• If you’re new here, welcome! If you’ve been here since day one, thanks for showing up week after week! My name is Sam Reetz and I’m on a mission to help restore public trust. This is a space where I look closer at moments of global and national significance to show you how cycles of misinformation and disinformation disorient communities.

• Probable Cause is an XR civic education gaming experience that puts you in the driver’s seat to explore issues of public safety from community-centered perspectives. Route 24 is its companion newsletter that invites you to explore our creative process on the project as we build, deconstructing the real-world impact of policies and practices in transportation infrastructure, immigration reform, environmental justice, racial equity, and more to jumpstart public awareness and, in turn, mobilize narrative change.

• Every week, two columns park in your inbox:

  • Driver’s Ed is a space to shift your gears on key policy debates and test drive people-powered solutions.

  • Scenic Route is a space to merge the lanes of immersive technologies, experiential storytelling, and community civics and help you find a better view.

• Your follows, shares, and subscriptions help to keep this work going and reach the people the mainstream media often misses. For riders in a position to financially contribute, your dollars support the project team with the critical resources needed to iterate, travel, and scale.

• Thank you for joining me on this road! Start your engines…

  Subscribe now

  Refer a friend

In this Issue (Monday, April 6th, 2026 — № 90):

This week marks two years since the soft launch of Route 24 on Substack.

Please watch & share this video to celebrate your part in helping Route 24 reach this milestone!

Stay the course,

Sam

Sam Reetz, is a filmmaker, performer, and founder at Millennial Ethics, creating narrative solutions to complex issues.

Follow her work on Bluesky, Substack and Instagram.

Share Route 24

Route 24 is a Substack community powered by Millennial Ethics Productions inviting you to explore our creative process as we build Probable Cause, an XR civic education gaming experience, in real-time.

• If you’re new here, welcome! If you’ve been here since day one, thanks for showing up week after week! My name is Sam Reetz and I’m on a mission to help restore public trust. This is a space where I look closer at moments of global and national significance to show you how cycles of misinformation and disinformation disorient communities.

• Probable Cause is an XR civic education gaming experience that puts you in the driver’s seat to explore issues of public safety from community-centered perspectives. Route 24 is its companion newsletter that invites you to explore our creative process on the project as we build, deconstructing the real-world impact of policies and practices in transportation infrastructure, immigration reform, environmental justice, racial equity, and more to jumpstart public awareness and, in turn, mobilize narrative change.

• Every week, two columns park in your inbox:

  • Driver’s Ed is a space to shift your gears on key policy debates and test drive people-powered solutions.

  • Scenic Route is a space to merge the lanes of immersive technologies, experiential storytelling, and community civics and help you find a better view.

• Your follows, shares, and subscriptions help to keep this work going and reach the people the mainstream media often misses. For riders in a position to financially contribute, your dollars support the project team with the critical resources needed to iterate, travel, and scale.

• Thank you for joining me on this road! Start your engines…

  Subscribe now

  Refer a friend

  

In This Issue (Tuesday, March 24th, 2026 — № 89):

Happy Spring, Road Warriors!

After spending a few months gearing up for strategic investment, this project team is ready to kick Route 24’s weekly circulation back into high gear. While I’ll still be the main writer behind each newsletter, I’ll be handing over a few issues every month to different members of the creative, technical, and impact teams to introduce you to our unique approach and allow me the space to focus on my operational responsibilities.

With this in mind, we’ve updated Route 24’s About and Navigators Circle pages, which I welcome you to explore further via the links here and in Route 24’s navigation bar. We’ll also be adjusting the permissions on Route 24’s archives beginning Tuesday, April 7th, with full access for a two-week window available on all new postings before a paywall is implemented. To maintain our belief in accessibility for Route 24’s readership, our most representative posts will remain free-to-all.

This week, I’m returning to the topic of decision science to steer readers away from the feeling of information overload and help contextualize the key drivers powering the American public’s patterns of decision-making. To better understand what motivates and encourages the general public to make better choices in daily life, I’ve condensed this empirical assessment into three categories: (1) social and political polarization, (2) economic incentives, and (3) data integrity. From algorithmic biases, and the history of hysteria to the bro culture of podcasts, and the influence of affordability narratives, this Driver’s Ed series demonstrates how the tools and tactics utilized in civic discourse, experiential storytelling, and emerging technology are inextricably linked and shape moral clarity.

As a “welcome back” limited-time offer and while we still have a functioning U.S. postal service, I’m sending the first 5 subscribers who leave a thoughtful comment on this post our mini zine on decision science (as shown above) in the mail.

Thank you, as always, for coming along for the ride!

Stay the course,

Sam

Sam Reetz, is a filmmaker, performer, and founder at Millennial Ethics, creating narrative solutions to complex issues.

Follow her work on Bluesky, Substack and Instagram.

Area of Effect

What’s popping up in your feed lately? For me, it’s been AI-generated wildlife encounters, the most concerning of which involved an elementary school-aged child hugging a full-grown alligator like a pet. These curated feeds and our reactions to them identify one of the key drivers of decision outcomes: algorithmic influence.

In fact, algorithmic influence — specifically rage bait — was coined the Oxford Word of the Year for 2025.

In weak AI systems, such as social media algorithms, AI is leveraged to predict an end user’s unique responses. This means that if you interacted with an AI-generated video in your social feed (yes, those videos of grocery shoppers dodging Siberian tigers by hopping in their car trunks are generative AI), it’s logged in your user preferences, and the probability of you encountering future videos by platform recommendation increases. While AI may offer a practical use case for addressing the accessibility gap in learning modules, it also raises serious ethical concerns around what end users across generations may perceive as factual. I like to think of it as AI spin (like AI slop, but more agenda-driven) and this cartoon offers a good visual for how our minds process these information distinctions.

Undiscovered Masterpieces

Call the Spin Doctor

Read more

8 months ago · 8 likes · Tom Toro

Earlier today, I polled our audience (specifically those who parent K-12 students) on a recent article I’d seen in Education Week discussing the ethical concerns of incorporating ed tech into core curriculums. I’m curious about which aspects of ed tech most scare you as a parent - the uncertainty of a clear use case or student benefit, how personal information might be sourced, the lack of educator-centered technical training programs, the impact on students’ wellbeing, or something else. I’ve included the poll below and will keep it open for our subscribers to submit their thoughts during the week, sharing cumulative audience responses next issue.

Next stop: I’ll look closer at the intersections between the history of hysteria narratives and the bro culture of podcasts.

A special thank you to this community for tuning in to our Civic Learning Week event on Tuesday, March 17th. We appreciate your enthusiasm for our work. Sharing video highlights from the discussion and the Notes link you’re welcome to restack to help jumpstart the conversation.

Route 24 is a Substack community powered by Millennial Ethics Productions inviting you to explore our creative process as we build Probable Cause, an XR civic education gaming experience, in real-time.

CYBER WEEK SPECIAL OFFER: RECEIVE 24% OFF ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS!

Upgrade or gift an annual subscription to Route 24 during Cyber Week (until 11:59 PM PT on Monday, December 8) and you’ll receive 24% off individual and group (4 or more) annual subscriptions plus help to jumpstart the Probable Cause wish list.

Redeem Cyber Week Special Offer

The Route 24 Roadmap

• If you’re new here, welcome! If you’ve been here since day one, thanks for showing up week after week! My name is Sam Reetz and I’m on a mission to help restore public trust. This is a space where I look closer at moments of global and national significance to show you how cycles of misinformation and disinformation disorient communities.

• Probable Cause is an XR civic education gaming experience that puts you in the driver’s seat to explore issues of public safety from community-centered perspectives. Route 24 is its companion newsletter that invites you to explore our creative process on the project as we build, deconstructing the real-world impact of policies and practices in transportation infrastructure, immigration reform, environmental justice, racial equity, and more to jumpstart public awareness and, in turn, mobilize narrative change.

• Scenic Route usually parks in your inbox on Saturdays (except tonight!) to merge the lanes of immersive storytelling and politics and help you find a better view.

