Different Values presents a series of reflections on what the pandemic, climate strain, gun violence, and the Israel-Gaza conflict reveal about what we choose to value. Why was this an important book for you to write?

During COVID, when we were “isolating at home,” several issues shifted to center stage in people’s thinking–such as their dissatisfaction with work and stay-at-home parents’ realization that children do not learn better with screens.

I thought what had shifted center stage was a way to connect changes we hoped would lead us out of the suffering caused by the pandemic into a “new normal.” 

The book spans pandemic life, political division, climate strain, and war—when did you realize these threads belonged in one narrative? 

I’m not sure they do, other than the reason given above–how we might make a society emerging from the pandemic a better “new normal.”  In that regard, there is an attempt to realize our best efforts along the way, but that “thread” was really strained by political divisions, then the Israel-Hamas war, and the United States’ failure to uphold the United Nations.  

Another “thread” that I see is informed by my teaching experience, i.e., a lack of critical thinking in making decisions–such as listening first and not stereotyping/profiling, and providing evidence for claims made—-despite that being what we teach our college students to do.

The imagery of natural forces—like volcanic eruptions—adds a sense of humility to the book. What role does nature play in your moral framework? 

Nature makes us aware that humanity is not the most powerful force in the universe!  We strive to subdue it, but it rebounds, making us keenly aware of our smallness and thus the humility that is critically needed to counter hubris. Indigenous people and many farmers who work the soil seem to grasp this intuitively, whereas industrialites-and now technocrats-often interpret its power as challenges in need of conquest.

Are you planning to continue exploring these themes in future projects?  

I’m not sure yet. They are certainly still with us, but perhaps rather than writing about them, we need more political motivation?  I thought of a new title, Death by Propaganda Goes Viral. The problem is, Orwell and others have already alerted us to these dangers. It seems humans have to exercise their freedom, i.e., to choose to change from within, and that’s hard work!

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