Be the Change You Wish to See

I've noticed something about our society: we LOVE a good cause and we get all fired up about it. And then we move on to the next cause without following through on the previous one.

Yesterday, 9% (100/1130--yes, I went through and counted) of my Facebook friends changed their profile photos to the red Human Rights Campaign logo. On Twitter, you can see real-time trends on a map here: http://trendsmap.com. It's very cool. Right now #MarriageEquality is trending in California, Minnesota, and New York.


But if you check out this infographic from HootSuite.com, you see the Top 10 Twitter Trends of 2012. The Olympics was the top trend of 2012--do you remember who won your "favorite" events? Maybe. We don't pay attention to Olympic sports for three years and eleven months out of the year and then we live and breathe Olympics. The election we can all still remember. Justin Bieber? Well, I don't pay attention to him! But look #4: Hurricane Sandy. We ALL came together for that. We could donate to the Red Cross, there was the 12/12/12 concert, there were all the hashtags sending the victims love and support...but do you still think about those victims? They're still recovering and we're not even paying attention anymore. Do you remember anyone who won an MTV Music Award? I don't. James Holmes was eighth in the World News category. Do you know who that is without "Aurora" being in the same sentence? In July were you incensed about his actions and were talking about the Aurora tragedy non-stop? After the Sandy Hook tragedy did you start talking about gun control again? Are you still talking about gun control, or is gay marriage (or anti gay marriage) now your "cause"?











And check out these other graphics from 2011 and 2010. Look at numbers 6, 8, and 10 in the 2011 Trending News category. Do you remember the Egyptian, Brazilian, or English riots? I don't. I went back and looked up the Egyptian riots and it jogged my memory--I was really upset about them. Do you remember the Libyan conflict? I do--I cried and wrote a letter to Obama when we shot missiles at Libya. But I never followed up with him. The earthquake in Japan was in 2011. Remember that? I made so many cookies and cupcakes for bake sales for them! They are still recovering from that disaster. How often do you think about it? I guess I did for the first time in almost 2 years on their 2 year anniversary earlier this month. But back then, I wanted to help and I made it my top priority.

In 2010, the Gulf Oil Spill was the top trend on Twitter (It's already been three years?!). Remember how fired up we all got about oil companies making sure they were keeping the environment clean? When's the last time that hit the news? Do you even think about it anymore? I barely ever do. The World Cup was also in 2010. Who won? I remember watching it and being incredibly into it--I even refashioned a Brasil jersey for myself to wear! And the earthquake in Haiti--how many bake sales did we all have? How much did we all donate? Do we know now how Haitians are doing? Nope.

My point with these graphics and pulling out "big" stories is that what means so much to us right now ends up becoming just another statistic on a graph somewhere. Unless we choose one thing and make it our mission, how effective are we being? I write every day about current events, but is anything changing? After Sandy Hook I wrote about gun control. The entire country felt like it was moving toward stricter gun control. One hundred days after Sandy Hook, nothing's happened and the window of opportunity for change is closing fast. After the BP oil spill in 2010, we had a window to regulate oil companies more. That window is definitely shut. After the earthquake in Japan we had a window to talk about nuclear energy--it's shut.

We must take the opportunities we have to make change. Yesterday the Supreme Court talked about how they're concerned that this gay marriage case is even in the federal court, because it's "younger than cell phones or the Internet." But this is our window. Look at these big issue windows in just the last three years that we have allowed to close without seizing the opportunity that's at hand. 

I love watching the news. I love making noise about the news and what we need to do to change it. But what will it take to really make change and not just make noise? This is a time for us--we are on the cusp of change: gay marriage rights, gun control, education policies, and so much more. If we become silent because an event falls too far back in our memories, change and progress will never happen. It is up to us to keep the conversation going. It is up to us to bring about the change we all so crave.

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi

Hot Topic: Gay Marriage

As many of you know, I'm getting married this summer. I am so excited! My fiancé and I have been together for almost two and a half years. When he proposed last summer, I said "yes" with no cares in the world. I was so happy and so excited to get married a year later! I'm doing a lot of DIY stuff for the wedding and having a blast doing it!

But what if I wasn't allowed to get married? What if I was in love with someone I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, but I didn't get to be married? What if that proposal had been bittersweet because I knew it meant years of being treated like a second-class citizen even though I was living with the love of my life?

