A Road Warrior's Declaration
In pursuit of valor, purity, and justice.
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…
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.
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:
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.
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.
Valor: courage in defense of a noble cause.
Purity: freedom from spiritual or moral wrongdoing.
Justice: the principle of moral rightness.
As defined by Merriam Webster’s Dictionary.