THIS IS US
I Lost a Friend to the Great Divide
I didn’t expect politics to come between us, until they did
It was Julia* who rescued me that night on the karaoke stage. While I operate under no illusions that I can sing, I’d thought I could do a passable rendition of Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Under the Bridge.” I knew the whole thing by heart, having frequently belted it out during my angsty middle school years and more recently, while driving with my children.
I started out not just off-key, but very off-key. I could hear how atrociously off the key was, but I had no idea how to fix it. I’d only had one beer and was far too sober to be on a stage.
I stood there flailing, realizing with horror how friggin’ long this particular song was, casting desperate looks at the karaoke DJ to see if she would be willing to put me out of my misery, along with everyone else.
Julia saw my desperation and was suddenly next to me on stage. We wailed into the mic together, each in our own key, leaning into the cacophony. We sounded atrocious, but it was easier to sound atrocious — fun, almost — with Julia by my side.
Last week, Julia officially unfriended me. She unfriended all our mutual friends who had been in the karaoke room that night.
