By Brendan O’Meara
It’s that Atavistian time of the month and Mira Ptacin (@miramptacin) is here! She is a writer, journalist, teacher, and did you see that sweater in her pic? Her story for The Atavist Magazine, “The Crash of the Hammer,” details how one town in rural Maine ran a new-Nazi (Christopher Polhaus, aka Hammer) out of town.
The crux of the piece is this notion of the paradox of tolerance. When you become tolerant of intolerant people (because tolerance) you invite the conditions for greater intolerance. Tolerating intolerance ultimately squashes out tolerance. Hence the paradox.
Mira is a literary journalist, memoirist, a best-selling ghost writer, an editor, and a professor of creative writing. Her memoir, Poor Your Soul, was named a Kirkus book of the year in 2016. She’s also the author of The In-Betweens: The Spiritualists, Mediums, and Legends of Camp Etna.
Her work has appeared in the New York Times, the New York Times Book Review, Tin House, Harpers, Poets & Writers, and many more. She’s got game.
In this conversation, we also hear from editor-in-chief Seyward Darby, which is fitting, given Seyward’s deep dive into the world far-right extremism with her book Sisters in Hate.
Enjoy, CNFers!
