Politicolor

Seeing and Knowing

Or, you might be thinking, “seeing is believing.” Any survey of Politicolor quickly reveals a certain fascination with SEEING. But, here, seeing is not constrained by our… but is something of another (grey) matter. Our posts have asked what we know from what we see and how seeing changes how

Detroit's Hiedelberg Project: Questions of liveliness at the edges & organized complexity

It was like walking through a graveyard. We found ourselves talking in hushed tones or, mostly, not talking at all. Spookiest of all was the hope that still occupied the hollow spaces of the Hiedelberg Project. Horror and hope. Calling out from the empty houses, there was at once a

A Theory of American Identity: Or the Radical American Exceptionalism: Or Why Baseball is Better than Soccer?

An abstract submitted for you consideration. Your questions and assistance in refining the ideas presented here would be greatly appreciated. (Submitted by Todd, National Academy alumni, 2001) Over the last year I have been contemplating the notion of American identity, and what that means.  As I contemplated the bounds of

Seeing America

The second week at Montpelier concluded Friday with this question… What do you SEE when you say AMERICA? As the American public celebrates independence through fireworks, BBQ and pool parties, the 80 teachers who studied constitutional citizenship at Madison’s Montpelier know we must keep the future as well as

Cicero's View from 100,000 Miles

How is the first picture of Earth from space the most powerful political picture ever published? Marking the 40th anniversary of the famous picture, a British newspaper, The Independent, remarked that the three astronauts of the Apollo 8 mission “went to the moon, but ended up discovering the Earth.” The

Politicolor © 2026