John Mavroudis. My first thought when reading the words “Building a Better Future” was our current struggle to maintain the most basic right of a democracy: The Vote. We cannot have a “Better Future” without the input / participation of our fellow citizens. Far too many have suffered, and far too many have died for that right. We cannot have a “Better Future” without it.

Against a backdrop of a John Lewis quote on the importance of the vote, is a winged-hand rising above enslavement, subjugation, and oppression to make a choice that most of us take for granted. The unblinking eye represents what has been seen in the past and what can be realized in the future: the fulfillment of John Lewis’ Dream.

I’m continuously inspired by those that stand in line for ten hours to cast a vote. I’m continuously ashamed that a country that should be the very symbol of democracy would allow those conditions to be visited on a targeted group of our fellow citizens.

We ALL should want a better future for our society. Asking our fellow Americans to join us as partners to create one is the ONLY way forward to achieving that goal. We need to awaken the better angels in all of us for this critical moment in history. Marcos Sorensen. Isabel Samaras. In creating our piece “The Keys to Change” we’re sending a hopeful wish out into the universe for a better, cleaner future. We live in California, where the effects of climate change are very real and palpable — currently in the form of wildfires and droughts — and we worry about the world our son is inheriting. There is a tremendous urgency knowing that everyone needs to work now to preserve a livable planet by lowering (or better yet erasing) our carbon footprints, and fighting for global clean energy policies. And we look to the bright future with our hope and optimism intact.