I love to write, and I've always loved to write. When I was in second grade, I would write these ridiculously long stories for writing assignments in class (we're talking pages and pages and pages) because I LOVED to write and was convinced that I was going to grow up to become a writer. I was fortunate that I spent the first 3 years of my public school education at a school with alternative education options and my parents placed me in those classes that were more learn at your own pace, self-driven, and had more differentiated instruction for different levels. I was able to thrive academically in that environment, which was why I was able to spend so much time writing ridiculous stories and reading The Secret Garden and other more advanced books with my reading group when I was seven, rather than beating my head against my desk because I was so bored. Don't get me wrong, I didn't have the greatest attitude about going to school, and some of this was due to the fact that I was ridiculously shy. You could say I was socially retarded. I am not kidding. I have no idea how I always managed to have a good amount of friends, especially back then, when I was too terrified to say "hi" back to anyone that greeted me. There was one time I saw one of my good friends at the store, and when they said "hi", I said nothing. My Dad looked at me like I was insane. But then I got better, the end. Okay, this whole first paragraph has steered completely off course from what I started off writing about. Let's try again:
So, what all this rambling is building up to is, I am starting a new, separate blog. I have been thinking about doing this for a while, but haven't been totally sure what to write about. Or what to name it. Or who to target it to. This blog right here was originally created when we were doing a study abroad in Mexico in 2010 to post photos and write about our adventures, and then I just continued posting. I will still post in this one, but would like to keep it to writing about my family and personal experiences. Trips, adventures in moving, weird things my kids do, etc. This other one will be about.... other things. And perhaps a bit more controversial. Maybe. I don't know. I don't set out intending to make things controversial, but as I have from a few things I have posted and/or responded to on facebook a few years ago, there is always someone who can be offended. I have even composed hypothetical posts in my head and generated likely hypothetical responses and decided that it wasn't worth it. And yes, I have hidden a number of people's posts from my newsfeed because some of them were literally completely insane and intentionally offensive or dirty.
I started working on a website three years ago because I thought it would be a great idea to provide a website with free resources for Speech-Language Pathologists. I've created a number of my own worksheets over the years, and thought it would be great to make available to others, as well as provide links to other great resources. I still think it's a good idea, but you know what? I'm not really all that passionate about it. I still intend to finish it and make it available eventually, but I don't find it to be an outlet for me that I am passionate about. I like being a speech path, but it's not my passion in life. I like my students (usually.....), and most of the parents I work with are delightful. However, it's not what keeps me motivated and driven. It is, after all, a job. A career that I have built over the years that I have been fairly pleased with, but trust me, but I don't spend my free time coming up with new and innovative therapy techniques. I spend my time off pretending I am unemployed, because I do not like to think about work. Sometimes I question whether I want to do this for the rest of my career. After last week, I was ready to up and quit my job and do telepractice to earn income. But I will save a detailed description of what working in public education actually entails for another post on another blog.
So what am I passionate about? I am passionate about my family, my religion, reading, music, food (I heart pinterest), but I don't necessarily want to write about them. Something else that I derive great please from reading, discussing, and writing about is...... social commentary. I love reading articles and blogs about things like racism, women's rights, international issues, public education, gun rights, corruption, healthcare, and income inequality, to name a few. I have a lot to say on those things, but I don't think Facebook is the correct forum for a number of reasons, one of them being that I do not want to alienate people, and another being that these can be pretty intense subjects that I think are better discussed outside of Facebook or Twitter or Instagram or whatever the new, hip thing is today. I will post links on facebook so that people can make the choice whether or not they want to read the content and decide if they would like to share it. I don't intend this to be a rant where I just vent my frustrations to the world. I do have a couple of posts in the works and should have it up within the next week or two.
Here are a few things that you should know about me when making the decision whether or not to venture into this new project of mine:
- My intention is to entertain, inform, and to make people think.
-My intention is not to enrage and polarize. However, that being said, I can't guarantee that people won't be angry. I can't control that.
- I want to be a credible writer, and I want to be able to back myself up with legitimate, reliable sources.
- I will not use The Weekly World News as a legitimate source.
- I am an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. That's Mormon, peeps.
- I am liberal.
- I do not like Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Glenn Beck, or Fox News.
- If you post a link to a John Stewart clip on Facebook, I will probably watch it.
- I have gay family members and friends. I love them, and I support them.
- I might swear a little bit. I promise not to use the f-word. That word actually bothers me a lot.
- Being Mormon, AND liberal, AND working in education, I have friends, family, and acquaintances from very different places with very different beliefs that I may or may not share with them.
- It's okay if you think I am batsh*t crazy and refuse to read anything I write. In fact, if you think what I write might make you mad, just don't read it. I don't want to cause rage in your life.
- I will moderate comments. Please be nice. And write intelligent things. If you call someone names or insult them, I will suggest that you enroll in social skills training and your comment will be deleted. This may not be an issue, as I may end up with a readership consisting of my mom and somebody's cat.
- I like cats.
- I hope you like it. If you do, share it! If you don't, sorry. Well, maybe I'm not sorry.
And now for something completely different:
