Let's Get Political

With the election coming up, I felt like it's okay for me to get political this once. So if you don't want to hear my views, come back Monday, I'll have a random Lynn(e) post about how financially overwhelmed I am.

Which kind of makes me feel like this

Otherwise, here are my thoughts.

Pretty, fireworks

When I was younger, I never appreciated being a citizen of the United States of America. I'd roll my eyes at football games when we'd play the National Anthem (even though I was in band), or say the Pledge of Allegiance. Sure, I'd take off my hat but the idea was lost on me. When Memorial, or Veteran's Day came up, yep I enjoyed the time off of school, but again, rolled my eyes, not truly appreciating where I lived. Even on the Fourth of July, I was only in it for the fireworks.

Then, in college, I started hearing stories. I heard about countries imposing a population cap (which I'm for) and enforcing sterilizations/abortions if families exceeded this cap (which I'm against). Most recently, I heard about a 14 year old girl in Pakistan who said she wanted to be a doctor when she grew up. The Taliban targeted her, and shot her in the head. Last I heard, she was recovering in another country in the hopes that she'll be safe there.

It's the first time in my life that a news paper article almost made me vomit on my work floor. Yes, things have gotten me emotional before, nauseous even, but this one pissed me off. First of all, if you need to gun down a 14 year old girl to prove how strong you are, you suck. Secondly, I'd never taken in and fully appreciated the fact that I live in America. If I want to be a doctor, a veterinarian, an athlete, an astronaut, a cowboy, etc, I can be. Not only that, but I get to CHOOSE whether or not I want to be a bum, atheist, religious, work at McDonald's, become a physicist, be a stay at home mom, be a prostitute, whatever. My family would support me (except for maybe that first and last one ;) ). I also get to help elect the President, and sometimes, I actually feel like my vote counts. In the country I live in, no one would gun me down for furthering my education, saying I don't like a someone in power, or doing what I want to do.

Somehow, the fact that all countries are not like this, managed and sometimes still manages to elude me.

The fact is, we live in the USA. Under no circumstances should people be FORCED to do things we don't want to do (except, you know, pay taxes. And even then, just go to New Hampshire, because they have no sales tax there). We aren't forced to stop going to school at a certain age. We aren't forced to use birth control, or to not use birth control. Though 18 year old males must register in case the draft comes back, we do not have a draft. Our young men are not thrust into violence. We aren't forced into ignorance, or abortions, or population caps. With the exception of laws (some of which are put in place for good reasons), we citizens live a very free life. All of these things (except for taxes) we get to choose.

As previously stated, I read articles about forced sterilizations, or abortions in some countries. I've also read articles where fourteen year old girls are repeatedly raped, and when the rape results in pregnancy, the girls must carry the child to term no matter if health risks are involved.

There was a storm coming in like 2006.
I really like this picture, still.

We live in a country where the topic of abortion is taboo, or if it's brought up, intense arguments ensue. This is partly why I wrote my memoir, and why I'm writing this post. In the safety of these fifty states, we've been blessed with so many more freedoms than other countries. But as soon as we start restricting those freedoms on things like marriage, or reproductive rights, we become a nation that is no better than those that force the public's hands. No one should force a pregnant fourteen year old girl to have a child. Plus, no one should force that fourteen year old girl to have an abortion, either. The decision should be up to her, possible therapists, and trusted adults. Only. Abortion, adoption, and having the child should all be on the table for her. All three options should be available to pregnant women, no matter their age or circumstance. This is not a ONE CHOICE SUITS ALL country.

As of right now, the reason I love the United States of America is because we get to choose what we want to do with our lives. Currently, we can choose our profession. We can choose whether or not we want to have children, or terminate our pregnancies. We can choose to enlist in the armed forces, or to work from home. None of these things are forced on us. We have all of these options in front of us that no one should be able to take away.

So, as long as I get my registration in on time and all that jazz, I will not be voting against gay marriage, because (according to http://www.divorcerate.org/) nearly half of first marriages, 70% of second marriages, and 75% of third marriages end in divorce. Clearly, we straight people know what the hell we're doing. Why not let gays and lesbians allow themselves the chaos that is marriage? Why not offer their partners health benefits so that when their firefighter husband or wife dies, they will be financially secure?

And when I get to vote, I will not be voting for Governor Romney not only because of the infamous 47% comment, but because as a self proclaimed religious man, I fear for women's reproductive rights if he were sworn in to office. We're all aware that Romney is anti-choice, and I fear that he will help with cutting Planned Parenthood's funding, an organization that helped save my life. Not only that, but during one of the debates, illegal immigration was brought up, and he suggested that immigrants should enlist in our army so that they have a chance to become American citizens. Yea, no. Unacceptable. Become a citizen first, find out why you love and want to protect this country, then enlist, IF and ONLY IF you want. Why would you serve a country, die for a country, you're not even a part of?

I'm not saying that Obama is perfect. I'm actually still pretty pissed at him for allowing Shell to try to drill in the Arctic. I'm not even saying that I think you should vote for Obama, because I think you should vote for whomever you feel will do the best as a President of the United States. But I will say that there is a HUGE difference between terminating a pregnancy, thereby erasing the potential for a child, and walking into a four year old's house and stabbing them in the face. (This statement is for those who attack me on Twitter saying that abortion is killing/murdering a child.)

Wonder how long this ink will take
to wash off my hand?

There is a lot at stake this election. Are you ready to cast your vote?

Reality Check IV: My Generation II

**This is not a writerly blog. The winners to the One Stressful Sentence Contest will be announced Friday**

In December 2011 I blogged about reality. How I live in the Occupy Wall Street generation, and how we don't know how to make change, but there are some of us who try, anyway.

Recently, I'm sure you've heard of the shooting in Colorado. If you've followed my blog for awhile, you'll also know I become obsessed with shootings and tragedy. This one is affecting me in a different way than the others though, and I'm trying to figure out why.

It's hard to think that the world
can be so beautiful, and yet so
heart breaking

Maybe it's because James Holmes is 24, the same age as me. Maybe it's because usually these tragedies come from people who are older than me. But I think it's something with the age. The newspapers call him a man, like he's an adult. Most say, "A man entered a movie theater...." But to me, he's not. He's the same age as me. Most days I consider myself a kid, still. I'm not grown up. I suck at managing my finances. I'm not responsible enough to have kids. I'm a kid, a child. I learn new things every single day. High school still feels like it was yesterday.

It's taken me a couple of days to write this blog because I'm in such shock because of what has happened. I've seen stories in the echoes of the aftermath. There were brave "men" (also very young) who saved their girlfriends and lost their lives in the process. There were people celebrating their birthdays. There was a six year old girl.

And then there was this one person who lost his mind and killed all of them. I can't even get a handle on the tragedy.

I want to know why. I want to know what went wrong that this person would walk in and start shooting. I want to know what went through his mind (the newspapers tell me that he'd planned this for MONTHS. Months! I can't even plan today let alone tomorrow!) I've taken enough psychology courses in college to know that this isn't right. That something went wrong.

People aren't born thinking, "I'm going to bring a gun and kill as many people as I can." People break. Kids of all ages break. People like me break and try to kill themselves. So, what happened to break James Holmes, or Timothy McVeigh, or Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, and cause them to kill others?

I (try to) appreciate life in all forms

I'm not going to rally and say that Holmes should die, because while I do support the pro-choice movement, I don't like death.

I don't even like eating carrots because I killed the plant it came from to live. If I eat a lobster (I mean, come on, I'm in Maine, and they're super yummy) I say a quiet prayer of thanks that I get to eat the yummy-ness, and apologize to the creature I devour...dripping in butter.

I'm not going to say Holmes should be tortured, and hurt, and shot, and scared, because I don't like being shot at, hurt, tortured, or scared. When Klebold and Harris killed themselves, I was sad. When McVeigh was killed, I cried and prayed. I don't hate any of these people because I don't know them. I am incredibly saddened by the choices they've made, but I do not hate them. (Though, I do hate the driver who killed my best friend in high school, so if you hate these people, I understand.)

Death isn't the answer. More violence isn't the answer.

The answers come from understanding how something like this could happen and preventing it in the future. It's not more strict gun laws (though maybe people should have to take a psychiatric test before obtaining guns?). The answer comes from studying, from research on psychology, from not damaging our children, our friends more.

Okay. That is all.

Reality Check III: My Generation

Note: Today is not a writerly blog. It's a personal "Here is what I think" blog. Read at your own risk.


I live in the Occupy Wallstreet generation. 


Today's world is terrifying; there is war, rape, murder, muggings, vandalism. The horrifying list just goes on. People blame my generation, all the time. They look at all of us like we're criminals already. They look at people like me, people with lip and eyebrow rings like we're filthy. (Okay, sometimes I forget to shower or don't want to...but for the most part, I'm pretty clean.) 

But really this is the type of person I am;

I hold the door for people. 

I tell people to have a good day.

I may forget to say please but I always try to say thank you.

I go up to strange dogs and pet them because they're cute. 

I put myself through college and obtained a degree in Medical Biology, even when everyone told me to quit because "You're not good at it".

I bought my own car, my first car, without a co-signer at the age of 22, because I left my mom's house when I was 16.

I am the type of person who doesn't usually lock their doors.

I will pick up hitchhikers if it's cold.

I have tattoos, and I have piercings.

I hate hate words, gay bashing, and judging people for what they cannot control.

I WILL defend the underdog (and have almost gotten my ass kicked for it). 

Yesterday while working at the mountain a guest got on my case about picking up hitchhikers because I'm a girl, and in today's society it's not safe. 


It's not safe because we make it not safe. Things happen to people; cars break down, people have to get from point A to point B. I pick up hitchhikers because I believe in the whole "Be the change you wish to see in the world" (~Gandhi). If I were to need to hitchhike, I'd like to think that people like me will be willing to pick me up. When I leave my car unlocked, I try not to panic, because I'd like to think that there are people like me who just walk from their car, into the store, without wanting to break in and steal a GPS. 


My generation is full of unrest. 
We're sick of people stomping on our dreams. We're sick of people telling us to live in reality because we aren't thinking straight. We're sick of hearing about child abusers in the churches and in the schools. We're sick of domestic abuse that goes unreported, because we grew up in those households; I grew up in that household. We're sick of hearing about rape, and murder. We're sick of being the victims of rape and abuse. We're sick of having to lock our doors. We're sick of being afraid to walk the streets at night.


But we don't know how to make this stop, how to make this change. So we camp out, and we protest because we don't know what to do anymore. 


We are the revolution. 
Get ready. Things will change. 


If you don't believe me here are some songs:
City High~City High Anthem
John Mayor~Waiting
Noah Gunersen-Jesus, Jesus
(I had more, but I can't seem to find them....either way, you get the idea)


"Reality's a lovely place, but I wouldn't want to live there" ~Owl City