• Every follow, share, and subscription helps to keep this work going and reach the people the mainstream media often misses. For riders in a position to financially contribute, your dollars support the creative team with the critical resources needed to iterate, travel, and scale. **Become a paid or founding subscriber during Cyber Week (until December 8) to help jumpstart the wish list for Probable Cause.**

• Thank you for joining me on this road! Start your engines…

  Subscribe now

  Share Route 24

In this issue: How do you make a hybrid story environment feel as though the sequences are happening in real time? Since first embarking on this road to make Probable Cause, I’ve often considered how best to invite an audience into the experience in a way that motivates deeper inquiry around issues of public safety without inducing trauma.

On Friday, I attended a screening of The Voice of Hind Rajab. It’s a deeply moving interpretation of Hind Rajab’s story and the stories of countless others. It’s also a masterclass in craft, offering perspective and moral clarity amid a climate of chaos. Here Kaouther Ben Hania intuitively sources live audio and footage of first responders on the line with Hind to invite the audience to, as she so eloquently phrased it, “bear witness” to what happened to Hind Rajab, so that her story is remembered and similar incidents do not repeat in the future.

Back in June, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) sourced the voice notes function on WhatsApp and their Instagram Broadcast channel to explore the refugee experience in the lead up to World Refugee Day. Here technology took a backseat and user-generated content was integrated into the experience as participants voted daily on how the dramatization should develop, specifically which actions the characters, Alaa and Ibra, should take on their journey.

Both hybrid storytelling approaches simulate the feeling that the events are unfolding in the present, moment-to-moment, pulling you into the experience with sound.

To help you better understand our approach to world building, I shared a scene from Probable Cause that introduces you to how we similarly immerse the audience by sourcing live audio.

Share your thoughts! Which approach do you think feels most immersive?

Leave a comment

I’m currently preparing for a demo of our functional prototype later this week, so thank you for your patience as this issue of Scenic Route parks in your inbox a day late.

As always, thank you for riding with Route 24 and I’ll see you back here on Tuesday for some driver’s ed on decision science.

Stay the course,

Sam

Sam Reetz, is a filmmaker, performer, and founder at Millennial Ethics, creating narrative solutions to complex issues.

Follow her work on Bluesky, Substack and Instagram.

Missed out on the latest issue of Driver’s Ed? Get up to speed here.

Go see and support Kaouther Ben Hania’s lyrical and resonant film however you’re able. The Voice of Hind Rajab releases December 17.

Route 24, published twice weekly on Tuesday and Saturday evenings, is a civic education project powered by Millennial Ethics Productions.

Route 24 has a new schedule! All forthcoming issues of this newsletter will be published twice weekly on Tuesday and Saturday evenings given tight project deadlines in the lead up to year end. It’s my hope that adjusting to this weekday/weekend publishing cadence as the holidays approach will afford our readership the space to stay up to speed on our latest happenings.

Please be sure follow Route 24 on Notes for real-time updates.

The Route 24 Roadmap

• If you’re new here, welcome! If you’ve been here since day one, thanks for showing up week after week! My name is Sam Reetz and I’m on a mission to help restore public trust. This is a space where I look closer at moments of global and national significance to show you how cycles of misinformation and disinformation disorient communities.

• Probable Cause is an XR civic education gaming experience that puts you in the driver’s seat to explore issues of public safety from community-centered perspectives. Route 24 is its companion newsletter that invites you to explore our creative process on the project as we build, deconstructing the real-world impact of policies and practices in transportation infrastructure, immigration reform, environmental justice, racial equity, and more to jumpstart public awareness and, in turn, mobilize narrative change.

• Driver’s Ed is a weekly column that parks in your inbox on Tuesday evenings to shift your gears on key policy debates and test drive people-powered solutions.

• Every follow, share, and subscription helps to keep this work going and reach the people the mainstream media often misses. For riders in a position to financially contribute, your dollars support the creative team with the critical resources needed to iterate, travel, and scale. **Become a paid or founding subscriber during Cyber Week (until December 8) to help jumpstart the wish list for Probable Cause.**

• Thank you for joining me on this road! Start your engines….

  Subscribe now

  Share Route 24

CYBER WEEK SPECIAL OFFER: RECEIVE 24% OFF ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS!

Upgrade or gift an annual subscription to Route 24 during Cyber Week (until 11:59 PM PT on Monday, December 8) and you’ll receive 24% off individual and group (4 or more) annual subscriptions plus help to jumpstart the Probable Cause wish list.

Redeem Cyber Week Special Offer

In this issue: While in New York last month for Media Literacy Week, I listened in on a powerful keynote presentation by . Though proximate to the dangers of media spin, Michelle offered practical solutions anyone could apply to improve their media consumption habits. Specifically, Michelle emphasized these key considerations when evaluating and assessing information sources:

• Who made this and why was it made?

• What techniques are used to communicate the message?

• How does this make me feel?

• How might different people interpret this message differently?

The field of decision science offers a logic-based approach to explain why people make specific choices. It suggests who benefits from a given outcome. It intersects economics, psychology, and computer science to analyze and determine situational context and predict better standards and practices within existing systems.

If you’re wondering what a lettuce farmer in rural Arizona might have in common with an autonomous vehicle founder in urban San Francisco, I’ll spend the next few weeks deconstructing the pathways that inform media literacy and decision-making in daily life. From the history of hysteria to the bro culture of podcasts and the influence of affordability narratives, my goal is for you to reach year end with a heightened awareness of why politics, storytelling, and technology are inextricably linked and shape moral clarity.

Please consider amplifying the Dream Defenders’ C.R.E.A.M campaign and donating to Dignity and Power Now’s food assistance initiative this Giving Tuesday.

As always, thank you for joining me on this road. I’ll see you back in this space on Saturday night for the scenic route.

Stay the course,

Sam

Sam Reetz, is a filmmaker, performer, and founder at Millennial Ethics, creating narrative solutions to complex issues.

Follow her work on Bluesky, Substack and Instagram.

Route 24, published twice weekly on Tuesday and Saturday evenings, is a civic education project powered by Millennial Ethics Productions.

• If you’re new here, welcome! If you’ve been here since day one, thanks for showing up week after week! My name is Sam and I’m on a mission to help restore public trust. This is a space where I look closer at moments of global and national significance to show you how cycles of misinformation and disinformation disorient communities.

• Probable Cause is an XR civic education gaming experience that puts you in the driver’s seat to explore issues of public safety from community-centered perspectives. Route 24 is its companion newsletter that invites you to explore our creative process on the project as we build, deconstructing the real-world impact of policies and practices in transportation infrastructure, immigration reform, environmental justice, racial equity, and more to jumpstart public awareness and, in turn, mobilize narrative change.

• Scenic Route is a weekly column that parks in your inbox on Saturdays to merge the lanes of emerging technology, immersive storytelling, and politics and help you find a better view.

• Every follow, share, and subscription helps to keep this work going and reach the people the mainstream media often misses. For riders in a position to financially contribute, your dollars support the creative team with the critical resources needed to iterate, travel, and scale.

• Thank you for joining me on this road! Start your engines….

  Subscribe now

  Share Route 24

IN THIS ISSUE: What makes a scene feel kinetic? I spent some time on my flight to New York considering what drives momentum in a scene— the thing that happens in a sequence that makes you want to keep watching. The most obvious examples usually exist in the horror and action-adventure genres: those moments that make you say, “don’t do that!” and then, of course, the person goes and does exactly that. It’s these inciting incidents that rev up the emotional engines of the audience, making each viewer feel as though they know more than the character playing the scene. In this issue, I write about some of those kinetic techniques and devices and how they’re sourced in Probable Cause.

Earlier this week, I rounded out Route 24’s Driver’s Ed series on inclusive education with a focus on its global impact. In case you missed it, get up to speed here.

As always, thanks for taking a ride on Route 24! I’ll see you back on this road on Tuesday for a new topic: decision science.

Stay the course,

Sam

Sam Reetz, is a filmmaker, performer, and founder at Millennial Ethics, creating narrative solutions to complex issues.

Follow her work on Bluesky, Substack and Instagram.

In Philip Koch’s mystery-thriller film, Brick, a Tetris-like wall creates literal movement from one sequence to the next. Set across multiple floors in an apartment building with a programmable wall as their main obstacle, tensions build between tenants in the building as they search for a viable exit route.

