Over the summer and fall, Connecticut Mirror photographers Sarah Gordon and Julia Levine traversed the state to ask residents what they think about the country as it celebrates 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. 

From community events and campaign rallies to parades and reenactments, they asked Connecticut residents about their thoughts on America today and in the future, what issues they care about and one thing they would want to change about the country.

Here’s what nine people shared:

Avon resident Margaret Bratton, 60, a registered Republican, has served 18 years on the town’s Board of Finance and two years on the Town Council. She stood on the corner of Country Club Road and West Avon Road on a sunny late October afternoon with Chris Shea, Republican nominee for the 5th congressional district, and other supporters waving at passing school buses and cars. 

What are your thoughts about America at this point in time?

Bratton: I think right now we’re going in the correct direction. It’s taking a little bit of work to clean up from the previous administration. If we were talking at the national level, and I hope people are patient, give a little extra time to get that all set up, and as they’re saying, they’re setting the table, they’re fixing things, setting the table, and then once that’s done, I think it’ll take off.

If you could change something about this country, what would it be?

Bratton:  I think we used to be much more pro-America in America. Now it seems like some people are saying sort of pro-America, but then they’re always having the word “but” after it. And I just think we were a little bit more patriotic, and we should get back to that.

Vice-chairwoman of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Council Latoya Cluff, a tribal resident and registered voter, recently became a grandmother for the first time and she said it’s been causing her to think differently about the future.  

It was the first Schemitzun for her grandson, Essence Brown Young, 9 months old, and he wore traditional moccasins and a leather apron around his diaper. In late August, the annual Feast of Green Corn and Dance celebrates resistance, culture and community. Cluff carried him through the arena for Grand Entry, dancing as intertribal drum groups took turns playing and hundreds of representatives of indigenous tribes danced.

What are your thoughts about America at this point in time?

Cluff:  I really don’t believe that we’re in a good place in a lot of areas. But the fact that we are able to still celebrate who we are as Indigenous people is a win, but that also comes with some cost as well, I would say for sure.

If there was one thing you could change about the country today, what would it be?

Cluff: Oh man, there’s honestly, there’s many things. I’m not sure where I would begin, but again, I think equality, fairness, protection. I think it’s huge, and I don’t believe that everyone is receiving protection; they’re being treated equally; they’re getting quality of services, healthcare, education, housing. Those are just some issues that I think are paramount, and they’re not being serviced to the people that need them the most.

Emery Marrs, an unaffiliated voter from New London who identifies as a non-binary transgender woman, used silk vein fans in rich colors as it danced along the boardwalk at New London’s Pride Festival at Ocean Beach Park in August. It was the 13th annual daylong event hosted by OutCT, a nonprofit organization in southeastern Connecticut that creates educational, cultural, and social programs for the LGBTQIA+ community. 

What are your thoughts about America at this point in time?

Marrs: My thoughts about America at this time is that we’re doing what we can, but we could do a lot more to make everybody feel included and safe. A lot of people in America are more so concerned about themselves than other people and the safety of others. And a beautiful way to work on communities to start accepting people for who they are and embracing them for being different than you.

If there was one thing you could change about this country, what would it be?

Marrs: The one thing that I would change in America would be the separation culture. There’s a lot of separation culture in America where people are more concerned on making categories and having labels and keeping everything. You’re here, I’m here. When we should all be together because we’re just all one big thing.

Hartford resident William Nickeo took advantage of early voting in the primaries to submit his ballot on the first day at Hartford City Hall. 

What are your thoughts about America at this point in time?

Nickeo: My thoughts are kind of mixed right now. I mean, there are things going on that we’re struggling to get right. Hopefully, with this new election, this new incoming committee, it will start to straighten out as much as it can.

When you think about the future for America, what would you love to see?

Nickeo: I would like to see a place where everyone is living, not above their needs, but to their needs or a little bit better. Again, I will keep touching on the healthcare. Make sure everyone has that. You have the means to provide for yourself and your family — purchase a house, invest in yourself, invest in your family, invest in companies and things like that.

Amanda Matava, an archivist at Trinity College, grew up in Newington and now lives in Burlington. The 34-year-old independent voter is also a lieutenant in the First Company Governor’s Horse Guards where she performed drills on horseback at Burlington’s 250th celebration in July.

What’s one thing that you would change about America if you could?

Matava: I would change the polarity. I would change the inability to have conversations. I would really like people to kind of cross bridges and not burn them on either side. It doesn’t matter what side you’re on, because the less we converse with each other, interface with each other, and the more we feel like we’re on opposite sides, trying to each destroy the country, the worse it is for everybody.

