We Know What to Do

Sick, embarrassed and scared. That pretty much sums up my feelings over the state of our country right now. I’m sick over the hatred for things that are different and how it is driving our country. I’m embarrassed by my state for their choice in leadership, not just on a national level, but here at home too. I’m scared for the future and what it may bring for my and my future children. I’m scared about the world I’ll have to raise them in. All I want to do is cry. 

As I watched the election results last night and read the news this morning it was hard to remain positive. Uncertainty and anxiety over what is going to happen knotted my stomach and made it almost impossible to sleep. The more I’ve thought about it, the more I realized we already know what to do. JK Rowling spent our whole childhood teaching us and preparing us for this exact moment. 

Our president-elect is Voldemort. He has stirred up fear and hatred the same way the Dark Lord did. He has a quest to rid the country of those who he considers less—those who don’t agree or align with his values. There will be Death Eaters who loyally follow and help spew the hate and fear their leader has created and will do his bidding. Things are going to get a little crazy for a while as we figure out his weakness (I’m calling it now, it’s a lack of love). Then, when we need it most and the world is ready, the Children who Lived will help us fight back. These kids may be law students who aren’t sure if they should keep going, or high school students worried about what is going to happen to their family. Maybe it’s a single mom struggling to make ends meet for her family. Or maybe it’s you. It may even be one of our littles who has no idea what is happening right now. But they will come and they will fight and good will win. 

In the mean time, we need to reassemble The Order. We need to join together to fight the injustices, give a voice to those who don’t have their own and stand up for what we know is right. Don’t let others be mistreated because it seems like the popular thing to do. There is enough fighting and division in the world. We need to unite in love. Love for our country, our families and ourselves. Love is the highest superpower and the only way to win is to join together. 

We can do this America!

Allow Me to Get Political for a Moment

The next few paragraphs are going to get a little political, so if you want to skip it, power to you! We'll be back to our regularly scheduled programing about my excitingly dull life next week.


A few weeks ago, I registered to vote for the first time. I'm almost 25. Due to my state's policies, I don't believe my presidential vote counts for anything, and that makes me sad. This is the first election I've ever paid attention to. I watched the convention and the debates, looked up information about the candidates, read the fact check articles (from NYT and USAToday) after debates and speeches, and looked into how voting actually works so that I had a better understand of how our government operates (high school did a crap job of that). But why now? Why am I suddenly interested in politics.

This election has been a circus. Hate is being spewed like lose change, mud is being thrown and every other day there seems to be a scandal. Real issues, many involving women and their rights are being talked about. Things that impact me. Because of this, everyone is picking sides and leaving America in the middle like a child being tossed between divorcing parents. The news reports, debates and other information is making me question what is happening to our world and to be honest, it's terrifying. In my opinion, there is a clear winner, but no one LOVES either candidate. No one has said "Yep, they're going to be the greatest president ever!", but isn't that the way it's always been? Have we ever truly, 100% agreed with any politician? No. We're not wired that way. We're not supposed to agree or like everything about anyone! Now before you tell me I'm wrong, think about your spouse/significant other. Do you love EVERYTHING about them? Probably not, and that's okay. You learned to love them with their faults anyway.

Thinking about it, I think the reason people get so angered and fired up about politics is because it is change and we are not wired to like change. As humans we need routine and consistency. It makes us feel safe. Choosing a new public figure for the free world is a major change! We don't know how to handle it, so we freak out.

One question that I've had for a while is why aren't we having debates with (at least televised ones) and fighting over our house, senate and congress representatives? They're the ones with the most power in this equation. They can make or break a law/bill depending on their mood or need for a temper-tantrum.

The election is almost over (thankfully!) and then we can go back to our lives of hearing about the representatives and senators fighting over who has the talking stick. I don't know about you, but I'm going to spend the next few weeks getting to know and understand these candidates. They're the ones who are going to make real change.

Allow Me to Get Political for a Moment

The next few paragraphs are going to get a little political, so if you want to skip it, power to you! We'll be back to our regularly scheduled programing about my excitingly dull life next week.


A few weeks ago, I registered to vote for the first time. I'm almost 25. Due to my state's policies, I don't believe my presidential vote counts for anything, and that makes me sad. This is the first election I've ever paid attention to. I watched the convention and the debates, looked up information about the candidates, read the fact check articles (from NYT and USAToday) after debates and speeches, and looked into how voting actually works so that I had a better understand of how our government operates (high school did a crap job of that). But why now? Why am I suddenly interested in politics.

This election has been a circus. Hate is being spewed like lose change, mud is being thrown and every other day there seems to be a scandal. Real issues, many involving women and their rights are being talked about. Things that impact me. Because of this, everyone is picking sides and leaving America in the middle like a child being tossed between divorcing parents. The news reports, debates and other information is making me question what is happening to our world and to be honest, it's terrifying. In my opinion, there is a clear winner, but no one LOVES either candidate. No one has said "Yep, they're going to be the greatest president ever!", but isn't that the way it's always been? Have we ever truly, 100% agreed with any politician? No. We're not wired that way. We're not supposed to agree or like everything about anyone! Now before you tell me I'm wrong, think about your spouse/significant other. Do you love EVERYTHING about them? Probably not, and that's okay. You learned to love them with their faults anyway.