In Jordan Scott’s psychological thriller-drama, A Sacrifice, a person’s vulnerabilities create momentum in each scene. Here it’s the collective vulnerabilities of an expert, a detective, a college student, and a cult recruiter that intersect to reveal the manipulative tactics of a cult leader.

In Benjamin Gutsche’s sci-fi-thriller-horror series, Cassandra, and in Tony Basgallop’s thriller series, The Consultant, momentum between sequences is driven by third party control as a physical presence. In Cassandra, the namesake character - once a matriarch, now a domestic artificial intelligence - directly controls the situational outcomes of whomever she comes into contact with. In The Consultant, a third party hire assumes operational control of a gaming company in crisis, directly affecting the situational outcomes of the staff he comes into contact with.

In the world building of Probable Cause, we combine each kinetic approach to move scenes forward. We source literal movement using key features from transportation and policing infrastructure (e.g., a traffic light or a police checkpoint). We source psychological movement by introducing each player to different situational contexts, where decision outcomes are directly impacted by that player’s preexisting vulnerabilities. We source physical control mechanisms in the interactions between characters and players, as each decision that helps a player to advance in the game is controlled by their dialogue choices.

What examples of kinetic scenes come to mind for you? I’ll share your responses in next week’s issue.

Do you or someone you know write about filmmaking on Substack? Introduce yourself and what you write about or share a FilmStack you’d recommend.

Route 24, published twice weekly on Tuesday and Saturday evenings, is a civic education project powered by Millennial Ethics Productions.

Route 24 has a new schedule and will now be published twice weekly on Tuesday and Saturday evenings given tight project deadlines in the lead up to year end. I hope adjusting to a weekday/weekend publishing cadence as the holidays approach will afford our readership the space to stay up to speed on our latest happenings.

The Route 24 Roadmap

• If you’re new here, welcome! If you’ve been here since day one, thanks for showing up week after week! My name is Sam and I’m on a mission to help restore public trust. This is a space where I look closer at moments of global and national significance to show you how cycles of misinformation and disinformation disorient communities.

• Probable Cause is an XR civic education gaming experience that puts you in the driver’s seat to explore issues of public safety from community-centered perspectives. Route 24 is its companion newsletter that invites you to explore our creative process on the project as we build, deconstructing the real-world impact of policies and practices in transportation infrastructure, immigration reform, environmental justice, racial equity, and more to jumpstart public awareness and, in turn, mobilize narrative change.

• Driver’s Ed is a weekly column that parks in your inbox on Tuesdays to shift your gears on key policy debates and test drive people-powered solutions.

• Every follow, share, and subscription helps to keep this work going and reach the people the mainstream media often misses. For riders in a position to financially contribute, your dollars support the creative team with the critical resources needed to iterate, travel, and scale.

• Thank you for joining me on this road! Start your engines….

  Subscribe now

  

IN THIS ISSUE: To better understand how inclusive education is applied in a global context, it’s important to first understand the key principles of all humanitarian actions: humanity, impartiality, neutrality, and independence.

More broadly, if global education policy is intended to establish a replicable framework for social and economic advancement, then these humanitarian principles outline the consistent set of values that better equip nation states for crisis response. Expanding on the preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that mandates the inherent rights and freedoms of all individuals, global inclusive education signals a commitment to upholding freedom, justice, and peace across jurisdictions.

As the primary driver of all humanitarian action, humanity represents a willingness to save lives, protect dignity, and prevent suffering. Impartiality represents that such action is afforded to instances of urgent crisis regardless of nationality, class, race, gender, political opinion, or religion. Neutrality represents that humanitarian action is in direct response to critical need and not tied to a third-party agenda. Independence represents that such action is not influenced, in whole or part, by external control factors.

While these guidelines set a precedent for humanitarian action, interpersonal connections also serve as educational drivers of global impact. Berna Turam’s The Geopolitics of Fear: From Security to Solidarity at Europe’s Racial Borders emphasizes the role emotion plays in public safety and trust building for displaced migrant communities living in border cities near ports along European refugee routes. Similarly, a recent report on global youth protests emphasized how emotion is utilized as a mobilization tool across social media platforms to limit corruption and facilitate policy change, accountability, and equality.

Two case studies further indicate inclusive education’s capacity for global impact:

(1) the Tibetan Children’s Village’s approach to inclusive curriculum design, Tibetan cultural preservation, and legacy building.

and (2) Timothy Snyder’s call-to-action to help preserve academic freedom in higher education.

Thinking about...

Save American Higher Education (video)

Dear Friends, One of the many wrongs of this last week has been an attempt by the Trump administration to destroy American higher education: by way of “compacts” in which universities and other institutions would sacrifice their independence and the freedoms of the students, staff and faculty in exchange for essentially nothing — a meaningless assurance…

Listen now

7 months ago · 2264 likes · 41 comments · Timothy Snyder

Our next stop involves decision science. I’ll see you back on this road on Saturday.

Stay the course,

Sam

#StoriesDefineUs is a digital campaign from Millennial Ethics about the importance of storytelling for the public good — of sharing people-powered stories that help or benefit everyone.

Last week, we shared perspectives on Instagram that reflected the communities that helped to shape our personal values across cultures and generations.

We welcome you to share your stories, too! Explore our messaging toolkit for more ways to inspire collective action in your community.

Repost the #StoriesDefineUs Teaser

Watch & Share: #StoriesDefineUs

Sam Reetz, is a filmmaker, performer, and founder at Millennial Ethics, creating narrative solutions to complex issues.

Follow her work on Bluesky, Substack and Instagram.

In Case You Missed It — Revisit Seatbelts, Everyone! and The Road Less Traveled in this Driver’s Ed series on inclusive education.

• Learning for Justice - Inclusive Educational Resources

  • Education Justice

  • What is Social Justice Education?

  • The Promise of Inclusive Education

  • Inclusive Classroom Facilitation Model

Help me jumpstart the conversation. How could inclusive education be applied where you live? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Leave a comment

Route 24, published twice weekly on Tuesday and Saturday evenings, is a civic education project powered by Millennial Ethics Productions.

• If you’re new here, welcome! If you’ve been here since day one, thanks for showing up week after week! My name is Sam and I’m on a mission to help restore public trust. This is a space where I look closer at moments of global and national significance to show you how cycles of misinformation and disinformation disorient communities.

• Probable Cause is an XR civic education gaming experience that puts you in the driver’s seat to explore issues of public safety from community-centered perspectives. Route 24 is its companion newsletter that invites you to explore our creative process on the project as we build, deconstructing the real-world impact of policies and practices in transportation infrastructure, immigration reform, environmental justice, racial equity, and more to jumpstart public awareness and, in turn, mobilize narrative change.

• Driver’s Ed is a weekly column that parks in your inbox on Mondays to shift your gears on key policy debates and test drive people-powered solutions.

• Every follow, share, and subscription helps to keep this work going and reach the people the mainstream media often misses. For riders in a position to financially contribute, your dollars support the creative team with the critical resources needed to iterate, travel, and scale.

• Thank you for joining me on this road! Start your engines….

  Subscribe now

IN THIS ISSUE: Imagine if children today could cultivate collaboration, embrace curiosity, engage in evidence-based thinking, and explore solutions with a hands-on approach to learning. When I was growing up, one after-school program on PBS Kids did exactly that. The Magic School Bus took viewers on immersive field trips to make science education fun and accessible to everyone. Told through the lens of a boundary-pushing teacher, Ms. Frizzle, students were challenged in each show to build a hypothesis, test it, and work together to solve a problem.

As I reflect on today’s ecosystem, I have to ask: is it just me or do you think children today are less encouraged to think critically? Perhaps what’s motivating more reactive rather than introspective logic are the surrounding circumstances for most children: the correlation between youth digital dependency and loneliness, the increasing restrictions on what children are allowed to read, or the need for active shooter drills in school safety plans. Of course, most families must also contend with a worsening affordability crisis, military deployment in American cities, and the increased frequency of government censorship. None of these issues were top-of-mind when I was growing up.

