Have you read “Uncle Patrick’s Secessionist Breakfast,” the latest short story by California author Dave Eggers? It takes the debate about California secession, and wraps it up in a cute story about a family reunion at a California family ranch.
Fiction is so important to social change, for the simple reason that you need to be able to imagine something before you can do it. For California independence, such works are few and far between (Golden State, by Michelle Richmond, is another worthy of mention).
You might ask, what matters more to a movement, works of fiction like Dave Eggers’ that capture the imagination, or in-depth, fact-based research like ours?
Well… both? Here’s why:
In 2017, Dave Eggers invited the California Freedom Coalition’s chief strategist, Dr. Timothy Vollmer (now ICI vice chair) and their director of research and policy, Coyote Marin (now ICI executive director) for a chat at the now-closed California Historical Society in San Francisco. His request: help him understand what California independence might look like, so he could write a work of fiction about it.
Apparently, nothing became of it—until now. “Breakfast With Secessionists” literally features the chief strategist and director of research and policy of the “California Independence Coalition” coming to talk to the Mahoney family at their ranch. It’s not subtle.
Even the title of the story is likely a nod to Coffee With Secessionists, a series of meetups Tim and Coyote held in the erstwhile cafe of Borderlands Books, at 870 Valencia St., San Francisco. Yep, that’s in the same block as 826 Valencia, a writing non-profit that Eggers co-founded.
Whatever happened to the California Independence Freedom Coalition? SF Chronicle reporter Raheem Hosseini recently reported that it broke up because of “internal drama.” While that’s technically true, it’s was more like a dispute between the president of the California Freedom Coalition and literally every other volunteer in the organization (yes, we told Hosseini as much). The CFC’s former volunteers immediately turned around and co-founded Independent California (an advocacy organization) and the Independent California Institute (us!). Hey, if we were ready to found a whole new country because of the failed leadership and institutions of the United States, of course we could found a couple of non-profits. Kind of ironic if you think about it!
If you ever find yourself wishing the California Independence Coalition were real—it is, and it’s us. If you’re hosting a breakfast with some important people who want to learn about California independence, drop us a line, and maybe we’ll show up!