Thinking about it, I think the reason people get so angered and fired up about politics is because it is change and we are not wired to like change. As humans we need routine and consistency. It makes us feel safe. Choosing a new public figure for the free world is a major change! We don't know how to handle it, so we freak out.

One question that I've had for a while is why aren't we having debates with (at least televised ones) and fighting over our house, senate and congress representatives? They're the ones with the most power in this equation. They can make or break a law/bill depending on their mood or need for a temper-tantrum.

The election is almost over (thankfully!) and then we can go back to our lives of hearing about the representatives and senators fighting over who has the talking stick. I don't know about you, but I'm going to spend the next few weeks getting to know and understand these candidates. They're the ones who are going to make real change.

Welcome Back

Hi Friends,

It's been a while since I've posted anything. I'd like to say that I've been off having grand adventures, saving the world or doing something remarkable...but that would be a lie. Truth is, I've just been adulting. I have wanted to get back into blogging for a while, so I'm making a commitment to myself to blog every week through the end of the year. The posts will probably be on Sundays, since that's when I have the most time, but don't totally hold me to that. I don't know what the posts will be about, but I have some ideas. There are a handful of bad date stories that I've tried countless times to use in a novel, but just can't get them to work and they're too good not to share. I have thoughts on current world situations, books that I NEED to review and some other things that might just come out as ramblings. Either way, I wanted a place to share them and this long forgotten blog seemed like the best place to do that.

I'm also getting much more serious about wanting to publish a novel (which one is still up in the air). I'm looking into agents and publishers and considering the pros and cons to self-publishing. No matter which route I go, I know I need to have an online identity. No one will buy my books (beyond my mother) if they don't know about them. What's the point of being a writer if you don't have at least one reader?

So this is it. I'm committing to three months of weekly blogs where I basically can dump the contents of my brain out, discuss how I'm feeling about writing (read: probably complaining), and share thoughts that I just don't have the willpower to dump onto Facebook. A link to a blog is much easier to ignore than a three paragraph post killing your scroll time. I hope you check back weekly and will share your thoughts on my thoughts. Let's reopen conversation!

*R

People are People

There's been a lot of debate in the world lately about different lifestyles and choices and what's right and wrong. I've seen advocates and those who disagree post their thoughts openly on Facebook. Awesome! I'm glad that we can all have different views and publicly express them. That's what makes the world such an interesting place. I'm glad that I can be me and have my own thoughts...

I'm glad that I get to be who I want to be and am accepted by my family, friends and peers. I'm glad that I get to dress in a way that makes me comfortable and confident in myself. I'm glad that I receive respect from those around me and am treated fairly by those I interact with. I'm glad that I live in a time where I can be 24 years-old, single, working on my career, sorting through way too many stupid guys in the whole dating game and HAPPY without judgement, disrespect or discrimination! I would hate to live in a world where someone told me I was wrong for being who I was meant to be.

But what if my lifestyle wasn't socially accepted (think early 1900's). Would I be as comfortable and confident in my own skin, be treated with kindness and respect and be happy? I would hope so, but I don't think society would condition others to believe that I wasn't hurting anyone by being me. That thought makes me sad.

Whenever these debates come around my newsfeed, I'm always reminded of the primary song that goes "Jesus said love everyone. Treat them kindly too. When your heart is filled with love. Others will love you." I don't know about you, but I was always taught to be like Jesus.

So, I'm choosing to support people the way Jesus would. Be who you want to be. Wear the clothes that make you feel comfortable. Cut and color your hair the way you want. Be who you are because there isn't another you out there and we need you to make this world amazing! I may not agree with every lifestyle or choice, but who am I to judge? You never know what someone's story is and how your off-hand comment can change their day. What I can do is show kindness and basic humanity to everyone I interact with. I think that's what Jesus would want me to do.

New Content Coming Soon

It's time to open this blog back up. We're getting a face lift, topic change and a new posting schedule. Stay tuned.

When Did I Become a Junior??

Happy 1st Day of School!!

I'm pretty excited to be back on campus and in my school routine. Working and hanging around for the summer was nice, but I missed the structure schools gives me. As much as I love it, I'm super glad this is the first of my last three semesters!! That's right, I'm almost done with college! I sort of wonder where the time went, but I'm grateful to be close to the finish line.

From the way today went, this semester is going to be a good one. I'm in five classes including: Media Law, Grammar, Psych 1010, Creative Non-Fiction, and PR writing. My law prof seems like a pretty chill guy. He's a practicing attorney and reminds me of one of my other professors from my freshman year. Have you ever seen the movie "What About Bob?" Well my Pysch prof is Bob. He's youngish and seems like he's going to make Psych fun. The class is full of mainly freshman and dang do I feel old!

I feel like such a Rock Star today! Obviously everyone knows books are expensive. A couple of my books were over $100. I bought them because I thought I needed them, but after a little bit of internet searching, I found both books for about the same price the one was going to cost me. So I returned the books to the bookstore and hopefully my books will be here by Friday!!

If you're ever in the need for textbooks try
www.campusbookrentals.com
www.chegg.com

I'm feeling pretty confident about this school year. I have good classes, a JOB, and a good roommate. The other's in the apartment seems pretty cool, but I haven't really hung out with them. We all just do our own thing, which is totally fine with me.

So school is starting, it's hopefully going to cool down a little bit, and I'm going to the lake on Monday! It's going to be a good week.

Rachael