Two former visitors to the Canisius Contemporary Writers Series published op-eds in national newspapers calling for greater generosity and compassion in American society.
Tracy Kidder is the Pulitzer Prize winning author of a number of critically acclaimed and best-selling books including Mountains Beyond Mountains, a portrait of the late Dr. Paul Farmer, who was awarded the Canisius Presidential Medal in 2013.
Kidder’s essay in The New York Times, “A New Era of Hunger Has Begun,” documents the heroic work of volunteers feeding hungry people in western Massachusetts, describes the dramatic cuts to the social safety net recently signed into law, and concludes by underscoring the warning Jesus gives to the ungenerous in Chapter 25 of the Gospel of Matthew:
Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.
You can read Kidder’s essay here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/14/opinion/america-safety-net.html
Dianna Goetsch is a teacher, poet, and memoirist whose most recent book is This Body I Wore.
Goetsch’s essay in The Los Angeles Times, “What Trans People Need Now,” describes the history of discrimination and hate suffered by trans people and concludes by discussing the recently film, Will & Harper, which documents a road trip taken by the actor Will Farrell and his friend Harper Steele not long after Steele transitioned.
“I just ask you as my friends to stand up for me,” Harper Steele wrote in her coming out letter. I make that same appeal here, and I thank everyone who is standing up for trans people, as well as those who one day will. We’re real. We need you.
You can read Goetsch’s essay here:
Submitted by: Mick Cochrane, Professor, English
