| This election year I decided to try an experiment: I’d visit several cities around the country talking to strangers about anything, except politics. With politics sucking up so much oxygen, I wondered what else was going on in people’s lives. Everything, as it turns out. Each of the people I met had a good story to tell. So I compiled some of the stories in a series of illustrated pieces. The first introduces you to people from Winchester, a town in a purple corner of Virginia. Talking to people without knowing their political views also helped to restore a faith I had lost: Americans still have much more in common than it sometimes seems. Perhaps their stories will amp up your faith, too. Oh, and by the way — there’s more to come in the weeks ahead! PS. You can be part of this project, too. Share your story with us! Do you have a friend or loved one whose political beliefs are very different from your own? Tell us what you’ve gained or learned from that relationship, and we might publish your submission as a letter to the editor. | 
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