two brothers go to war, and only one returns.

In S.J. Rozan’s “If They Come in the Morning”, two children are dragged out of their home and put on a truck to a camp. The fourteen year old girl then watches her brother get shot in the head. She is sent to a camp and suffers unimaginable horrors. When the war is over and her camp in liberated, she spends some time helping other children try to find homes and their families. Then, since she has no family left, she is sent to the United States. Fast forward many years and there are neo-Nazis marching in her small town. The congregations of both her synagogue and a church decide to counter protest and then tragedy happens.

These are a few of the stories that are featured in this book. It’s great to pick up a book and open it up anywhere and find a new story. Some may take five minutes to read, others, possibly thirty minutes.