Around the time that Donald Trump became a likely nominee from the Republican Party, I began experiencing a lot of anxiety and depression. Realizing that my community wasn’t what I thought it was, seeing people tolerating and even embracing and cheering behavior and statements I couldn’t understand. I started, briefly, a blog that I hoped I could coauthor with a Republican or even a Trump supporter, though that fizzled quickly. (I excel at generating ideas but not at making the time and energy to actually bring a lot of them into reality.)

That depression and anxiety persisted. Therapy, meditation, medication, social-media fasts, and distractions helped. But nothing seemed to help me understand the causes of these behaviors and the reasons for this groundswell movement. I realized that—regardless of who won the 2020 election—the divisions in our communities would persist. People who felt alienated, isolated, injured, disenfranchised, worried, fearful—in other words, divided from others in some way—would still feel that way after Trump was out of the White House.

Seek first to understand, then to be understood.—Stephen Covey

So I decided that I needed to understand more. Understand the people around me and how they were feeling and what they believed. Thus came solidus. I sometimes have the pleasure of a cohost, Ayesha. Learning as I go, I am on an expedition for understanding. I hope you’ll come along.

—mitch (aka Lisa).