The Story Behind the Questions
When I was undone by the undoing of civility in America, I wanted to find out if political snarling at one another was really all anybody wanted to talk about. So I decided to go to the beach to see if I could get someone to talk to me about something else. I took two beach chairs, a sandwich-board sign that said “Talk to me,” and cookies to share. I invited strangers to sit in my empty chair, flip through a pack of twelve cards I’d made — each card with a different question — and to pick one they were willing to answer.
I asked them to talk to me.
Every single person told me a story about their lives — a time they were cut off at the knees, the moment they lost hope, a hole they climbed out of, or a heartbreak they inflicted or endured. Men, women, old, young, wealthy, homeless — each of them willing to tell a story about their lives to someone who listened without judging them or what they’d done.