Why Blog?

I admit, I've never done this before. I thought the best way to start was to begin by letting you in on who I am and why I'm writing this for you to read....

I was raised in a home that encouraged the development of my free thought. When it came to my questions, even when I was a toddler, my parents did not squeak around topics. Instead, they were open and honest and invited me to continue being inquisitive. From before I can remember my mom would have to drag me away from where I'd be watching the news with my father when the material was too violent for me, yet somehow I'd always find my way back. At ten years old I staged a mini-march for Al Gore on the playground. The result was myself chanting, with maybe one other child, "Gore is More!" and "Bush is Mush!", countered by a few children who said their parents were voting for Bush and we should "shut up". That was the first time I felt the fire lit beneath my feet. I wouldn't have been able to tell you at the time what that fire I felt was for, but I knew it was there and I knew that I was highly enjoying myself as I went in circles around a knee-high shrubbery. That fire thrived and grew rapidly off of the conversations I would have with my father surrounding health care, the election, war, religion , civil rights and genocide.

In sixth grade I felt my heart wrenched upon learning of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Having grown up an hour and a half outside of NYC on the Jersey side, the attacks hit close to home. Though I had been less engaged since getting over the loss of the 2000 election, suddenly I was involved again. I began a collection in my elementary school, mind you there were 83 other students grades 1 through 6, for the families of those who were victimized. At twelve I joined on online forum for teens where I let everyone go on the assumption that I was well through high school based on my arguments for gay rights, evolution, and the War in Afghanistan.

With my continuing disdain for our then president and the development of my own identity it became even more important to me that I be involved in our government and that others do too. Angered that I was not yet old enough to vote myself, I began working hard to get those youth who were of age to vote in the 2004 election and when I could, I tried to sway them to vote for Kerry. Though I wasn't a huge Kerry fan, I felt that the only way to save our country and our citizens who were dying overseas in battle was to not re-elect Bush. My first experience working on a campaign came when I was a sophomore in high school and volunteered my services to Barbara Damon's campaign for Vermont State Representative. Though it was a short campaign which we lost, I had gotten my first real taste.

I distinctly remember sitting and watching Barack Obama speaking at the Democratic National Convention in 2004. About five minutes into his speech I turned to my mother and said that I wanted him to run for president next. Her response was that he was just getting his foot in the door with politics, "...maybe in 2012". In 2006, before Obama announced he was even toying with the presidency, I got involved with grassroots organizing here in Vermont to start an "Obama movement". I had decided what wether he realized it or not, he was what our country needed and I was going to do everything I could to ensure that he ran. The theory I functioned on was that if he saw he had supporters and people planning to vote for him already, then he would be more likely to declare his canidacy. I contiued my work for his camaign up and through the election and inaugeration. In a summer I helped register hundreds of new voters of all ages, canvassing on street corners, at 4th of July parades, and in my classes. The result is that today I feel that I can finally say I am proud of my nation's president, even when I don't agree with him.

This has been a year of accomplishment for our nation and my community and I must admit, I thrive on knowing that I had a hand in the change. In November I cried in amazement, disbelief, happiness, and relief as I watched President Obama give his speech in Denver after having won the election. I cried again as he was inaugerated in January. On April 7th of this year myself and those dear to me gained the right in Vermont to marry those we fall in love with. Through our hardwork, many phonecalls and knocked on doors, and by not letting ourselves be discouraged everytime we were told that what we were fighting for, even who we are as individuals, is wrong or sinful or sould be illegal paid off when the history setting Gay Marriage Bill passed in both the VT House and Senate and then gained veto power over Governor Douglas.

Now, as I am finishing up my sophomore year of university, I am amazed at what I have done in my short life yet am disappointed with myself that I have not done more. I am now setting out on a new adventure; modern journalism. I have decided to record my journey through the Vermont activism scene and my work in political change both here and using Twitter. Follow my footsteps as I fight for civil rights, clean energy, and political change on the unpaved - literally - streets of Vermont.