Bears: A Collection of Histories

Abstract

The purpose of this project is to approach a politicized topic through an unconventional lens, one that filters out inherent biases that obstruct careful and thoughtful consideration of the ramifications of the political environment on human behavior and thought. This collection of stories presents brief, episodic glances into the lives of people in their best moments, but also in their worst. The allegorical nature of the stories in tandem with the relatively even-handed treatment of the two sides in conflict forces the reader to empathize, not with groups, but with individuals. It is through these individuals that the reader is able to move from one story to the next, selecting details to invest in as the characters, themselves, choose details in turn. These stories will call upon the reader to be critical of the perspectives they encounter, and to question an alphabet soup of competing moral codes and prescribed ethics. This is all to say that the purpose of this collection of flash fiction is not to impart truth, but to inspire the pursuit of understanding.