Just Answering Questions: Anything Goes
Got a question? Send it to the Q & A!
Update at 6:00 CST: Whoa, there are over 80 questions! I’ve got to shut questions down so I can read them all and keep the Q & A at a reasonable length. Themes addressed by multiple people will get top priority. I hope to have the new article up by the end of the week. Thanks, everyone!
Update 8/29: The answers are up!
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Hello subscribers (and future subscribers!) Now that the Summer from Hell is near its conclusion, it’s time for another Q & A.
For those new to this feature, here’s how it works:
1) To ask a question, join as a paying subscriber, and post your question in the comments section below:
2) I will answer as many of questions as I can in a separate article. Sometimes I bundle questions and address common themes. Keep your question brief and ask only one!
3) The article with my answers will be open to all. In other words, you need to be a paying subscriber to submit a question, but not to read the Q & A.
I call this feature “Just Answering Questions” because there are topics that, if I were to broach them out of the blue, would be like throwing a bomb into your inbox. If you’ve read my books, you know they cover disturbing ground. (Lately, the disturbing ground I covered years ago is being repackaged as “news” so that the powerful can feign shock and dodge accountability!) Here, you choose the topic — and I’m just answering questions!
If you are already a paying subscriber, you are all set — you can submit a question in the comments section below!
If you’re not a paying subscriber, this is a great reason to become one. This newsletter is my livelihood and your support keeps it going. I have kept my newsletter free and it will stay free: I don’t believe in paywalls in times of peril. Voluntary paying subscribers ensure all articles stay open, including the archives. I am extremely grateful to paying subscribers and I offer this Q & A as a thank you!
Note: Past Q & As were so popular that I had to shut down submissions within a day, because there were so many. I suspect that may happen again, so let’s get rolling — leave your questions in the comments section below!
Mug in the Abraham Lincoln Museum gift shop, 2017.
Dear Sarah, This is a very personal question so I completely understand if you don't feel like answering it (or just can't)! I have two wonderful, thoughtful, intelligent grown sons (31 and 29) and an equally wonderful daughter in law. I am really struggling with the question of how to manage the enormous waves of grief, rage, and terror that wash over me constantly when I think of what the future holds for them--even what the present world is like for them--without making their lives worse as a result. I will not lie to them, but I also don't want them to be crushed by my anger, despair, and fear. Do you have any suggestions from your own experience as a mother, about how to be honest without making them bear the weight of everything I am feeling?
I have never seen so many protests worldwide to stop the genocide in Gaza, and yet we can't move the needle. The genocide, broadcast 24/7, continues. Why is this the case?