In this issue, I address the persistent problems inclusive curriculum design helps to solve. As today marks the first day of autumn, I wish everyone observing Rosh Hashanah and participating in the United Nations General Assembly and Climate Week a peaceful convening.

I’ve been gearing up for an ambitious slate of project meetings while rushing to meet the moment in an especially deadline happy September. As a result, our circulation schedule has been sporadic lately, but I’m grateful to this community for sticking with me.

Stay the course,

Sam

Sam Reetz, is a filmmaker, performer, and founder at Millennial Ethics, creating narrative solutions to complex issues.

Follow her work on Bluesky, Substack and Instagram.

The current administration’s recent announcement of the America 250 Civics Education Coalition, an America First Policy Institute initiative to develop programming in celebration of the United States’ 250th anniversary, should deeply concern any person with an understanding of pro-democracy values. Under the guise of educating campus coalitions on “patriotism”, it signals an attempt to advance the MAGA agenda through the lens of selective memory. Consider how the Trump administration has erased climate and policing databases, issued executive orders to report signage in National Parks that portray America in “a negative light”, and called for the internal review of Smithsonian Institution collections that “portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive.” I encourage you to listen to Kimberlé Crenshaw’s recent interview on Laura Flanders & Friends for the full social and cultural context.

Given the current administration’s ongoing list of oppressive actions, it’s human to feel scared and demoralized. That said, there’s significant evidence to suggest that these displays are intended to create a climate of fear to inhibit dissenting voices and embolden extremist perspectives. It’s worth noting that collective action and humor are powerful antidotes to fear-driven politics.

Within the context of inclusive curriculum design, there’s an exercise that helps to explain solutions-based thinking between differing experiences. In “I Wish You Knew”, students work together in pairs to tell one another something they wish the other knew about them, with the end goal of helping each student have a better understanding of one another. Here’s an example: Wanda takes the bus to school every day. Arnold carpools to school every day. Though Wanda and Arnold use different methods to arrive at school, both Wanda and Arnold learn that they have a shared routine: they wake up an hour earlier than their peers to get to school on time. This exercise helps to develop empathy and critical observation skills, connecting students with differing experiences and encouraging them to look for common ground. More broadly, inclusive curriculum design has implications for civics literacy to help bridge persistent social, cultural, and partisan divides as a dialogue-driven tool for pro-democracy capacity building.

Next week, I’ll address inclusive education’s potential for global impact.

In Case You Missed It — Revisit last week’s Driver’s Ed issue, the first part in this series on inclusive education.

• Learning for Justice - Inclusive Educational Resources

  • Education Justice

  • What is Social Justice Education?

  • The Promise of Inclusive Education

  • Inclusive Classroom Facilitation Model

Help me jumpstart the conversation. How could inclusive education be applied where you live? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Leave a comment

Route 24, published twice weekly on Monday and Friday evenings, is a civic education project powered by Millennial Ethics Productions.

• If you’re new here, welcome! If you’ve been here since day one, thanks for showing up week after week! My name is Sam and I’m on a mission to help restore public trust. This is a space where I look closer at moments of global and national significance to show you how cycles of misinformation and disinformation disorient communities.

• Probable Cause is an XR civic education gaming experience that puts you in the driver’s seat to explore issues of public safety from community-centered perspectives. Route 24 is its companion newsletter that invites you to explore our creative process on the project as we build, deconstructing the real-world impact of policies and practices in transportation infrastructure, immigration reform, environmental justice, racial equity, and more to jumpstart public awareness and, in turn, mobilize narrative change.

• Driver’s Ed is a weekly column that parks in your inbox on Mondays to shift your gears on key policy debates and test drive people-powered solutions.

• Every follow, share, and subscription helps to keep this work going and reach the people the mainstream media often misses. For riders in a position to financially contribute, your dollars support the creative team with the critical resources needed to iterate, travel, and scale.

• Thank you for joining me on this road! Start your engines….

  Subscribe now

IN THIS ISSUE: Inclusive education is an approach to learning that encourages deeper personal inquiry, creating a safe space to challenge existing assumptions and explore new ways of thinking.

Yet, the lack of its widespread adoption across curriculums defies logic. Considering its use case in course correcting individual and collective predispositions towards hate and extremism, I spent much of the past few weeks reflecting on why this tool has remained underutilized.

To bring you up-to-speed on the full policy debate, I define what inclusive education is and why it’s perceived as controversial. Next week, I’ll address the persistent problems it helps to solve and its potential for global impact.

Stay the course,

Sam

Sam Reetz, is a filmmaker, performer, and founder at Millennial Ethics, creating narrative solutions to complex issues.

Follow her work on Bluesky, Substack and Instagram.

Inclusive education is a representative approach to curriculum design, offering pathways that challenge how we feel in order to change how we think. It acknowledges the full tapestry of histories that have shaped the identities and cultures of the American public.

By introducing a more community-centered framework that helps to educate students and faculty that may not be directly affected by issues such as ableism, ageism, poverty, police brutality, homophobia, racism, sexism, transphobia, violence, and xenophobia, there is a well documented tendency for the non-affected to politicize the narrative and label inclusive education models as controversial. Within the broader context of American democracy, creating roadblocks to educational access due to an inability to directly relate to the subject matter limits an individual from thinking critically about situations they may not otherwise ever encounter.

Next week, I’ll explain the persistent problems inclusive education models help to solve and address global education considerations.

In Case You Missed It — To mark Route 24’s one year milestone this September, I’ve been sharing some of our first posts. Head over to Notes for the full recap.

• Learning for Justice - Inclusive Educational Resources

  https://www.learningforjustice.org/the-learning-center/education-justice

  https://www.learningforjustice.org/magazine/what-is-social-justice-education

  https://www.learningforjustice.org/magazine/fall-2023/the-promise-of-inclusive-education

  https://www.learningforjustice.org/inclusive-classroom-facilitation-model

I want to know what you think! How could inclusive education be applied where you live? Let me know in the comments.

Leave a comment

Route 24, published twice weekly on Monday and Friday evenings, is a civic education project powered by Millennial Ethics Productions.

A note on newsletter circulation: I post the latest updates for Route 24 in the Notes section rather than have any scheduling changes park in your inbox. If you have feedback you’d like to share, such as ideas for what you’d like to see in that space, please leave a comment or send an e-mail my way: route24@substack.com.

The Route 24 Roadmap

• I’m on a mission to help restore public trust. This is where I look closer at moments of global and national significance to show how cycles of misinformation and disinformation disorient communities.

• Probable Cause is an XR civic education gaming experience that puts you in the driver’s seat during a routine traffic stop. Route 24 is its companion newsletter that invites you to explore our creative process on the project as we build, deconstructing traffic stop data, policing trends, and their community impact to jumpstart public awareness and, in turn, mobilize narrative change.

• Driver’s Ed parks in your inbox on Mondays to shift your gears on key policy debates and test drive people-powered solutions.

• Here’s where you come in. Every follow, share, and subscription helps to keep this work going and reach the people the mainstream media often misses. For riders in a position to financially contribute, your dollars support the creative team with the critical resources needed to iterate, travel, and scale.

  Start your engines…

  Subscribe now

  Share Route 24

In this issue: It’s April 1916. 23 women from The Congressional Union for Women Suffrage (CU) board a train at Washington D.C.’s Union Station and embark on a five-week tour to recruit women voters residing in the West. These rides became known as the “Suffrage Special”.

Then it’s the spring of 1961. The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) organizes interracial trips with civil rights activists along interstate routes on public transit to test the limits of Jim Crow laws in the South. These rides became known as the “Freedom Rides”.

Both the Suffrage Special and Freedom Rides were organized using transportation as the pathway to future progress. Given recent rollbacks on public safety, such as the federalizing of the D.C. police, the redistricting in Texas, and the targeted ICE raids in California, it’s worth considering how urban design, transit policy, and community organizing intersect to improve our moral navigation.

Stay the course,

Sam

Sam Reetz, is a filmmaker, performer, and founder at Millennial Ethics, creating narrative solutions to complex issues.

Follow her work on Bluesky, Substack and Instagram.

