A morning a-ha: Until recently, I thought "unity" meant "all of us in agreement." My thinking solidified yesterday, likely shaped by Amanda Gorman's poem, that my mental model was wrong. Rather, unity is about as many of us as possible moving in the same direction.

And it sounds like a small, obvious a-ha, but I found it fairly liberating. Because it helped me see it's not my responsibility to change the minds of those who want to stop progress. (I'll still likely try because I'm an optimist.)

But, instead, it's helping those who are uncomfortable or unsure about how progress helps them, and all of us. It's not about convincing people like Shrier she's wrong. She is... but I better understand today than I did last week that she's irrelevant.

Instead, I think it's about engaging those, especially educators, who agree with James. To engage with those who think "progress isn't always good." Who think changes that benefit those from groups that have been historically marginalized will hurt those who aren't.

I'm also always thinking about the pros and cons of engaging with those who believe there's no such thing as bad attention. And the perpetual tensions around allyship, being a co-conspirator, being a feminist who is white, etc. etc. etc.

Also, I may adjust my mental model tomorrow.

In any event, if you think gender is binary and that protecting trans people hurts non-trans people, especially girls ... I'm happy to explain/show/lay out why James and Abigail are wrong.

(Also, my brain very much liked the Vice President's use of the phrase "American Aspiration" last night as rhetorically speaking, it's so much better than "American Exceptionalism." And I very much enjoy using "she" to refer to the VP.)