What do you hope for the future of America?

Matava: I hope for America to be kind of the inspiration for other places. I do work in other countries as part of my job, and I’ve been able to interact with other places and see how things are there. One thing that we’re really good at is our institutional history here, and that’s kind of a gift. A lot of places don’t have that, or a way of preserving it. And so, to be able to look back and look at our history and use it to move forward is, is really, actually, I don’t want to say unique, but it’s something that is a gift and shouldn’t be taken for granted.

Francise Jean-Louis, a 39-year-old registered voter from Stamford, unfurled a giant Haitian flag as she stood on the steps of Bridgeport’s Government Center in July. The founder of the nonprofit Haitian American Collaborative, Inc., she helped organize a rally to call on Congress to protect Temporary Protected Status recipients from Haiti. 

What are your thoughts on America at this time and where we are at as a country?

Jean-Louis: I think how I view America today is kind of in a sad place, and I just hope with the next administration they’re able to kind of fix and help all the damage that’s happening now.

What is an issue in your life that you care a lot about?

Jean-Louis: The lack of resource to our people. So, if you think about like, the other communities — I won’t single one out — they’re getting resources. They’re getting support. They may even also be immigrants, but it looks different for that group of immigrants or individuals. And for us, our history goes way back with America. And you would think the support would look different. The biggest issue for me is a lack of support for our people.

Burlington First Selectman Douglas Thompson, a Republican, gave a speech at the town’s reading of the Declaration of Independence in which he described the document as planting seeds that don’t always grow right away. “It’s always been a story of divisions at times, but you know in the end we all come together, and I’m and I’m very optimistic for us,” he said of the country.

How do you feel about America right now?

Thompson: The Constitution planted the seeds, and some of those seeds didn’t bear fruit for some time. So I think that I am very proud to be an American. Very proud we’re still going to have our challenges. It’s it’s always been a story of divisions at times, but you know in the end we all come together, and I’m very optimistic for us.

What’s one thing that you would change about America if you could?

Thompson: I like to see more dialogue, less division. It’s OK to disagree. It’s healthy to disagree, but we should respect each other even if we disagree. And when you have the conversations, you oftentimes move a little bit this way, a little bit that way, and that’s how we get consensus. That’s how we get. So I would say I wish that we had a lot more of that, a lot more dialogue.

Thirteen-year-old Copper Montanari, of Ellington, joined her father and two friends on the boardwalk of Ocean Beach Park for OutCT’s Pride event. They excitedly made beaded necklaces and bracelets with large pride flags draped around their shoulders as capes and smaller pride flags painted on their faces. 

What is an issue in your life that you care a lot about?

Montanari: An issue in my life right now is probably being bullied a lot in school because of who I am and expressing myself. Because, I understand people wanting to, seeing people different and thinking, “Oh, that’s not normal.” But it just takes it to a whole ‘nother level when it’s physical and really takes away my confidence, you know?

And you see that kind of going on around the country and on a bigger scale sometimes. Like when you look at some of the administration and how they’re treating people too. And I’ve seen people take their own lives over this. And it really hurts me seeing that happen because I’ve known close people who have taken their own lives because of bullies and people around them who don’t support them.

If there was one this you could change about this country, what would it be?

Montanari: Probably giving us more rights. And to be able to express ourselves more. Because that’s one thing that I don’t like that’s going on. Because I feel like everyone should be themselves, you know, and everyone should be able to believe in what they want to believe without being judged for it.

As president of the Burlington Historical Society, Stacey Glastris, a 48-year-old unaffiliated voter, believes in stewarding the town’s history, especially as there’s less focus on preservation efforts, she said at a public reading of the Declaration of Independence in July.

How do you feel about America right now?

Glastris: I feel like sometimes it’s in turmoil. We definitely have quite a few differing views from a political side, but my focus here, especially with this event, is to bring everybody together and celebrate the country. It, too, was in a lot of turmoil 250 years ago, so not unlike today. But we persevered, and I feel like this is something that we need to celebrate.

What do you hope for the future of America?

Glastris: I hope we continue to be as strong as we have been. I mean, I’m sure there’s going to be other storms we’re going to have to weather, and I’m sure there’s going to be other conflicts and turmoil. But given the strength and the determination of the folks in this country, you know we were built on some strong folks, and we still have strong folks in this country. And I feel as though going forward, we’re just going to continue to grow and build as a nation.

Editor’s note: Excerpts edited for length and clarity.