In 2016 I wrote this essay to honor my dad. A truck driver who read A LOT, from Karl Marx to @stephenking.bsky.social, he influenced my interest in reading & writing. Today, under the influence of MAGA, I do not recognize him. The light of curiosity is gone. lithub.com/when-my-fath... - ThreadSky

kesemmel.bsky.social • 8 days ago

In 2016 I wrote this essay to honor my dad. A truck driver who read A LOT, from Karl Marx to @stephenking.bsky.social, he influenced my interest in reading & writing. Today, under the influence of MAGA, I do not recognize him. The light of curiosity is gone.

https://lithub.com/when-my-father-wasnt-driving-trucks-he-was-reading/

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kesemmel.bsky.social•8 days ago

Sad stories like this are probably all too common now.

gracelp.bsky.social•7 days ago

This is a beautiful essay, but my heart aches at what has been lost. I would love to read Part 2 if you’re working on it 🧡

kesemmel.bsky.social•7 days ago

Thank you, Grace. Alas, I’m not sure I have it in me to write it. At least not right now.

hax.io•4 days ago

My dad was a long haul truck driver for as long as I can remember. He was a curious atheist who loved science and science fiction. We'd stay up late to listen to AM Coast to Coast and laugh about the people who called about UFOs. It was fun. I loved spending the little time he was home together.

hax.io•4 days ago

Over the decades sitting in a cab listening to shows like Rush Limbaugh he changed. At one point I moved away from family for around a decade before moving back. He was a completely different person. Gone was the curiosity and questioning. Now he knew all the answers.

hax.io•4 days ago

"Muslism are moving to this country to exterminate us all!"

Dad... you've never met a Muslim. I worked with a Muslim named Anas in California. The kindest guy I've ever met.

"That's just how they infiltrate. All of them want us dead, it's in their Quran!"

There was nothing left to recognize.

hax.io•4 days ago

I'm probably putting too much emphasis on AM radio. After all, my family is from rural Oklahoma and moved to rural Iowa. They were always "conservative", but maybe without that additional hateful influence they could have been that mythical principled conservative who didn't blindly follow Trump.

hax.io•4 days ago

All that to say that maybe I'm the one who actually changed and I really couldn't perceive my father objectively as a child. But as things are today I'm the pariah. Not him or people with his beliefs in my family. Maybe AM radio didn't convert him, but me getting away from family helped convert me.

kesemmel.bsky.social•4 days ago

Thank you for sharing your story.

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