The Conversation

Kids               I don’t want to run for public office, I never have, but if I did, I would focus on our children and how to set them up for future success. As a member of the first generation in this country predicted to be worse off than their parents both physically and financially, this is particularly important for me . Kids are our future, and we need to do a better job taking care of them and enabling them to have the quality of life we wish for them (which I’m assuming is better than the one we have made for ourselves). I’m a public-school teacher of middle and high school students and have been for over a decade (since before the iPhone came out and teaching fully metamorphosed into an exercise in frustration). As a public servant and one who has a heart for the future success of our nation through the next generation, I find it important to address what we are going to do for our descendants (while figuring ...

Am I actually running for president? Not now. I am reasonable enough to know that an idea borne of frustration at lacking a candidate that represents me and my family is not going to change the world. But an idea can change the world, and these generations are the ones most capable of doing so. I am going to dream of a world where no one is hungry, thirsty, or at the mercy of the elements. If I was running for president, I would need to explain my platform, get feedback, and adapt it to the needs of each community. The problem is most people focus on one or two issues and try to solve them independently. What I have learned as a science teacher and a student of the social sciences is that many issues are intertwined and need to be addressed as a whole, instead of in parts, if they are going to be any good for the average American.               For example, I want to tackle homelessness. That is a doozy and requires so...

  What if a public-school teacher ran for President of the United States? Just to be clear, I am talking about me. What if an average American ran for president?   Twenty years ago, this would have been unthinkable, as there was no inexpensive and effective method to disseminate information to enough voters. The PAC’s will certainly ignore anyone who has no interest in increasing their wealth, so where would the money come from? Now we have social media, the internet, and GoFundMe. I can share information with the largest voting block without spending a dime; merely becoming viral will get me the support and start the discussions to bring voters around to a new (and old) way of campaigning. GoFundMe will allow a person with student loan debt and making less than living wage to go around the country and talk to fellow Americans about what they need. This is the first thing that will separate me from the pack: I want to listen. I want to know what you need. What we are a...

  Once Upon A Dystopia … housing became a human right. Millions of people were homeless. Hundreds died of exposure every year. Most of those affected were veterans in need of medical care. The people had had enough. But they hadn’t, yet. Those without homes or preferred nomadic lifestyles were less likely to vote, and therefore their concerns drowned out by superfluous issues that the housed could focus on. When a generation was unable to afford a comfortable and consistent roof over their heads, the people decided that housing was a problem worth solving. The Human Rights Amendment narrowly passed on its tenth iteration, but it was responsible for, among other things, providing a stable roof over every citizen in the country for those who wanted one. The HRA was inspired when its prototype, the Equal Rights Amendment, failed a decades’ long battle to pass. The Housing Rights Article in the HRA is the third in the amendment, in honor of the original Constitution’s original thir...

                 Time published an article on 4/20 titled “New Report Finds That Book Bans Have Reached Their Highest Levels Yet.” As an avid reader I am immediately bothered by this, but I think it is worth explaining why.               First, over half the country is functionally illiterate, and even more don’t like to read, so who are we banning books for, anyway? It’s not like online ads that subliminally change your thinking. If you want to read a book, you have to physically get it, let someone else know what you’re reading (checking it out of a library or buying it in a store), and spend hours reading the material, depending on how fast you read. Reading is also self-selecting, as you can figure out by the book cover and back if you want to spend the time to decipher its contents. Reading social media and news is anonymous (except for the data points being collected on ...

Lawyer argues fetus of jailed pregnant woman is being illegally detained.  By The Guardian  -  February 23rd, 2023     Okay, this is treasure trove of hot button issues, and in my desire to make everyone happy, this gave me pause because of the quagmire fetal rights is becoming. Basically, a woman in Florida is pregnant and being held without bail awaiting trial and alleges she is not getting adequate care and the fetus is being jailed unconstitutionally. So many issues to unpack in this one.     First, there is the can of worms that is giving an unborn fetus the same rights as an autonomous, living person. I'm not sure how I feel about this movement and find it hard to discuss because it is such an emotional issue for so many people, including myself. I think the first thing we can do is stop doing the Either-Or argument with fetus and mother. Mom and fetus have equal weight until it has a bearing on the economy and governmental health, then the ...