A North West View

The time to give Trump another chance has long passed, it passed way before election day. Yet there are those out there that say now that he has been elected it is time to give him another one.  They say that because after the election he has done some “good talking” by saying that he wants to be a president for “all Americans” but that is just talk, if you look at the people that he is putting in charge of his transition team, and the people that are in the front running for his cabinet positions, you will see that he has no interest in being a president for all people. He only has an interest in being the kind of president for the kind of people that he spent the last year and half telling us that he wanted to be on the campaign trail.  He is not putting people into positions of power that have any interest in uniting the country and insuring that all Americans are represented, instead he is putting extremist politicians and lobbyist in charge of his transition team, assigning th

I would like to share my This I Believe essay that I wrote for my English class.  The essay is based on the format of the essays on the  this i believe  web site, which is dedicated to this types of essays.  They are modeled after a 1950's radio show hosted by Edward R Murrow by the same name, where every one from World leaders, CEO's and Celebrities to Teachers, and Secretaries would send in essays and the ones that where selected would read them on air.  The essays are between 450 to 600 worlds long and would take about 3 minutes to read aloud at a natural speaking pace. The essays are about a guiding value in your every day life.

So You Tube has created a hash tag to help celebrate pride month (especially in the wake of Orlando), I thought that I would do a blog post in the spirit of the prompt as I have not had time to make a video, and I am not sure when or if I will.  However I still want to show my pride, not just as a gay man but as a person in general, as I think that all of myself sort of melds together.

It is very clear the perpetrator of the terrorist attack on Orlando, probably had multiple levels of twisted reasoning behind the attack.  Fueled by a dangerous allegiance to ISIS.  It is clear the utmost goal of the attack though is to instill fear in those that have been attack, to place fear in the hearts of the American public (and others around the world) that you are not safe anywhere. Part of the goal of this fear is to get us to turn on our fellow Americans, most specifically those in the Muslim community. Even though like every community of faith, it is made up almost entirely by people of peace who would not do a thing to harm another human, let alone take their life.  However their goal is to turn Americans against fellow Americans, to make us alienate, and segregate the Muslim community in our country. For the very reason that an alienated community is one that is much easier to radicalize then one that is an integrated part of the community, one that is treated equally,

Yet another tragedy at the hands of a deranged gunman has struck the country. This time, the violence broke out at a gay club in Orlando, FL, USA. Like previous shootings this year, an American citizen armed with an assault rifle opened fire on unsuspecting victims for the sole purpose of heartless slaughter, which is why he chose an assault weapon—designed for that exact purpose. I firmly believe regardless of reasons a person commits such a crime in part, is that their death grants a narcissistic wish--they want to become famous. They want their name to become a house hold name, that everyone and their grandmother says as they talk about the tragedy that they have rained down on the lives of innocent people.  As such, I refuse to use the name or picture of the person that has committed this heinous act of violence. 

Bernie Sanders is the best choice of the two democratic candidates for president.  Between him and Hillary he is the most ambitious with his goals, but in that ambition he is also the most concerned with what is best for the citizens that make up the shrinking middle class and those in the expanding category of the low income.   His plan goes the whole mile, while Hillary’s plans seem to stop half way or just short of the goal post.  With that goal post being turning the country off of the path towards becoming a full oligarchy that it is currently one.  Bernie’s plan represents a step in the surgical approach to not only addressing the issues faced but turning them around, by contrast Hillary’s plan smacks  more of throwing some antibiotics and a bandage at the problem then actually solving them, which is more In line with the political mainstream that she comes from.  I think that what is needed though is true ambition and bold leadership and that is just what Bernie’s plan is and

So I am trying not to be discouraged, but it has become clear in the efforts of the last week to crash study math that I have not used since high school that I have forgotten most all of the basic algebraic concepts. Not only that, I am also having trouble trying to learn them all again in a matter of days. I am retaining some of the information but not all of it and having trouble retaining important parts of some of the things that I am trying to learn again.  It has also become very clear that my math teachers in high school did no service by teaching to the calculator and having us use pricey sophisticated calculators to solve the equations rather then doing it extensively by pen and paper/in ones head. I get why they would want to do that, it is much easier to teach a class when you have them all using the same tool to do the work and have to account much less to students differences in mathematical abilities, but in the long run it dose a disservice to the students and their

It is official, I got an email from the local community college and have been excepted.  I will be getting the official paperwork in the mail in about 10-15 days.  Now I have a list of things that I have to get done, including talking to the financial aid office to see if I qualify for any thing, Fingers crossed that I do as any money that I can save would be great, especial since hours are not very plentiful at work so my income is quite limited at the moment.  And it would be nice to not have to take out a whole bunch of loans.  And I also have to schedule a placement test, but I am hoping to hold off on that one a little bit to give me time to practice my math skills as they are very rusty since I have not used much but very basic math in my daily life for the last 9 years.

First hurdle cleared, still in one piece, nerves still burning with energy.  However the energy is converting from pains of self doubt and fear to excitement and feelings of confidence and accomplishment. Confidence that if this step was achievable through all the doubt and second guessing then surely the steps to come are too.  That knowledge that the fear of the unknown is conquerable and that the power to do so is locked inside it just has to be given a chance to shine, and shine it will.  It will shine to light a new path, a path of new experiences, new discoveries and full of new learning.  A path that will lead to a new and brighter life, a life full of new possibilities, and a new confidence.  

Running towards change, a massive change, excitement mixed very liberally with fear. Fear of the unknown, and fear of what happens if success is not forthcoming but instead failure is instead the result that pours forth into the landscape of reality.  Failure that would all but reinforce the worst assumptions about one’s self, who they are and what they are capable of.  Yet change is inevitable, so the only real question is do you take that bull by the horns and try and direct the change that you want or do you let change trample all over you and merely try to adjust to it instead.

I have decided a little after New Years that I would like my goal to be to go back to school and get a college education.  I have determined that the only way to do that would be to go to school online, as I need to have totally open availability at work in order to get hours and I need at least 24 hours a week for health insurance and even more then that if I want to be able to pay for college, with out hopefully taking out a bunch of loans.Since I would like to avoid burying myself under lots of debt, I want to try and be able to pay for it out of pocket.  I am thinking about trying to start off taking online courses at the local community college.