Once our initial time in the habitat was done and Kevin and I had accepted our positions, we returned to the surface. As I packed up our lives, I considered what my new position would be like. My title might have the word "director" in it, but who was I to tell anyone what to do? I hadn't spent my life preparing for this absurdly influential role. I had no idea what the situation was in the habitats and until I did, I had no suggestions to give.

The more I thought about the Liaison mandate, the more I wondered what being a conduit between the habitats could look like, especially when filtered through the Charter. I kept going back to Clause Two, guaranteeing the ability to make choices best for the individual without government coercion. The Charter also required a form of representative government. While I knew the Liaisons wasn't in any way meant to be a part of the government, there wasn't any other global body around except the Foundation Board. I found myself unwilling to let the Board be the sole arbitrator as to when to begin elections. Especially since while they apparently had a plan, they had yet to implement it. I thought about how easy it is to get into the habit of making all the decisions, especially when others allow it to happen without protest. Conversely, it's very hard to let go of unrestrained power even when what necessitated it passes.

In retrospect, the LCO Initiatives and SIGs were directly inherited from the informal councils and discussion groups organized by the families involved in the construction of the habitats. How fitting that the very foundations of our society came in through consensus by the same people who became our first residents, and out of those building blocks came Habitat Governance.

Eventually, I realized all I could do in the beginning was listen. I knew I needed to learn from those around me—not only the people I would be working with directly but also those in the organization who worked with residents. I needed to find a way to listen to the residents themselves, not just those I lived around or eventually could consider friends. I wasn't sure how I would be able to do so with those outside of my home habitat, but I was determined to figure out a way. In the meantime, I decided to do what I could within NAHE.

On the day Kevin and I finally left the surface and moved to the habitat, Ted Nguyen, a young man working at the hotel, offered to introduce us to his parents, who had been part of the original surface community while the habitat was being constructed. Two months later, Kevin and I were finally able to accept the dinner invitation extended by the Nguyen family.

I still remember the first evening we spent together. The Nugyens all lived together in Section One and invited us to their home for dinner. By then, Noodin's appearance at our door notwithstanding, I had learned most entertaining happened outside the home. We brought a gift to show our appreciation for the honor they were extending. It was something consumable, which I had been informed was polite in our waste-nothing society. To give an item you did not know would be treasured was considered impolite, but small amounts of interesting food were usually welcomed. I brought a bag of sweet and spicy caramels laced with bits of candied jalapeno peppers. A kiosk on our residential floor sold a variety of homemade goodies, and I was a regular customer. It was well received, and as the years passed, Suong, Thao, Ted and Rhon became our close friends.

Suong's story in the archives is similar to what they told us that evening after dinner. The one part she never mentioned to us was the loss of her younger sister. I cannot imagine the terror of Suong as a child having to flee from the only home she had ever known and the horror of watching a sibling die with no choice but to continue. I marvel at the grit so many immigrants have shown when confronted with the need to survive, and I saw it in the determination of those who chose to move to the habitats, always in search of a better life for their children.

And I consider how much abuse those who did survive were subject to. I know it was bad in the '70s, but believe me when I tell you it got much worse, even as the world hurtled toward an unimaginable disaster. Racism, xenophobia and credible threats against anyone who chose not to march in lockstep with insanity became the new normal. It was ugly, and it got uglier. (1)

At the time Suong told this story to the archives, the 2020 United States Presidential elections were just a few weeks away. The Covid pandemic continued to spread worldwide. In the United States, it hit those populations who backed the incumbent the hardest, even though he spent most of his time trying to blame the pandemic on anyone but his administration or simply denying the pandemic's existence altogether. A denial so many of his followers chose to emulate to their detriment. Based on his policies and lies, he contributed to the deaths of almost 400,000 Americans, with the majority of those fatalities continuing to happen in the areas where they most believed his lies. To distract from the horrible state he had led the country to, he tried to distract the population by working to incite race wars over the summer, blaming protestors who were protesting police aggression against minorities as domestic terrorists and using riot control weapons to clear a space for him to pose for a photo opportunity. Because in Donald Trump's mind, everything was about appearance. He had no policies to implement to help ordinary people. Instead, he aimed to enrich himself and his fellow would-be oligarchs and implemented policies to hurt and harm the ones he hated most. Typical for a narcissistic sociopath. (2)

To be down in the habitat was to be able to forget the tensions on the surface, at least for a time. None of us could submerge ourselves entirely into the habitat, but some could do it easier than others. Suong and Thao had spent so much of their formative lives in the community at Shively that the outside world meant little to them. They focused on their families once they moved down, which eventually included Lily, who did indeed marry Ted, and even Kevin and myself as we all merged into a larger heart family.