The final segment of Fantasia 2000 is set to Stravinsky's The Firebird, and is based on the eruption of Mt. St. Helens. Watching that segment again, I was struck by how hard it was hitting me emotionally. It just felt a little too close to home watching the spring sprite's reaction to the forest burning up, and seeing her almost dead afterwards. But that segment isn't about loss, it's about rebirth. That's what I'm hopeful for. I don't want to go "Back to Normal", I want something new. Maybe something that looks a little bit like what we had in the past, but I don't just want a retread of the old world with all of the same problems. 

    I look at our country, and I'm struck by how badly we need something new. People are watching the world fall apart, and they feel powerless to stop it. I don't understand why the right keeps pushing for a return to the past, as if it were perfect. You don't have to think to hard to realize how wrong this view is. I know things will get better, but my heart can't let go of everything that we've lost.