Traffic School

• Michigan’s “Fair and Reasonable” Reforms Allowed Car Insurers to Charge More in Black Neighborhoods

• The SEPTA funding debate digs up Pennsylvania’s perennial rural-vs.-urban divide

• The Feds' hidden immigration weapon: Virginia's surveillance network

• Trucks Entering Alligator Alcatraz Are Hiding Their Logos, DOT Numbers

Driving Test

Further Reading:

The Dworkin Report

21 Years Later, Obama's Speech Still Has A Message Everyone Needs To Hear

A NOTE FROM SCOTT…

Read more

10 months ago · 1874 likes · 111 comments · Bob Ewing

• NYC Subway Geyser Caused By Ancient Manhattan Stream

• ‘Memification of Politics’: What to Know About Jubilee Media’s Viral Debate Show, Surrounded

• The Great Dismantling

• Galvanized by Trump, These States Are Passing Harsh New Laws Against Immigrants

Route 24, published twice weekly on Monday and Friday evenings, is a civic education project powered by Millennial Ethics Productions.

• I’m on a mission to help restore public trust. This is where I look closer at moments of global and national significance to show how cycles of misinformation and disinformation disorient communities.

• Probable Cause is an XR civic education gaming experience that puts you in the driver’s seat during a routine traffic stop. Route 24 is its companion newsletter that invites you to explore our creative process on the project as we build, deconstructing traffic stop data, policing trends, and their community impact to jumpstart public awareness and, in turn, mobilize narrative change.

• Driver’s Ed parks in your inbox on Mondays to shift your gears on key policy debates and test drive people-powered solutions.

• Here’s where you come in. Every follow, share, and subscription helps to keep this work going and reach the people the mainstream media often misses. For riders in a position to financially contribute, your dollars support the creative team with the critical resources needed to iterate, travel, and scale. Start your engines…

  Subscribe now

In this issue: In 1965, James Baldwin debated William F. Buckley on the subject of civil rights and the American Dream in a televised session at Cambridge Union. ’s latest social experiment is reminiscent of the Baldwin-Buckley debate, as Hasan assesses the extent to which it’s possible to encourage critical thinking about democracy within MAGA ideology. It’s worth noting that this debate seems more focused on what the opponent’s position might be rather than a more detailed defense of personal viewpoint.

Stay the course,

Sam

Sam Reetz, is a filmmaker, performer, and founder at Millennial Ethics, creating narrative solutions to complex issues.

Follow her work on Bluesky, Substack and Instagram.

Route 24, published twice weekly on Monday and Friday evenings, is a civic education project powered by Millennial Ethics Productions.

• I’m on a mission to help restore public trust. This is where I look closer at moments of global and national significance to show how cycles of misinformation and disinformation disorient communities.

• Probable Cause is an XR civic education gaming experience that puts you in the driver’s seat during a routine traffic stop. Route 24 is its companion newsletter that invites you to explore our creative process on the project as we build, deconstructing traffic stop data, policing trends, and their community impact to jumpstart public awareness and, in turn, mobilize narrative change.

• Scenic Route parks in your inbox on Fridays to merge the lanes of immersive storytelling and politics and help you find a better view.

• Here’s where you come in. Every follow, share, and subscription helps to keep this work going and reach the people the mainstream media often misses. For riders in a position to financially contribute, your dollars support the creative team with the critical resources needed to iterate, travel, and scale. Start your engines…

  Subscribe now

In this issue: One of the first languages I grew up hearing was Portuguese — the language my grandmother would speak to me in. Although today my fluency in English far surpasses my Portuguese proficiency, when I first read Fernando Henrique Cardoso’s memoir, The Accidental President of Brasil, his description of the adage — jeitinho — held such resonance. Jeitinho signals a way of navigating around persistent roadblocks — of manifesting seemingly impossible goals — something that’s deeply embedded within Brasil’s culture. Much like the country’s slogan, Ordem e Progresso, it is an interpretation of French philosopher Auguste Comte’s positivist mantra, and one that echoes the spirit of Bastille Day, “Love as the beginning, and order as the base; progress as the end.”

On Monday, I attended a screening of Petra Costa’s Apocalypse in the Tropics. With a narrative steadiness that juxtaposes current affairs and biblical fine art, Petra Costa and Alessandra Orofino reveal how the strategies deployed by Bolsonaro loyalists and the MAGA base are eerily similar, particularly in how both have glorified demagogues and galvanized evangelical constituencies. Considering the implications of the recent Colbert Show cancellation and the defunding of public media, it seems the U.S. could benefit from a closer look at the lessons from Brasil’s body politic.

On the anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s birthday, I’m reminded of the power of music to speak volumes where words alone fall short. In my time at Wadham, we upheld a tradition first instituted by the student union in 1984 to end every school dance with The Specials song, “Nelson Mandela” — a tribute to Mandela’s legacy of resisting South African apartheid.

If you’re not familiar, give it a listen here:

My challenge to you, dear road warriors, is to embrace a moment of jeitinho this weekend. Please share your thoughts with me when you do.

As always, thank you for coming along for the ride!

Stay the course,

Sam

Sam Reetz, is a filmmaker, performer, and founder at Millennial Ethics, creating narrative solutions to complex issues.

Follow her work on Bluesky, Substack and Instagram.

*Note: I’ve chosen to use the Portuguese spelling for any and all mentions of Brasil rather than the English spelling (Brazil).

New Features! A few weeks ago I interviewed with Canvas Rebel and The NYWIFT Podcast to discuss our work and mission at Millennial Ethics and this publication. Thank you to the NYWIFT and Canvas Rebel teams for the opportunity! Explore the full story at the links.

Canvas Rebel Feature

Route 24, published twice weekly on Monday and Friday evenings, is a civic education project powered by Millennial Ethics Productions.

• I’m on a mission to help restore public trust. This is where I look closer at moments of global and national significance to show how cycles of misinformation and disinformation disorient communities.

• Probable Cause is an XR civic education gaming experience that puts you in the driver’s seat during a routine traffic stop. Route 24 is its companion newsletter that invites you to explore our creative process on the project as we build, deconstructing traffic stop data, policing trends, and their community impact to jumpstart public awareness and, in turn, mobilize narrative change.

• Scenic Route parks in your inbox on Fridays to merge the lanes of immersive storytelling and politics and help you find a better view.

• Here’s where you come in. Every follow, share, and subscription helps to keep this work going and reach the people the mainstream media often misses. For riders in a position to financially contribute, your dollars support the creative team with the critical resources needed to iterate, travel, and scale.

  Start your engines…

  Subscribe now

In this issue: I often get asked at industry events: “So, what are you watching?” The question is a cliché, but it does give you a crash course in a person’s creative sensibility. In truth, much of what I spend time consuming (when I do have downtime - which is usually quite rare, though I’ve relished in much more it of lately) are classics. I’ve enjoyed relearning the art of suspense from Alfred Hitchcock Presents, a format emulated (in part) by another pioneer in Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities.

America has entered its Hitchcock era caused by The Man Who Didn’t Know Enough. Consider the moral devolution of American leadership, the extent to which America has become a police state ( and specifically, a reproductive police state), the case of Jabari Peoples, and the legal context of birthright citizenship and you realize that the American public is living their daily lives on the edge of their seat.

It’s prime time for a U-turn. Given that today is International Day of Hope and that His Holiness the Dalai Lama recently celebrated 90 trips around the sun amid a time of global overwhelm, it felt prescient to reflect on a conversation I heard back in 2021 between the Dalai Lama and Greta Thunberg. I find the most authentic storytelling to be driven by candid conversations. May it inspire you to proceed from a place of deeper personal inquiry and enlightenment.

Stay the course,

Sam

Sam Reetz, is a filmmaker, performer, and founder at Millennial Ethics, creating narrative solutions to complex issues.

Follow her work on Bluesky, Substack and Instagram.

Route 24, published twice weekly on Monday and Friday evenings, is a civic education project powered by Millennial Ethics Productions.

New to Route 24? Get up-to-speed with our latest stops:

Share Route 24

The Route 24 Roadmap

• I’m on a mission to help restore public trust. This is where I look closer at moments of global and national significance to show how cycles of misinformation and disinformation disorient communities.

