Today is Election Day in the US. 🗳
My reach is small—and my influence essentially nonexistent—but it still feels important to say something, especially knowing how important the midterms are this year.
Turnout of voters aged 18–29 is on the rise—51% voted in 2020, compared to just 39% in 2016—which is fucking amazing. But, even at 51% turnout, young voters still have the lowest turnout of any age bracket. And turnout always drops for midterms, something we cannot afford to have happen as our hairline majority in the senate hangs in the balance. Maintaining and growing that majority is our best chance at protecting reproductive freedom, LGBTQIA+ rights, expanding gun reform, etc.
I’ve seen a tweet making the rounds about how voting isn’t a valentine to a candidate you love and support 100%, but rather a chess move toward the world you want to live in. And I might not be a chess player but I think that’s a pretty damn good way of putting it. The platform of the particular Democrat candidate(s) on your ballot today likely does not perfectly reflect your ideals. But, pragmatically speaking, a vote for them is a vote against a Republican (whom I hope I can safely assume, dear mutual, reflects none of your values). A vote for them is—at minimum—a vote to hold the line of crumbling democracy against the terrifying slide into christofascism, and at best, may actually pleasantly surprise us all and lead to something positive. I never would have imagined Biden passing student loan forgiveness when I voted for him, and yet, here we are!
Of course, there is so much room under the sun for critiques of the two party system, corrupt politicians, Citizens United, the electoral college, etc, etc, etc, and unfortunately there will always be those who insist that voting “doesn't matter,” or in some way makes you complicit in upholding an imperfect system. But I truly and firmly believe that it’s not either/or, it’s “yes and.” Gerrymandering and voter suppression wouldn’t be a thing if voting didn’t have power. And abstaining from voting is about as effective politically as abstinence-only birth control. If you have the ability to vote, please, please make it a priority today. 🥲🇺🇸
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i used to be so good at writing strong, thoroughly-researched, thoroughly-edited essays.
as a kid in hs, my teacher literally came up to me, holding my 40 page essay on the intersection of the European witch hunts and capitalism/exploitation/gender roles (it was supposed to be 7 pages...whoops) and went like "this is literally a master's-degree level thesis. what are you doing?? you could literally use this as your final dissertation in a master's program, what the fuck."
NOW??? NOW?? you'd think I'd be oh so skilled. but alas. i can barely piece together two ideas. adhd skill-regression is so so real. im SOBBING
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I like to think that Vulcans who come to understand that Humans just can’t try to process emotions the same way as them, it’s just healthiest to let it out in harmless ways, decide that venting and stuff should be taken just as seriously as Vulcan’s meditation time, and will encourage the Humans around them to complain about what’s upsetting them
People who are used to aloof Vulcans who avoid Humans at all cost running into one comforting a Human
“-and then they said my cheesecake was subpar, and they didn’t even bring a dish!!!”
“The purpose of this event was that every participant brings a food item of sorts, correct?”
“Yeah!!”
“And they did not follow this rule while insulting dishes that were brought?”
“Mostly just my dish but yeah >:(“
“How illogical”
“That’s what I’m saying!!!”
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This is a super super gentle reminder not to put your favorite authors on a pedestal. We're real people living average lives and not trying to be influencers. We criticize ourselves enough and we don't want to be held to an invisible standard (we start to worry we fail to exceed our own selves) or compared to other writers (we are not competing) or tailor our craft to cater to a wider audience (the right people will find you).
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