By David Fortier 

Come Sunday morning, Easter will have arrived and Mary and I will be on our way to Easter dinner with Uncle Charlie. We will be gathering with some but not all the family, who find themselves this year in different places, from the upper reaches of New England—in Maine—to another continent—Australia. So, we will take stock and move into the rest of year grateful for the many blessings among us. 

And this year an extraordinary one with Easter, Passover and Ramadan coinciding. I just can’t help thinking that here is a testament to the American experiment and one of its great gifts—people of different faith traditions, living peacefully with each other. It only takes a moment to look across the globe to see how complicated this reality is. 

And of course, this situation in no way excuses the abuses and hypocrisy that still exists in this land of free and the brave when it comes to respecting each other’s differences. That is the topic for a series of books, never mind a short newspaper column.

It’s hard work maintaining this democracy. Just this past week more racist and antisemitic literature was found in the New Haven area. I was only last year that Bristol’s Northeast section was littered with them.

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We are fortunate that there is so much information available to us through the internet and various podcasts, though. For my listening this week, I might point to any number of insightful and challenging issues. Since it is Holy Week in my own tradition, a week that encourages prayer and reflection, I share three episodes from three different podcasts, each one that gives me reason to pause. 

The first is, again, On the Media, a favorite, which revisited an earlier show from 2016, “Busted:  America’s Poverty Myths.” This week’s show, “Made in America,” has three segments:  

• one featuring Matthew Desmond, who wrote “Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City,” and Jack Frech, welfare director in Athens County Ohio, on the media’s short attention span and how it contributes to a false narrative about people in poverty;  
• another featuring Jill Lepore, history and New Yorker staff writer, and Nastasha Boyer, an Ohio woman who faced eviction, on the American “rags to riches” narrative that fuels much of the inequality the poor face; and 
• a third, with Brooke Gladstone on meritocracy and its own contribution to the challenge of poverty.  

Click here for the link to the On the Media episodes.

A second podcast is called “Holy Week” and recounts early April 1968 when Martin Luther King Jr. was killed in Memphis, Tenn. The Atlantic magazine podcast has several episodes that provide much more perspective and information about the times leading up to the assassination and the traumatic days that followed.  Click here.

A final recommendation is a remarkable podcast from The Gray Area, “Your brain isn’t so private anymore,” featuring guest host Sigal Samuel and professor of philosophy and law Nita Farahany, who just published a new book, “The Battle for Your Brain.” This one provides information about what is happening in the world of neuroscience regarding products that are either available or about to be that challenge what it means to be human. Click here. 

These make difficult listening. At the same time, it is difficult having listened to them not to share since they are integral to helping understand our current situations. 

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Of course, the fun news from this week is the UConn mens basketball team capturing the NCAA championship, and even more fun is having our Bristolite, Donovan Clingan making his own contribution to the championship run and final victory.  

Enjoy. 

“Come Sunday morning” is intended to be a weekly review, a recounting of the past week and an anticipation of week to come. Among its features will be reviews of old and new books, sharing of favorite podcasts, some family news, Bristol events and happenings and issues surrounding education, work and community journalism. He can be reached at dfortier@bristoledition.org. 

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