Traveling to a New America - Napa Valley Arts Association

EL CERRITO, Calif. - Jan. 25, 2018 - PRLog -- Traveling to a New America, the journey by author and speaker James Hilgendorf to towns and cities all across America, stopped on January 22nd in Napa, California, at the Arts Association of Napa Valley.

Hilgendorf read passages from his book, "A New Myth for America", and also recounted his own experiences at filmmaking.  After these presentations, members of the audience were invited to share their feelings about the current state of life in America, and to offer ideas about what a really great America would look like.

These were some of their comments:

– "It's so easy to get caught up in taking sides. We're divided in this country right now, especially politically, and I find that when I jump to one side, there's a certain type of energy that gets generated, and I jump to the other side, and there's a different kind of energy, and I know that that's not the answer, that somewhere else is the answer.  So I've been telling myself lately that no matter what's going on, no matter how I feel about it, it's better to try to find that middle way, and to try to not polarize my own mind about what's going on.  It helps somewhat, but it's still a struggle."

– "In a Sunday school class, when I was a teenager, we were asked what our tenets were, what did we live by, and I was roundly criticized for not using any of the Baptist rhetoric, but instead saying: live and let live.  I think we could all benefit by remembering the word tolerance.  I think there's a great deal of comfort in being tolerant of all kinds of different viewpoints, being able to say we agree to disagree, rather than barking at each other and causing discord."

– "I think in our school system we should have classes on compassion, a class on other beliefs and acceptance, and I think it should be part of the way our children are raised, because I don't think people are getting it in their homes."

– "Last year, I did an art project that was inspired by a sign that I saw right after the election.  I was photographing vineyards right here in Napa and the sign had the word hate in it, and at this intersection it was just radiating this awfulness, and it stuck with me.  I did my photograph and drove home.  I started thinking about what would it would be like if instead of seeing hate, we saw a visual representation of love, kindness and compassion.  So I started working on heart art.  I got together people and we made quotations of love, kindness and compassion on all the trees aligning the street in downtown Calistoga.  Then I did a project at St. Helena elementary school, and all the children were involved one way or another, they all had their names on little hearts that were on the garlands and arches, and they made great big collage hearts, and a good friend of mine who is a music teacher had them for their spring concert, all the songs had to do with friendship, kindness and compassion and love.  And the children …  That was how I spent last year…  My vision was to see hearts stretching as far along Highway 29 and vineyards as possible."

– "You're reading about Emerson and Walt Whitman and the whole American enlightenment period of the 19th century, and it seems so strong, and then between 1917 and 1947, a hundred million people were killed by each other on this planet.  How does one grasp that – that so many people can try to be enlightened and yet with the forces of politics around the world, or suspicion or whatever, a hundred million people turn on each other.  It's just staggering."

– "We want to be with like-minded people, it's almost primal.  Right now, I want to surround myself with loving, like-minded people.  I feel like I fit in, I'm not zigging when everyone else is zagging.  But that instinct also has a shadow side to it also.  If you become too separate from everybody else, you need validation for that, so you turn against someone who is thinking differently about things.  So our primal instincts of wanting everyone to validate who we are, it has two sides, it has a real big shadow side."

This year, James Hilgendorf is traveling to towns and cities all across America, meeting people, giving talks and readings, and holding discussions about the future of America - all under the banner of "Traveling to a New America."

Follow his journey on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/NewDreamOfAmerica

The author's website is at: http://www.jameshilgendorf.org