Unfortunately, the questions I just asked are what happens to our gay and lesbian friends, family, and neighbors every day. They don't have the right to get married in our country. Only in nine states and the District of Columbia is gay marriage legal.

Why? Because right-wing conservative Christians think that gay marriage is a sin and shouldn't be allowed.

Okay. Everyone is entitled to his or her own opinions--until they restrict someone else's rights. Who do these evangelical "Christians" think they are? Why do they think that their hate is God's will? Did Jesus say, "Hate your neighbor and take their rights away if they're different"? I'm no biblical scholar, but even I know that Jesus said, "Love your neighbor." So is it Christ-like of these so-called "Christians" (meaning "follower of Christ") to decide that certain people shouldn't be allowed to have the same legal recognition of their love that straight people have? (Oh--and by the way, our country isn't Christian: it has the separation of church and state, so "Christian" values don't really have a place in this discussion, do they?)

Conservatives who are against gay marriage tout "traditional values" as the reason that gay marriage is an abomination. Guess what? I believe in traditional values 100%. I believe that if a couple decides to have a family, it should be the center of their lives; the "home base," if you will. I believe that families should love each other and make sure that every member of that family has what they need. I believe that having a married set of parents is important for a family--it provides stability. And I believe that having a family is a right.

I am already a rather moderate person, and getting more conservative by the day. I am personally fiscally conservative, I don't like Hollywood making "Spring Break" movies showing our girls that it's "normal" to be slutty and drunk in high school, and I'm not very compromising when it comes to how seriously I take family values. But even though I'm probably the most conservative in my entire family, I don't believe that it is my right to tell someone else that they cannot have the same rights I have.

Why should I get to be legally recognized for being in the best relationship of my life but someone else shouldn't be? I didn't do anything to earn that right and they didn't do anything to lose that right--so why should I get it and they shouldn't? It's not my right to make a decision about their rights for them.

Last week Ohio senator Rob Portman changed his mind on the gay marriage issue because his son is gay. While I am thrilled that he changed his stance, the fact that it is taking a family member being gay to convince conservative leaders that gay people should have rights is kind of amazing. But it worked for him and it worked for Cheney. So here is my challenge for all of you who think that gay people shouldn't be allowed to get married:

• Think of the person in your life that you love the most. 
• Think about how upset you would be if they weren't allowed to be legally married.
• Get on board.

Now, if your empathetic side isn't quite up to snuff, try this challenge instead:

• Think about yourself.
• If you're married, think about all the great things that you have because you're married.
• All those things were just taken away from you.
• You are a second-class citizen. 
• You are not allowed to get married to the person you love, because it's illegal.
• You are never going to have the same rights as everyone else.
• You are second rate.
• You are not equal.
• You do not have the same job opportunities as "normal" people.
• You will never make as much money as "normal" people.
• You have to fight to be heard every day.
• And you--YOU--are not equal to ME because you are different. 
• YOU are less than me.

I didn't like writing that--it felt mean and hateful. And it was. I hope it got under your skin a little bit. That is what the gay and lesbian community faces every day. It is hate and it is wrong. Get on board.

Today and tomorrow the Supreme Court of the United States is going to be discussing gay marriage rights in the U.S. This is a civil rights issue, just like race discrimination is. If it were left up to the states to decide whether or not to have in their state constitutions that African Americans, Native Americans, Latino Americans, or any other non-white American could not be discriminated against, how do you think that would work out? We need to have gay rights recognized as federal law, not on a state-by-state basis. 

I don't have any tolerance for discrimination. I just don't. People are people. Love is love. Equality is equality. None of that should be based on where you're from, what you look like, who you love, and what you want in life. I hope and pray that we will get equality in this country sooner than later. I am so ashamed to even have to say that in 2013 as an American. We must have equality.

From the Human Rights Campaign.

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi

The Most Historic Inauguration

The Presidential Inauguration yesterday made history, for more reasons than just the fact that it was an inauguration.

• Myrlie Evers Williams gave the invocation; the first woman ever to do so.
• Kelly Clarkson (2) and Beyonce (16) together tied Aretha Franklin (18) for artists with most Grammy wins singing at an inauguration. 
• The first African-American president was inaugurated for the second time.
• Obama has now been sworn in four times, tying FDR's record.
• Richard Blanco wrote an original poem and read it yesterday; the first latino and openly gay person to be included in the inaugural ceremonies.
• The first ever gay and lesbian marching band marched in the inaugural parade.