• Probable Cause is an XR civic education gaming experience that puts you in the driver’s seat during a routine traffic stop. Route 24 is its companion newsletter that invites you to explore our creative process on the project as we build, deconstructing traffic stop data, policing trends, and their community impact to jumpstart public awareness and, in turn, mobilize narrative change.

• Driver’s Ed parks in your inbox on Mondays to shift your gears on key policy debates and test drive people-powered solutions.

• Here’s where you come in. Every follow, share, and subscription helps to keep this work going and reach the people the mainstream media often misses. For riders in a position to financially contribute, your dollars support the creative team with the critical resources needed to iterate, travel, and scale.

  Start your engines…

Subscribe now

In this issue: Growing up in South Florida during the 1990’s, I used to spend countless hours outdoors playing in the street with other children from the neighborhood. Our imaginations ran wild. We’d put on outdoor plays, color on sidewalks with chalk, play hopscotch, and ride our tricycles around the block in search of the nearest ice cream truck. If a family had access to a swimming pool, that’s where we’d spend a summer afternoon - pretending we were mermaids. It was entirely unstructured playtime and it was so much fun!

Somewhere between now and then the way children engage with play shifted gears. Whether due to highly structured schedules, climate concerns, or digital dependency, children today don’t spend as much time playing outdoors as they once did.

Yet, people-powered strategies are figuring out ways to game the system. A recent social experiment in Bristol, for instance, suggests a use case for street closures to incentivize outdoor playtime. Similarly, among Gen Z and Gen Alpha, an appstinence movement is emerging to encourage more IRL social connections. It’s also important to note the extent to which these initiatives have a direct impact on children’s critical thinking skills.

My thoughts are with communities displaced by flooding in Texas, and with that top of mind, I encourage you to support Friends of NOAA.

Stay the course,

Sam

Sam Reetz, is a filmmaker, performer, and founder at Millennial Ethics, creating narrative solutions to complex issues.

Follow her work on Bluesky, Substack and Instagram.

Playing in the Street

• The Bristol Experiment - In June 2009, parents living in the Greville Road area of Bristol petitioned for road closures to traffic for two-hour windows after school. The social experiment explored what local neighborhood children would do without time, space, or permission constraints. The result? More opportunities for social connection between adults and children local to the neighborhood through unstructured outdoor playtime. Read the full study.

Blend Line

• More “Appstinence” — Gabriela Nguyen founded Appstinence to course-correct the high digital dependency inherent to Genz Z and Gen Alpha. Using the 5D Method to incrementally reduce a user’s screen time, Nguyen encourages more IRL social connections. Read more at In The Loop.

  In The Loop by #HalfTheStory

  Nostalgic Tech Takeover 📞📻

  The best purchases are usually the ones that lead us back to the basics. And even with new iPhone models and crazy developments in AI, sometimes all we crave is a BlackBerry. That’s right– the phone that hit the stage in the early 2000s has made a comeback, at least in the minds of Gen Z…

  Read more

  10 months ago · 3 likes · #HalfTheStory

Course Record

While outdoor playtime is mission critical to the development of interpersonal skills, it’s also worth considering what more hybrid, experiential playtime might inspire in young minds?

During this year’s Summer Game Fest, I attended the inaugural The Game Business LIVE event, which featured strategic insights from thought leaders across the gaming industry.

One of the insights that most resonated with me highlighted the differences in game design for children compared with adults. Children often have higher design standards for native mobile and web applications given their higher level of digital fluency.

Christopher’s Substack, , is a useful resource to anyone interested in learning more about game development and distribution.

Game On! During the first weekend in April 2025, “A Minecraft Movie”, starring Jack Black and Jason Momoa, grossed $157 million at the box office. It was considered the biggest opening weekend of 2025 at the time and the biggest U.S. opening weekend for a film based on a video game.

Route 24, published twice weekly on Monday and Friday evenings, is a civic education project powered by Millennial Ethics Productions.

Happy Fourth, Road Warriors! Since this Substack started, this community has applied various driving terms — passengers, riders, drivers, navigators, etc. — to define our vision and mission. I recently came across the term road warrior, which usually refers to frequent business travelers. It seems fitting to apply the term on Independence Day as we reflect on our collective commitment to reinforcing the pillars of American democracy.

The Route 24 Roadmap

• I’m on a mission to help restore public trust. This is where I look closer at moments of global and national significance to show how cycles of misinformation and disinformation disorient communities.

• Probable Cause is an XR civic education gaming experience that puts you in the driver’s seat during a routine traffic stop. Route 24 is its companion newsletter that invites you to explore our creative process on the project as we build, deconstructing traffic stop data, policing trends, and their community impact to jumpstart public awareness and, in turn, mobilize narrative change.

• Scenic Route parks in your inbox on Fridays to merge the lanes of immersive storytelling and politics and help you find a better view.

• Here’s where you come in. Every follow, share, and subscription helps to keep this work going and reach the people the mainstream media often misses. For riders in a position to financially contribute, your dollars support the creative team with the critical resources needed to iterate, travel, and scale.

Start your engines…

Subscribe now

In this issue: This time last year I reflected on the state of American values.

I’ve spent much of today reflecting on how our relationship to American iconography has shifted gears over time. To some, it represents calculable losses. To others, it represents the promise of the American Dream.

When the American flag was first constructed in 1777, the colors assigned were not chosen for symbolism. However, with the American flag’s evolution from 1777-1960, the colors of the flag came to represent the pursuit of valor, purity, and justice.1

It’s difficult to identify the logic flow in passing legislation that will deprive 8.6 million (13.7 million cumulatively) individuals of their access to affordable healthcare by 2034 as a choice made to honor valor, purity, or justice. In fact, a Gallup poll indicated national pride in the U.S. is at its lowest and a recent Marist poll indicated that 76% of the American public feel American democracy is seriously threatened. Yet, recent electoral turnout for local candidates, such as Zohran Mamdani in New York, suggest the consistent high performance of Democratic Socialist candidates in large metropolitan areas.

It’s worth considering whether the social and cultural fragmentation between past and present will lead to the development of new American iconography and what that might look like. Until then, may we be bold enough to reclaim the narrative around what the American flag should represent.

Stay the course,

Sam

Sam Reetz, is a filmmaker, performer, and founder at Millennial Ethics, creating narrative solutions to complex issues.

Follow her work on Bluesky, Substack and Instagram.

Sign your name

In response to the results of the 2024 General Election, I announced Route 24’s Navigators Circle in November 2024. If this message resonates with you, sign your name at the link.

I also recommend you consider signing these open letters:

• The 75 Million

• We The Founders

• We Hold These Truths

Rest Stop

Arcade Alley

Arcade Alley gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at some of the gaming features and design approaches that have informed our creative process on Probable Cause.

At Generations United’s 2025 Global Intergenerational Conference in Louisville, I recently presented preliminary findings and playtested a version of our closed beta prototype for Probable Cause.

The goal was to gage participant reactions and players were motivated to make a series of personal choices to better assess their media consumption habits.

The enthusiasm for what we’ve built was exciting to witness, as was sharing insights with practitioners equally committed to exploring intergenerational solutions that meet the moment.

One of those practitioners: Artist Charles M. Williams. I spoke with Kentucky-based Williams who paints intergenerational scenes, often between grandparents and grandchildren, as they practice daily routines. One of my favorites of his paintings, “Colorful Lessons”, is an acrylic painting on canvas from 1995 illustrating a spontaneous moment between a grandfather and his grandson. The grandfather is seated to tie his shoelaces and his grandson brings over a coloring book. If you look closely, you’ll see that each person is coloring the other’s section in the book, representing the implicit power of intergenerational social connection.

Tread Lightly

Tread Lightly gives Route 24 readers a comedy pit stop.

On Monday, I asked: what would it look like if Carl Hiaasen’s “Skink” explained how wetlands worked to DeSantis (and Trump)?

If that conversation were to happen, it might look a bit like this:

Don’t Be Chum

SKINK: Ron…Don…Do you know how wetlands work?

DESANTIS: Sure, I’ve seen Swamp People.

SKINK: Thinking is overrated…

TRUMP: I spend a lot of time on the course. It’s a beautiful course. Really beautiful. I just had them do some landscaping on it, and now, it’s really stellar — and you know — very moist. That’s a nice question. Thank you.

