When seventh grader Luke Macannuco penned a letter to the editor of his local newspaper, he probably didn't expect to make national news.
Luke was responding to a letter to the editor in the Winchester Star written by a man named John Natale in which Natale critiqued the "Hate Has No Home Here" campaign after seeing signs with the slogan popping up on lawns in the neighborhood. Luke felt Natale's letter missed the point of the campaign and took it upon himself to set Natale straight with a letter of his own.
When ACLU Massachusetts legal director Matthew Segal shared a photo of Luke's letter on Twitter, it went absolutely viral.
Photos by Matthew Segal/Twitter and Shawn Macannuco, used with permission.
This is what the sign in question looked like:
Image via Hate Has No Home Here.
As Luke explained in his letter:
"I read, with great interest, Mr. John Natale’s colossal misunderstanding of the 'Hate Has No Home Here' signs. Natale’s first mistake was claiming the signs read, 'Hate has no place in this home.' Mr. Natale is incorrectly assuming that the owners of the sign are finding it necessary to state that there is no hate in their home. But, as the American flag depicted on the sign signifies, the posters are referencing the entire U.S.A., a country that does not tolerate hate in spite of its current leadership. Those people who have chosen to place a 'Hate Has No Home Here' sign on their lawn are standing behind their belief that the country should be free of hate."
Luke answered four of Natale's questions with pure 🔥.
"1. Question: 'Who are the haters that you, the sign owner, are referring to?' Answer: Bigots who are trying to take away protections for transgender students, deport refugees and build a very expensive wall to keep illegal immigrants out (which is completely pointless and not helping your cause, but I digress).
2. Question: 'What, or whom, do the haters hate?' Answer: Perfectly innocent human beings who happen to be different from the haters.
3. Question: 'What is the evidence that there is significant hate in our community?' Answer: Me getting called homosexual slurs by students and adults alike.
4. Question: 'Obviously, you are so morally superior that you may declare everyone who disagrees with you a hater (side note: this first part is a statement, not a question). Where, when, and how did you become the Lord High Decider of Morality?' Answer: Never. We just put a lawn sign down. Calm down, dude."
Photo from Matthew Segal/Twitter.
Opposing hate shouldn't be a partisan issue, and the world doesn't need to be divided into red teams and blue teams for us to understand that we are more than our politics.
Luke closes his letter slamming attacks of "snowflake sensitivity" (and gets a pretty sick burn in there, too).
"As I stated previously, the signs are not talking exclusively about Winchester. The signs are about the whole United States. They also aren’t implying you are a hater if you disagree; where did you get that idea? Also, Mr. Natale, if you’re going to ask us to do you a favor and take the signs down, do humanity a favor and take your Trump signs down. Finally, if you are going to say signs exhibit 'snowflake sensitivity,' take a moment to think about how you are writing an angry letter to a newspaper about a lawn sign."
Heartwarming signs lining Fenwick Rd in Winchester!
Posted by Hate Has No Home Here - Winchester on Monday, April 24, 2017
You can read the full text of Luke's letter here, the message he was responding to here, and more about what HHNHH is and stands for here.
If you're looking for a reason to feel hopeful about the future, Luke's your guy.
While Luke's letter clearly doesn't cast Donald Trump's positions in a positive light, the rational and reasoned argument being made is worth hearing regardless of your own political views.
It's curious and a bit sad that there are people who would take offense to something as innocuous as a lawn sign discouraging hate. Maybe a seventh-grade boy can help us take a step back from viewing all things through a partisan lens and no longer seeing the values we almost surely — hopefully — share. For that, Luke deserves a well-earned round of applause.
There's a reason why some people can perfectly copy accents, and others can't
Turns out, there's a neurodivergent link.
A woman in black long sleeve shirt stands in front of mirror.
Have you ever had that friend who goes on vacation for four days to London and comes back with a full-on Queen's English posh accent? "Oooh I left my brolly in the loo," they say, and you respond, "But you're from Colorado!" Well, there are reasons they (and many of us) do that, and usually it's on a pretty subconscious level.
It's called "accent mirroring," and it's actually quite common with people who are neurodivergent, particularly those with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). According Neurolaunch, the self-described "Free Mental Health Library," "Accent mirroring, also known as accent adaptation or phonetic convergence, is the tendency to unconsciously adopt the accent or speech patterns of those around us. This linguistic chameleon effect is not unique to individuals with ADHD, but it appears to be more pronounced and frequent in this population."
Essentially, when people have conversations, we're constantly "scanning" for information—not just the words we're absorbing, but the inflection and tone. "When we hear an accent, our brains automatically analyze and categorize the phonetic features, prosody, and intonation patterns," writes Neurolaunch. For most, this does result in copying the accent of the person with whom we're speaking. But those with ADHD might be more sensitive to auditory cues. This, "coupled with a reduced ability to filter out or inhibit the impulse to mimic…could potentially explain the increased tendency for accent mirroring."
While the article explains further research is needed, they distinctly state that, "Accent mirroring in individuals with ADHD often manifests as an unconscious mimicry of accents in social situations. This can range from subtle shifts in pronunciation to more noticeable changes in intonation and speech rhythm. For example, a person with ADHD might find themselves unconsciously adopting a Southern drawl when conversing with someone from Texas, even if they’ve never lived in the South themselves."
People are having their say online. On the subreddit r/ADHDWomen, a thread began: "Taking on accents is an ADHD thing?" The OP shares, "My whole life, I've picked up accents. I, myself, never noticed, but everyone around me would be like, 'Why are you talking like that??' It could be after I watched a show or movie with an accent or after I've traveled somewhere with a different accent than my 'normal.'
They continue, "Apparently, I pick it up fast, but it fades out slowly. Today... I'm scrolling Instagram, I watch a reel from a comedian couple (Darcy and Jeremy. IYKYK) about how Darcy (ADHD) picks up accents everywhere they go. It's called ADHD Mirroring??? And it's another way of masking."
(The OP is referring to Darcy Michaels and his husband Jeremy Baer, who are both touring comedians based in Canada.)
Hundreds of people on the Reddit thread alone seem to relate. One comments, "Omfg I've done this my whole life; I'll even pick up on the pauses/spaces when I'm talking to someone who is ESL—but English is my first language lol."
Sometimes, it can be a real issue for those around the chameleon. "I accidentally mimicked a waitress's weird laugh one time. As soon as she was out of earshot, my family started to reprimand me, but I was already like 'oh my god I don’t know why I did that, I feel so bad.'"
Many commenters on TikTok were shocked to find out this can be a sign of ADHD. One jokes, "Omg, yes, at a store the cashier was talking to me and she was French. She's like 'Oh are you French too? No, I'm not lol. I'm very east coast Canada."
And some people just embrace it and make it work for them. "I mirror their words or phrase! I’m 30. I realized I start calling everyone sweetie cause my manager does & I work at coffee shop."