| No Images? Click here  The sun has set on the HuffPost bus tour... Thank you for following along as we've traveled around the country! Here are some final words from Hillary Frey, who oversaw the bus tour:I’ve been on and off the road over the last seven weeks, and have seen more of the country — and talked to more people — than I ever thought could be possible in such a short period of time. As of Sunday, we had conducted 1,506 interviews with 1,674 people in 25 locations.When I talk about the tour, people always ask: What’s been your favorite stop? There’s no easy answer. Each of us who has been on the road has bonded with a different place for a different reason. HuffPosters fell in love with Oxford, Mississippi, during Week 1; in Week 6, they were captivated by Livingston, Montana. Both places charmed our staff with their quaint town squares, unbeatable bookstores and, in the case of Livingston, their proximity to unparalleled natural beauty. The William Faulkner House in Oxford Personally, I loved some of the less predictable places we took the bus, like the Salvation Army parking lot in Des Moines, Iowa, where we partnered with a community nonprofit called Urban Dreams to speak directly with the people they support. Or the Albuquerque Sign Language Academy, where we were able to interview hearing and deaf children and their parents, with the help of interpreters. It was a privilege to be with them.  HuffPost visits the Albuquerque Sign Language AcademyPeople also ask what people talked to us about. It’s simple: They told us about their lives. Our conversations weren’t political. They were personal, local, thoughtful. We didn’t go in with a questionnaire, or a set of leading questions. We asked: What’s on your mind today? What do you want to share? People talked about feeling unheard and shut out, but also about why they love their towns. They expressed frustration with funding issues around public transportation, schools, safety and health care, but satisfaction with their tight-knit communities, their city’s history and their own roots. They told us about the struggles of family members, and the victories of their kids. And they told us what they want to see change, and what they hope stays the same. Hillary working on the busThere is one clear takeaway from the tour: People want to talk. They need to talk. This was made clear by how candid, intimate and trusting people were with us with their most personal stories.We all have stories. I do, you do, and so do your neighbors and co-workers and distant cousins. But it’s not always easy to be curious, to be open and to listen. We’re busy. We have our own problems. We need to get to work, make dinner, get kids to bed. Still: See what happens when you ask someone how their weekend was, really listen, and then ask something else. You may learn something sad, something delightful, or that you have something in common.So much of our conversation is clipped and curtailed by our need to get to the next thing as soon as possible. If you take a minute to stop, you may find a genuine connection. We at HuffPost certainly did. Thank you for following us on our journey. We hope there are more to come.
What's nextThe bad news first: This is the last day of this newsletter. But we have great news, too! You'll continue to receive our reporting on the issues that matter every weekday via our morning briefing. If you don't want to receive those emails, simply unsubscribe using the link at the bottom of the email.
  Learn more about what it really means to be an American by signing up for our morning news brief.Did a friend send you this? Subscribe here. For more politics news, check out our HuffPost Politics email.©2017 HuffPost | 770 Broadway, New York, NY 10003 |
 |  |  |  |
-
-
0 comments:
Post a Comment