ADjoined

ADjoined traces the development of two creative people destined to help each other meet the personal, ethical, and societal challenges posed by a world in flux. Ted, a White male, growing up in the optimism of postwar America sees the world through rose-colored glasses, marries classmate (Kelly), has a son (Josh), and enthusiastically dives into his career as a gung-ho advertising copywriter in Chicago. Riva, a Black Millennial female from St. Paul, Minnesota, has a more challenging childhood. Developing emotional difficulties in the wake of her parents' divorce, she finds comfort in social media, where she develops an online identity that eventually leads to an interest in copywriting. These two disparate lives unfold separately in alternating chapters before converging in a college classroom. As teacher and student, Ted and Riva bridge their diverse life experiences with creativity, intelligence, and humor. Forming a symbiotic bond, they grapple with the ethical dilemmas facing advertising creatives engaged in a profession as all-encompassing and paradoxical as humanity itself. ADjoined should captivate anyone involved or interested in the evolution of media, pop culture, and White/Black relations from the postwar era to the digital age.