I spent the weekend at NerdCon Stories. Met a young woman named Silje. No, it’s not Sill-gee. When she says it, it rolls off her tongue like caramel and sounds a bit like Celia.
What nationality is your name? I ask.
Turns out she’s Norwegian, like from Norway.
I tell her I have a story in my head (since I’m at NerdCon STORIES) about Norway, that everyone has a place to live and enough food to eat. And all the people have access to healthcare and education.
And she’s like, yeah, that’s pretty much true.
She tells me the story she has in her head of the US and it’s all violence – shootings and rape and muggings.
She’s afraid to walk alone.
(There are two separate school shootings in the United States that very day.)
Where does the truth lie in our culture of fear?