I came out to the desert to breathe some fresh air, to lay down some burdens, not think so much

about the state of the country, but of course, there's nowhere in America you can go and not be

confronted with our identity crisis.

Since the start of 2021, my colleague Tyrone Beeson has been on the road.

He's doing what a lot of us are thinking about.

He's on a quest to find out what's up with the United States.

In a year-long series called My Country,

Tyrone has been trying to find the things that find us together

while also trying to make sense of the issues that keep tearing us apart.

And right now, what's on his mind is the midterms,

and what the results will say about this country he's trying so hard to understand.

I'm Gustavariano. You're listening to the Times, essential news from the LA Times. It's Friday, August 19, 2022.

Today, we continue a series of episodes about the stakes of the 2022 midterm elections.

We'll talk to Tyrone about what Americans all around have told them about what pains them

and what gives them hope.

Tyrone Beeson covers the U.S. through the lens of race and culture.

Welcome to Times, Tyrone.

Very good to be here. Thank you.

So you're My Country Series, man.

It's gorgeous writing, a lot of traveling, big, long, elegant stories that really are doing a great job of just showing

everything that this country is about right now. What inspired you to do it?

Honestly, covering the 2020 presidential race. It came to the LA Times to join the team that

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