6 Comments

such an interesting inquiry, esther. and i also often wonder why people write. how did we discover that in writing we somehow find that living in this world is almost manageable.

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Extraordinary speech for all time, by an extraordinary man. Doesn’t cease to amaze. Thank you for sending.

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Yes, giving Frederick Douglass the floor on this day is wise. My town for three years has had an outdoor public reading--it is divided into 30 sections and residents get up and read one section at a time, while we all have a copy of the text on our laps to follow along. It is powerful and humbling. It is my 4th of July seder.

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Jul 4, 2023Liked by Esther Cohen

I want to hear about Jake too. More about Jake.

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I read the speech yesterday for the first time and felt exactly as you -we need him, we need this, now. Among all the things he said, not to take pride in what our forebears did, but to look at today, see what it is today (terrible paraphrase of mine) is what matters.

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It's great that you included Frederick Douglass' words.

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