Focus Group

(2021) Against an occasionally quite active backdrop of January 6 rubble, a focus group of people aligned by race, by fearful, angry attitudes, and by loyalty to a certain unnamed former President, have been invited to speak candidly, to name their perceived enemies in the context of a closed session led by a moderator. Into this cozy, self-congratulatory bubble, a young latecomer arrives, someone who neither looks nor thinks like them. She is a teenager and out of her depth at first with so many (white) adults, but as the discussion becomes increasingly volatile, the latecomer finds her voice and ultimately asks the group to consider a kind of desperate proposition, an impromptu story that may (or may not) help them imagine a way toward change. 

Authors: 
Jack Bushnell