And that doesn't even cover what President Obama said during the inaugural address: 

• "We must make the hard choices to reduce the cost of health care and the size of our deficit." Touching on healthcare and the deficit in an inaugural address is rare and incredibly specific. It really brings home what he feels is important to work on in the next term, though, something people on both sides of the aisle can agree on.
• "We will respond to the threat of climate change...Some may still deny the overwhelming judgement of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling doubt, and more powerful storms." Wow. First off, I didn't know people still didn't "believe in" global warming, but I guess Obama just told them to get over it and get with the program! Love it.
• "The path towards sustainable energy resources will be long and sometimes difficult. But America cannot resist this transition; we must lead it." Oil companies, take note. This is something that is huge for this generation. We must lead ourselves to taking this step of getting our country to the next level in terms of sustainable energy.
• "We, the people, still believe that enduring security and lasting peace do not require perpetual war...we are also heirs to those who won the peace and not just the war, who turned sworn enemies into the surest of friends, and we must carry those lessons into this time as well." Well, this is good. Really good. We don't have to have war to have peace. Let's win the peace.
• "We will support democracy from Asia to Africa; from the Americas to the Middle East..." Yep. We're going to talk to the whole world and support them. Get on board!
• "...our journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers, and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts." Equal rights for women! Everyone saying that Obama doesn't like women because of his cabinet appointments, stop. 
• "Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law--for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well." WHAT?! Did anyone see this coming?? Not me, but this is AWESOME!!! Good for him. Marriage equality is on the horizon. FINALLY.
• "Our journey is not complete until no citizen is forced to wait for hours to exercise the right to vote." Voting rights? I'm on board. Keep talking.
• "Our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity; until bright young students and engineers are enlisted in our workforce rather than expelled from our country." Immigration reform, too?! My head is exploding!!! Obama's killing it!
• "Our journey is not complete until all our children...know that they are cared for, and cherished, and always safe from harm." And a very subtle nod to gun control reform. This guy is good.
• "Being true to our founding documents does not require us to agree on every contour of life...but it does require us to act in our time." Thank you. Someone has needed to say this for a long time. Just because we have these documents doesn't mean that we even can follow them word for word now. We need to change with the times and act accordingly.
• "You and I, as citizens, have the power to set this country's course." Plug for "Organizing for Action": Organizing for America reformed!

I loved this speech. It was amazing. I have never heard a more progressive or direct speech at an inauguration. I am not super-emotional when it comes to other people that I don't know, but I have been really emotional over the last year with this president. First, I cried during Michelle Obama's speech at the DNC. Then I teared up at Barack's speech at the DNC. Next: election night. Cried. And then yesterday I teared up again. I think it's just that Obama does things other presidents would never do. He said in his speech that we should have marriage equality. No one else touched that. This is definitely one for the books.

I was watching the coverage on MSNBC for part of the day (my fiancé and I were switching around between ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX, and MSNBC, for those of you who are going to attack me for being a close-minded liberal) and they asked "What do YOU want in the second term?" I tweeted, "I want women's rights, an assault weapon ban, marriage equality, environmental protection, reduction of the deficit, and more jobs. #msnbc." And it got put on air when Rachel Maddow and Chris Matthews were talking! I was so excited!

Yesterday was an historic day for our country and I am sure that people on both sides of the aisle can agree on that. Using the word that President Obama used the most yesterday, let's move forward and work "together."

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi

Debate Rundown: What Undecided Voters Might See

The patriotic cupcakes I made!

Last night was the last presidential debate before the election. I threw a very cool party and, even though only a couple of people came, we had a great time.

In my opinion, the debate was alright. Foreign policy is not a popular topic, and I would venture to say that most people don't know a whole lot about it. I don't like the fact that this was the topic, because I feel like a lot of people were put off by it. I think the moderator could have done a much better job of keeping the candidates from going on tangents, but I think both of the candidates know that Americans are more familiar with domestic policy. I can't fault them for going back to it and trying to keep their audience engaged.

President Obama has a whole lot more experience in foreign policy than Governor Romney, and in my opinion it showed. It looked to me like Romney tried very hard to come to the middle, possibly upsetting some of his constituents, but a great tactic to use. He agreed with the president multiple times, but it just seemed to me that he was saying, "I like what you have done and I would have done the same thing, but I would have done it sooner."

