This is a story that could be sad, but it is not. It is more of a silver-lining story that brings us to family, food, and the holidays.

The new Pushcart Prize table of contents lets us know that authors are thinking about drug overdoses, racism, cultural appropriation, caring for elderly family members, and the complicated political divide.

“Viewpoints,” the Watermill Center’s conversation series devoted to creative themes, begins Wednesday with a talk by Andrina Wekontash Smith, a member of the Shinnecock Nation.