2025 in the Rearview: on Personal Freedoms

I have a personal tendency to group things together, to find commonalities between things that are otherwise unrelated. I know this is not unique to me alone; it’s a bedrock human character to find (or build) order among chaos. Throughout 2025 there has emerged among the films I’ve seen and the books I’ve read a common thread that somehow became intertwined with the personal, emotional journey I found myself experiencing.