Reading the Sunday papers today, and amidst a drizzle of despair, two articles got my attention, both by women of color, both about how the turbulence we're experiencing is not simply a matter of grief and loss--it's also a matter of growth.

First of all, the canon is bigger--it hasn't jettisoned older texts or works, just included more, including earlier ones long largely ignored.  Turns out Western culture didn't have to go.  Just had to let more stuff in.

Similarly, social media, which has done some terrible damage to the social fabric and even to our own individual persons, has also been a place for new voices, and for new social movements.

It is not the case that hearing these new voices is easy, for some of us--especially for older white guys like me.  But that doesn't mean their inclusion is not valid or important or an actual good.

Change is hard. It's always been hard. I always say that, but maybe now I am learning it in a new way, or once again in the same old way.