SKINK: (A long pause. His glass eye rolls.)

Picture this, Don. You and Ron are hanging out on a giant sponge — that’s what the wetlands in Big Cypress are — nature’s sponge. And some government dude gets the smart idea to build an immigrant detention center on top of that sponge.

Whaddya think happens?!

When that swamp floods, let’s just say the alligator in “Alligator Alcatraz” really fits the bill.

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Note: I wrote this scene from a young adult lens, but Skink is a recurring character in both Hiaasen’s adult and young adult collections.

Route 24, published twice weekly on Monday and Friday evenings, is a civic education project powered by Millennial Ethics Productions.

If you’re new to Route 24, welcome! A special thank you to everyone who stopped by our session at Generations United 2025 and to our new wave of subscribers! It was fun to see everyone’s reactions and have insightful conversations about what we’re building. Swing by Friday for the full recap.

The Route 24 Roadmap

• I’m on a mission to help restore public trust. This is where I look closer at moments of global and national significance to show how cycles of misinformation and disinformation disorient communities.

• Probable Cause is an XR civic education gaming experience that puts you in the driver’s seat during a routine traffic stop. Route 24 is its companion newsletter that invites you to explore our creative process on the project as we build, deconstructing traffic stop data, policing trends, and their community impact to jumpstart public awareness and, in turn, mobilize narrative change.

• Driver’s Ed parks in your inbox on Mondays to shift your gears on key policy debates and test drive people-powered solutions.

• Here’s where you come in. Every follow, share, and subscription helps to keep this work going and reach the people the mainstream media often misses. For riders in a position to financially contribute, your dollars support the creative team with the critical resources needed to iterate, travel, and scale.

Start your engines…

Subscribe now

In this issue: If you’ve ever read Carl Hiaasen, then the odds are good you know about “Skink” — the former Florida governor who left politics to reside in the Everglades and crusade against the state’s overdevelopment. He’s a trip.

When I first saw the headlines about “Alligator Alcatraz”, I envisioned a conversation where Skink explains to DeSantis how wetlands work. Aside from the ethical implications of detaining migrants with no criminal record and building on tribal, federally protected jurisdiction, there’s also the high probability that a migrant detention center built near Big Cypress National Preserve — an area that’s more than 96% wetlands — could, quite literally, sink.

The science is clear. Wetlands serve as nature’s protective barrier for flood mitigation— absorbing, filtering, and releasing storm water in a sponge-like, controlled flow. Without wetlands, infrastructure is directly impacted by storm surge.

It’s getting late here in L.A., so I’m including links to help bring you up-to-speed on the latest in the Alligator Alcatraz debate.

Thank you, as always, for joining me on this road!

Stay the course,

Sam

Sam Reetz, is a filmmaker, performer, and founder at Millennial Ethics, creating narrative solutions to complex issues.

Follow her work on Bluesky, Substack and Instagram.

Swamp Justice

• Understanding The Alligator Alcatraz Debate: Treasure Coast’s Local Lens

• The Environmental Protection Agency Fact Sheet: Why Are Wetlands Important

• The Environmental Protection Agency Archives: Impacts of Construction Activities in Wetlands of the United States (1976)

Pen Strokes

Alligator Alcatraz

President Trump offered some wildly helpful escape advice Tuesday to anyone trying to flee his new Everglades detention center, fondly dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz”: “Don’t run in a straight line—zigzag!” Because when you’re evading deportation and a 500-pound reptile, style points matter…

Read more

10 months ago · 157 likes · 6 comments · Nick Anderson

Route 24, published twice weekly on Monday and Friday evenings, is a civic education project powered by Millennial Ethics Productions.

Welcome Back to Route 24! This week I’m presenting at Generations United’s 2025 Global Intergenerational Conference. Learn more about the conference agenda and what I’ll be presenting, or if you’ll also be attending in Louisville, please send me a message.

The Route 24 Roadmap

• I’m on a mission to help restore public trust. This is where I look closer at moments of global and national significance to show how cycles of misinformation and disinformation disorient communities.

• Probable Cause is an XR civic education gaming experience that puts you in the driver’s seat during a routine traffic stop. Route 24 is its companion newsletter that invites you to explore our creative process on the project as we build, deconstructing traffic stop data, policing trends, and their community impact to jumpstart public awareness and, in turn, mobilize narrative change.

• Driver’s Ed parks in your inbox on Mondays to shift your gears on key policy debates and test drive people-powered solutions.

• Here’s where you come in. Every follow, share, and subscription helps to keep this work going and reach the people the mainstream media often misses. For riders in a position to financially contribute, your dollars support the creative team with the critical resources needed to iterate, travel, and scale.

Start your engines…

Subscribe now

In this issue: There was a flash. Photographers swarmed like bees in a hive, trying their best to get a better view. A little voice permeated through the sea of overwhelm. Mama… He scanned the crowd, searching until he found her. The child looked no more than four…

That’s how my mom met Muhammad Ali. It was a happy accident. She’d somehow ended up standing in front of him as a wave of photographers rushed in. He’d swooped down and picked her up until she could be reunited with her mom. The Louisville Lip may have been known as a champion fighter, but it was these small moments of kindness that made him most memorable.

The training you endure for ballet and boxing is similar, and in part, why I’m drawn to the latter. Both have a unique rhythm and require a certain degree of agility, speed, and discipline. In a well-known quote from 1974, Ali gave this analogy:

“Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee — his hands can’t hit what his eyes can’t see.”

Anyone else feel as though we’re in the twelfth round of a never-ending fight to manipulate public perception?! It’s certainly altered my media consumption habits.

It’s also inspired deeper inquiry on the driving forces behind attempts at deliberate disorientation and how we might course-correct.

Perhaps what is most required to maintain hope in this moment is strength of will, something Ali spoke to when characterizing the defining qualities of a champion:

“Champions aren’t made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them: a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.”

It feels good to be back on this road. Thanks, as always, for riding with me!

Stay the course,

Sam

Sam Reetz, is a filmmaker, performer, and founder at Millennial Ethics, creating narrative solutions to complex issues.

Follow her work on Bluesky, Substack and Instagram.

Did you know? Since 1974, the Transit Authority of River City (TARC) has operated in Louisville, with currently 227 accessible buses operating in its fleet that run year-round. Source: ridetarc.org

Dividing Lines

Earlier this May, I attended the Library Foundation of Los Angeles’ discussion, Dividing Lines: How Transportation Infrastructure Reinforces Racial Inequality, featuring ACLU President Deborah N. Archer and Dignity and Power Now’s Helen Jones in conversation with Austin Cross.

Urban planning initiatives in the 1960’s deliberately designed transportation infrastructure to foster division between American constituencies. This meant the strategic placement of multilane streets, highways, and limited access to sidewalks and pedestrian crosswalks to racially and economically segregate communities, insulating the affluent from those of lower-income.

The impact of these policies is one lane in the conversation around what enables persistent divisiveness in America.

Listen to an excerpt of the full conversation here.

Route 24, published twice weekly on Monday and Friday evenings, is a civic education project powered by Millennial Ethics Productions.

Probable Cause is an XR civic education gaming experience that puts you in the driver’s seat during a routine traffic stop. Route 24 is its companion newsletter that invites you to explore our creative process on the project as we build, deconstructing traffic stop data, policing trends, and their community impact to jumpstart public awareness and, in turn, mobilize narrative change.

Driver’s Ed parks in your inbox on Mondays to shift your gears on key policy debates and test drive people-powered solutions.

Here’s where you come in. Every follow, share, and subscription helps to keep this work going and reach the people the mainstream media often misses.

For riders in a position to financially contribute, your dollars support the creative team with the critical resources needed to iterate, travel, and scale.

Start your engines…

Subscribe now

Share

Make a one-time contribution

In this issue: My mom drove me to school in the fifth grade. It was the 1990’s and my middle school’s shuttle system didn’t go to our neighborhood, so we’d be in the car and on the way to school by 5 AM. With heavy traffic, the ride took close to 2 hours one-way. It got me thinking about how much time parents spend on the road to meet their children’s transportation needs.