I think Obama's one-liners got out of hand. While the "horses and bayonets" line was funny, I really think him saying, "The 80s called and they want their foreign policy back," was extremely childish. That is what teenage girls say about other girls' outfits (well, not now; the 80s are back!). It just seemed like something far beneath what the Commander-in-Chief should say.

Romney seemed like he was being a little bit like a teenage girl, as well, when he kept saying, "Attacking me is not explaining your policies," and then he turned around and attacked Obama. I mean, I agree with the fact that attacks are petty and childish, but both campaigns are doing it. I think they should both stop. I think it was a great strategic move by Romney to try to make it look like Obama was "attacking" him and he was a victim, but I think it just made Romney look like he was jealous of the prom queen.

I don't know anyone who is an undecided voter, but I want to share what I think I would see if I was an "undecided" and uninformed voter and watched the debates. I am trying to put myself in the undecided voter's shoes and put aside my biases. During my time working in the campaign office, it has become apparent that a lot of voters pick one or two issues and vote based on those issues alone.

I would like to preface this by saying that if you are an undecided voter and you feel that this is a misrepresentation of your views, it is not malicious or intentional.

Romney:

• Strong
• Good speaker
• Doesn't let people walk on him
• Has 5 points in his plan
• I'm still not sure about his math 
• Insincere
• Does he keep changing his views to get more of the vote?

Obama:

• Has 4 years of experience under his belt
• Has 5 points in his plan
• Going to make wealthy people pay more taxes
• Irritable
• Good speaker
• Charismatic
• Stays solid on his views

If I were undecided and uninformed, here is what I would think on certain issues:

Healthcare:

• Obamacare? Isn't that the same as Romneycare from Massachusetts?
• I don't want someone telling me what I can and can't do with my body--either way. I don't want Obamacare telling me what my government-funded healthcare is going to be, but I don't want Romney deciding how women's wellness check-ups and abortions will or will not be covered.
• What's a voucher system?

Economy:

• Romney is a businessman. He would be good at balancing a budget and bringing our country back to where it needs to be financially.
• Did Romney say that we should let the auto industry go bankrupt? Didn't the companies the government bailed out still file Chapter 11 bankruptcy before they got the bailout money?

Jobs:

• The unemployment rate is 7.8% nationally. It was 7.9% when Obama took office. Obama said he would get it to 5.4%. Was that possible? Should I trust his "arithmetic" on other issues, since this didn't work out?
• Obama saved tens of thousands of jobs in the auto industry. That's good.
• Obama wants to hire thousands of math and science teachers. Could be a good thing for teachers. What about other careers?

Gay Marriage:

• Obama supports gay marriage. Romney thinks each state should get to amend their constitutions to either support or deny gay marriage. Does this have anything to do with me at all? 
• Most of the people who don't approve of gay marriage say it's because it goes against their religious beliefs. What about separation of church and state? Shouldn't personal religious beliefs take a back seat to equal rights for all?

Education:

• Romney thinks that there shouldn't be teacher's unions. Does that mean that teachers could just get fired even if they'd been working for a long time? This would make teaching merit based, so maybe our teachers would get better.
• Obama wants to hire new math and science teachers to make sure we get closer to the top in terms of technology development. That's good, because we should stay the #1 country in the world.

Foreign Policy:

• Is Libya by Afghanistan?

Taxes:

• Isn't making wealthy people pay more taxes like socialism?
• I'm in the middle class; I can't afford to pay more taxes.
• Romney says he's going to cut taxes for everyone. How does that work without putting us in more debt?

This is obviously just my opinion on what undecided and uninformed voters might be thinking. But it's interesting, because if you look at it as an "undecided" voter might, it's a close race. I just want to say to the undecided voter, "Please do your homework!" Regardless of who you decide to vote for, know why you're voting for them. This is one of the most important elections of our lifetimes and we need to be informed citizens, using the freedom of democracy to our advantage.

If you need to become more informed, here are the two candidates' websites:

MittRomney.com

BarackObama.com

We have 14 days left until this election. Make it the best 14 days of the campaign. Make up your mind about who you want to vote for and then go campaign for them! Knock on doors, make phone calls, talk to people; and when you get tired, keep going.

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi