Kids and Politics

A month or so ago, I was shopping with my almost-thirteen year old cousin. We were waiting to turn into Target's parking lot when we saw a woman standing in the median with the usual "anything helps, God bless" sign. My cousin looked at me and said "why doesn't that woman just get a job and stop being so lazy?"

I wasn't really sure how to answer. I know my aunt's views lean to the conservative side (although she couldn't tell you what her views really are, and she didn't vote in the 2008 or 2012 elections), but I was still surprised to hear my cousin say that.

I explained to her that we weren't sure what her situation was, so we didn't know if she was lazy. Maybe she lost her job and was worried about feeding her children, or she works third shift and has a sick spouse she needs extra money for. We don't know. Kathryn looked at me, surprised. You could tell she had never thought about it that way.

Of course, that woman could have just been lazy. I don't know. I choose to give people the benefit of the doubt the first time. But if you've ever talked to a homeless person before (not a beggar, a homeless person) you know that the majority of them didn't get there because they were lazy.

My parents never showed their bias when they talked to me about politics. They talked to me about issues a lot (I remember asking a lot of questions when my main man Bill Clinton was in office), but they never directly said "these are the things we believe." I remember one day at school (probably around the 1996 election) someone asked me who my parents were voting for. I said I didn't know, and she goes "I hope it's not Bill Clinton. I hate democrats." I didn't even know what a democrat was, so when I asked my mom about it that night she explained democrats and republicans to me and ended it with "But you should never hate anyone because their political views. Or at all. Hatred is not what we believe in." I guess you could say that by teaching me empathy and how to care about everyone, not just myself, they were laying the groundwork for me being a democrat, but there's obviously a lot more to it than that.

I spend a lot of time thinking about how I would approach politics if we ever have kids. I would hope that I would take an approach like my parents took with me, but I am notoriously more outspoken than either of my parents (and almost anyone else that I know), so I'm not sure how that would go. I can only hope that I teach them to love, and always see the good in the world before they look at the bad. (of course, I'll still love them if they're republicans. they can be anything they want, as long as they're not Duke fans.)

Anyway, I hadn't really given the Kathryn situation much thought until I saw this video someone had posted on Facebook this morning. It's less than five minutes long, so I encourage you to watch it, but if you don't, I'll quickly summarize: this 12 year old thinks the NC Voter ID law that Pat McCrory is trying to pass is some serious crap. 

She's well spoken and articulate, and raises some really good points. Really, she explains her thoughts better than a lot of adults I know (myself included).

The differences between this girl and my cousin really struck me. They're the exact same age - but my cousin will probably never care about something like voter rights. 

How do you foster what this little girl has? I've been interested in politics for as long as I can remember, but I would never have done something like that. She obviously spent a fair amount of time on that speech, and she definitely did her research. So how do we make sure there's more of her (kids who are educated about the issues, not kids who will grow up to be democrats) in the future? 

Instead of teaching kids how to be judgemental, we need to be teaching them to love and care about others and have a passion for doing what's right. Hatred isn't some genetic thing we pass down. We teach that to them. And we need to knock it off. 

On Nostalgia.

At the risk of sounding totally emo, I've been thinking about feelings a lot lately. I'm not sure why, really. Maybe it's because things are mostly settled in my life, although I would hesitate to even say that because every time I do, something cuh-razy happens. Either way, I have been a big ball of nostalgia lately.

Nostalgia is kind of the cool thing right now, right? You can't go a day without some countdown on Buzzfeed about the twenty best things of [choose a decade]. People love thinking about their past. Reliving your best memories has been shown to decrease loneliness and anxiety. And it's kinda fun, right?

To me, the craziest part about nostalgia is that (Buzzfeed articles aside) it can come out of freakin' nowhere. There's no rhyme or reason, it just pops up when you least expect it. In fact, it's usually the little things that illicit the strongest emotions, right?

I was grating cheese for dinner last night when I got a message from Jenna telling me that she liked my post yesterday. When Jenna and I lived together, she never ever wanted to grate cheese because she was petrified she was going to slice her finger off, so I always did it. As soon as I got her message, I felt like I had been transported back to our old kitchen, grating cheese while Jenna browned some hamburger meat for Taco Pie. It was so vivid, so much more than just a memory. It's crazy that it was five years ago. FIVE years ago I was a junior in college, living in an adorable apartment with my best friend. Five years. I can't even wrap my head around it.

Saturday morning, Garrett and I watched The Hunger Games. As I was watching the credits roll at the end, I was immediately transported back to the first time we had watched it. We had only been dating a few months, and we had binge-read the entire trilogy a few weeks before so we could see the movie when it came out. We saw it in Norfolk, at the expensive movie theater because doing things together was still new and exciting and we didn't care about being practical. Our relationship was so fresh and so honeymoon-y, which is a stark contrast to where we are now: settled and comfortable and normal. Obviously, this is is where the really meaningful parts of being in a relationship come in, but there's still something really special about the honeymoon phase in a relationship that you know you're never going to get back.

Then there are all the weird, little things.... I have a pint glass (that I stole) from The Village the last time I visited Laura in Richmond that always makes me smile. Whenever I look at all the books on my bookshelf, I think about how most of them were bought during rips to Ed McKay's with Kelsey, our usual destination after we filled up on Ham's and Port City Java. Ridiculously enough, Pumpkin Spice Lattes make me nostalgic sometimes because they're something that I've loved for six years now, and quite frankly, there are very few things that been consistent in my life for this long.

I'm so grateful for all of these memories that have made my life a truly happy one, but man, do they give me the feels. I've finally discovered that feelings aren't something to hide or ignore, though, so for now, I'll play my favorite memories back in my head, and continue to chronicle them on my blog. I like it that way.

Assorted Monday Thoughts

We had a good weekend. We ate a quick dinner at home on Friday night, and then headed to downtown Greensboro so I could take Garrett to Cheesecakes by Alex. I got pumpkin cheesecake (duh) and Garrett got kahlua espresso cheesecake. After we ordered, the couple behind us only got one slice to share because a "a slice for each of us is just too much!" Child, please. Get out of here.
We spent Saturday night with Jenna and Andy eating pizza and playing board games, which might be my new favorite way to spend the weekend.
We spent Sunday doing a little bit of shopping at the outlets about 45 minutes from here. (The Panthers weren't on so I didn't have a football game to avoid watching. Seriously, we usually win when I'm not watching.)

Also, Jenna got us these adorable cups the last time they were in Asheville. I can't remember if I've ever mentioned it on here, but Garrett calls me "bird" and I call him "bear" (vom, I know) and Jenna remembered (because she's amazing) and got us these as a housewarming gift! I'm thinking I'm going to try to plant some succulents in them. Those are supposed to be pretty easy, right?

I'm not a huge Halloween person, but I have LOVED seeing all the costumes you guys have been coming up with!! I think my favorite so far has been Rachel's from Life Unsweetened. SO GOOD!!!

I have some phenomenal recipes coming up this week... Parmesan Crusted Chicken with Kale Caesar Salad and Roasted Red Pepper Linguine with salmon and Taco Soup and.... something else I haven't picked out yet. There are too many nights in the week, right?

Speaking of food, if you haven't made rice krispy treats with pumpkin spice marshmallows yet, I implore you to do so. Seriously, the best. The four of us ate an ENTIRE batch on Saturday night.

I fell in love with the J Crew Field Jacket yesterday, and I'm trying to decide if it'll be worth the splurge. If anyone wants to throw me a hundred bucks, I'll gladly send you my Paypal information.

What is everyone else up to today? For a Monday, this day hasn't been too terrible. Although Garrett bought me a PSL this morning, so that always helps.

Say what now?

I've decided to rework my Weekly Roundups (again). I know a few people like them (Kate, you're the best!), and I enjoy doing them, but they never get as much action as other posts, so hopefully I can make them more interesting or appealing or whatever.

In case you had forgotten how awful Leann Rimes was, she posted a helpful reminder on Twitter on Tuesday:

Hahahaha right? Because adultery is HILARIOUS!

Here's what: I think it's wildly unfair that in cheating situations, the woman takes a lot more heat than the man does. I also don't think cheaters are all bad people JUST because they cheated. But this is straight up unacceptable. Bragging about how you're a homewrecker? Joking about how you broke up a home when there are children involved is just BEYOND. Also, why does she feel like she needs to keep reminding us she had an affair? Is it because it's she knows she's been irrelevant for a few years now? I think it might be.

I love North Carolina, but it's becoming harder and harder to defend this fabulous state.

On The Daily Show on Wednesday night, Don Yelton, a Republican strategist and self-proclaimed bigot, defended the Voter ID law that is supposed to be enacted in 2016 by saying that it's not racist, the main purpose is to "kick Democrats in the butt!" Thanks for explaining that Don, now I feel a lot better.

But did my main homie Don stop there? Nooooooo sir! He went on to say that it wasn't fair that black people got to say the N Word and white people don't, he's not racist because HE HAS A BLACK FRIEND, and he said that the witch doctor picture he posted on his Facebook was making fun of President Obama's "white half, not his black half." 

Really.

Here's what: It is astonishing that people still think saying things like this on national television is okay. Also, it'll be interesting to see how this plays out in North Carolina. So far, Republicans have been able to hide under the "but what about FRAUD?" umbrella, but my main homie Don absolutely admitted that it's to hurt college students, lazy blacks, and the democrats, thus ruining any legitimacy the law COULD have had. 

Update: as of this morning, the Buncombe County GOP has forced him to resign. Good job, my friends. 

Have you ever worried that the Internet is taking up too much of your time?

So on average, people spend 100 minutes on the internet each day. When you spend those 100 minutes a day, that means you're losing 27 minutes of work time, 29 minutes of leisure time, and 12 minutes of sleep. 

Here's what: I would argue that throughout the day, there would probably be 27 minutes that you weren't being work-productive anyway, and most people use the internet as part of their leisure time, so I'm not sure I would count that as "lost" time.

I would ALSO argue that just because you're on the internet doesn't mean you're not working or getting other things done, you know? It's totally common for people to have gchat or Twitter open while they're working, because neither of those things require 100% concentration. 

Either way, the only thing I thought when I read this study was "......only 100 minutes a day?"

The entire study is here but it costs $$ to download. The Washington Post's breakdown is here.

What do you think of this new format? I think I'm into it so far.

Happy Friday!