There’s not substantial, current, nationwide data available about mothers and driving time. It’s particularly interesting when you consider that licensed women drivers in the U.S. outnumber licensed male drivers.

A 1995 Surface Transportation Policy Partnership (STPP) report found that mothers spent over 1 hour in driving time per day taking upwards of 5 trips (29 miles).

More recently, a 2017 HopSkipDrive survey indicated that 51% of parents spent upwards of 5 hours (and 13% spent 10 hours) per week driving their children around.

Also consider that parents drive more carefully when their children are present and that young male driving behavior has a positive correlation to parental driving behaviors.

To the parents, and especially the mamas, who guide us on our adventures, thank you for all that you do!

I’ll share deeper analysis next week. Thanks for coming along for the ride!

Stay the course,

Sam

Sam Reetz, is a filmmaker, performer, and founder at Millennial Ethics, creating narrative solutions to complex issues.

Follow her work on Bluesky, Substack and Instagram.

Upcoming Event: I'll be presenting at the Generations United Global Intergenerational Conference this summer. Join me June 25-27 in Louisville, KY, to learn about cutting-edge intergenerational research and practices from around the world. Learn more.

Route 24, published twice weekly on Monday and Friday evenings, is a civic education project powered by Millennial Ethics Productions.

Scenic Route parks in your inbox on Fridays to merge the lanes of immersive storytelling and politics and help you find a better view.

Here’s where you come in. Every follow, share, and subscription helps to keep this work going and reach the people the mainstream media often misses.

For riders in a position to financially contribute, your dollars support the creative team with the critical resources needed to iterate, travel, and scale.

Start your engines…

Subscribe now

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Make a one-time $25 contribution

In this issue: Earlier this week, I shared Latent Views’ analysis on the need to switch gears in standard arts funding practices. Global fine arts exhibition forums continue to experience roadblocks, as the Trump administration’s tariff-infused economic agenda has accelerated market fluctuations, hindered cross-cultural collaborations due to art shipment delays, and elevated logistical costs for suppliers. Consider how movie tariffs may immobilize global film markets and open the door to prejudicial cultural tests and forecasting becomes increasingly difficult to ascertain. That’s where the art itself comes into play. This scenic route explores when message and medium intersect.

Pretextual Stop

Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman, was stopped by Iran’s Guidance Patrol, the religious policing unit commonly referred to as Iran’s “moral police”, in 2022 for not wearing her hijab in accordance with government standards. She died at a hospital in Tehran shortly after her arrest. Journalists Niloufar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi, who were sentenced in Iranian court and pardoned, revealed her death was due to police brutality, which led to a wave of global protests.

A recent article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review details a framework for measuring narrative change, deconstructing narrative change work into categories: arts and entertainment, strategic communications, and organizing. Mahsa Amini’s story, and the artistic collaborations that were inspired by it, visually interpret every facet of this framework.

While visiting Vienna in 2023, I stopped by the MuseumsQuartier (MQ)’s public art installation named after the Kurdish slogan, Women, Life, Freedom, that became the core message of global outcry following Mahsa Amini’s death. More recently, while in New York, I viewed Atelier Jolie’s Strand for Women exhibit, which featured a collection of hair strands from over 2,000 global participants in support of the #WomenLifeFreedom movement. In After Silence, an original work from Garrett Smith choreographed for Houston’s Vitacca Ballet, themes of oppression, war, injustice, and inequality reflect Iran’s multifaceted history and Amini’s death as told through the lens of contemporary ballet movement. Much like Stanford’s narrative change framework, each visual interpretation demonstrates the reality and resonance of Mahsa Amini’s story and serves as a poignant reminder of the power in organized, creative resistance.

Stay the course,

Sam

Sam Reetz, is a filmmaker, performer, and founder at Millennial Ethics, creating narrative solutions to complex issues.

Follow her work on Bluesky, Substack and Instagram.

Route 24, published twice weekly on Monday and Friday evenings, is a civic education project powered by Millennial Ethics Productions.

Driver’s Ed parks in your inbox on Mondays to shift your gears on key policy debates and test drive people-powered solutions.

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In this issue: American cultural institutions are at a crossroads. A solutions-based analysis from reimagines art funding models from a community-first perspective. I also share an invitation for our NYC riders to SaveArtSpace’s opening reception, which will feature original work from longtime collaborator and digital cartoonist/illustator, Tony Quera.

• Restricted Lane: A recent post from analyzes the funding rollbacks impacting American cultural institutions and suggests one way to evade funding obstacles could be to integrate “an arts funding system that does not rely solely on government appropriations, but instead embeds cultural investment into public-private partnerships, municipal infrastructure, and education.” In addition to county grants and philanthropic donors, there’s also the 1% for Art approach, which democratizes access by dedicating 1% of public construction budgets to public art commissions and installations. To Cosentino’s point, the intersections between arts education, community development, and public infrastructure offer states and municipalities community-focused incentives to sustain artistic culture and practice. Read the full story.

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Reframing Arts Funding in the United States Amid Federal Cuts

Federal and State Arts Funding: A Precarious Balance…

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a year ago · 1 like · Daniel Cosentino

• For Public Consumption: SaveArtSpace announced the good news earlier today: Tony Quera, a longstanding member of the creative team on Probable Cause, will be showcasing In Transit, an original work (as pictured) based on the Route 24 Substack. It will be on display at SaveArtSpace’s The People’s Art one-night opening reception, happening on Friday, May 30th at Satellite Gallery from 6PM - 9PM ET.

If you’re in NYC, come through! Full details available at the links below.

SaveArtSpace - The People's Art

Tony Quera is a digital cartoonist and illustrator from NYC. He is the creator of Garbage Dump/Landfill, an ode to the island and city he calls home. You can see more of his work and his cat on Instagram @te_quera.

Thanks for coming along for the ride! I’ll see you on Friday for the scenic route.

Stay the course,

Sam

Sam Reetz, is a filmmaker, performer, and founder at Millennial Ethics, creating narrative solutions to complex issues.

Follow her work on Bluesky, Substack and Instagram.

Route 24, published twice weekly on Monday and Friday evenings, is a civic education project powered by Millennial Ethics Productions.

Scenic Route parks in your inbox on Fridays to merge the lanes of immersive storytelling and politics and help you find a better view.

Here’s where you come in. Every follow, share, and subscription helps to keep this work going and reach the people the mainstream media often misses.

For riders in a position to financially contribute, your dollars support the creative team with the critical resources needed to iterate, travel, and scale.

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In this issue: In a special report from TIME, Kimberlé Crenshaw writes,

…the movement this generation went on to advance gave us not only the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Medicaid, and other civil rights advances, they also poured a foundation upon which the rights of other marginalized groups could be legally enshrined. These hard-fought victories chipped away at the legacy of slavery and the infrastructure of Jim Crow, while widening the democratic imagination to include indigenous rights, the women’s liberation movement, marriage equality, disability rights, and many others.

It is precisely this intergenerational and cross-issue transfer of ideas that those pushing the anti-woke agenda aim to suppress. The erasure of both symbolic tributes and tangible policy gains in the aftermath of 2020 not only strikes a blow to the objectives of the great reckoning but also is perhaps the most dangerous, radical attempt to reverse course since the massive resistance to the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision.

From The Battle for Our Memory Is the Battle for Our Country

In part, the cycle of divisiveness Crenshaw references is predicated on instigating competition between coalitions with synonymous values and repeatedly forcing the justification of individual and collective value among diverse groups. It’s a predictable distraction. The road ahead mandates the preservation of our moral clarity. It demands our unwillingness to adhere to these prescriptive patterns in the first place. It calls for stories to be our guide.

This weekend, I encourage you to read this collection of poignant essays, reflect on their significance, and, if so moved, share your thoughts in the comments.

A Way Forward After George Floyd

The Artist As Witness in the BLM Era

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Stay the course,

Sam

Sam Reetz, is a filmmaker, performer, and founder at Millennial Ethics, creating narrative solutions to complex issues.

Follow her work on Bluesky, Substack and Instagram.

Route 24, published twice weekly on Monday and Friday evenings, is a civic education project powered by Millennial Ethics Productions.