Dear Prudence,
I recently relocated to a conservative city for work. Most of my co-workers are older and also quite conservative, and while they’ve been nothing but polite to me, I haven’t made any work friends yet and generally eat lunch alone. A new employee my age recently joined the company and decorated her cubicle with some cool posters. One is an art print of the slippery elm plant, an abortifacient. I think this might be a secret pro-choice/progressive bat signal of sorts, but I’m not sure how to ask her about it. If she just liked the image and isn’t pro-choice, I’d hate to alienate her or make her angry. Are there ways I could delicately ask about her beliefs? Should I just invite her to lunch and see if we have any nonpolitical things in common? Making friends as an introverted adult is so hard!
—Is My Co-Worker Also a Secret Liberal?