“Slow down, you’re doing fine. You can’t be everything you want to be before your time.”
“Slow down, you’re doing fine. You can’t be everything you want to be before your time.”
The first time I was ever inside of a church was on the day of my 21st birthday. Most people celebrate this milestone at a bar with their friends, drinking until they puke. I spent it burying my best friend. Killed in a car accident, he died on impact when a drunk driver struck his vehicle head-on.
The drunk driver survived and Ben’s wife and four young children carried on without a husband and father.
“Too bad, but it’s the life you lead. You’re…
Society
Most of us just want to get through each day
“And acceptance is the answer to all of my problems today. When I am disturbed, it’s because I find some person, place, thing or situation — some fact of my life — unacceptable to me, and I can find no serenity until I accept that person, place and thing, or situation being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment.” — page 417, Alcohol Anonymous Big Book.
I have a nightlight that projects the Milky Way on my ceiling. Last night, instead of sleeping, I laid in bed captivated by the glow of planet Earth. I wondered…
Politics
Using the same type of evaluation when assessing an immediate threat to a community, I’ve compiled a list
If you haven’t heard, the Iowa GOP wants you to believe that illegal immigrants are crossing the border with backpacks full of drugs and unloading them in Iowa. This misinformation has spread like the plague.
I do not know why someone would risk their life to get to the border and cross it illegally, only to travel an additional 1,600 miles to sell drugs in a state that’s 78% rural with houses spaced miles apart.
Not to mention, they’d have to pass through at least eight different large metropolitan areas while crossing the United States to get here. …
Politics
And how long are we going to sit around and wait for problems to resolve themselves?
I’m a member of a local activism organization. The other members think I’m “extreme.” I live in rural Iowa. There’s roughly two dozen of us in a group made up of mostly farmers, senior citizens and less than a handful of younger folks.
After our state senator dodged us, I informed her clerk that I’ll be camping out on the road in front of the senator’s house until she can find the time to speak with me. She called me 20 minutes later. What the group referred to as extreme, I consider an action forcing a reaction.
If a year of the COVID-19 pandemic taught us anything, it’s that we can’t trust Americans
When Democrats announced former Vice President Joe Biden as the party presidential nominee in August 2020, I thought, ‘I have 90 days to convince myself why I like Biden.’
I didn’t neccessarily dislike him but he wasn’t my first choice.
A historic 28 Democratic candidates tossed their name into the hat. 11 withdrew before making it to the primary ballot, seven withdrew before the Iowa Caucus but remained on the primary ballot and 10 withdrew during the primaries.
To form my own unbiased and educated opinion, I turned off the news and researched, sending myself spiraling down the rabbit hole…
Iowa’s schools have remained open throughout the pandemic, and I’ve been reporting on the devastation ever since
During the Red State Trailblazer Town Hall, moderated by Laura Ingraham on Fox News on April 29, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds (R) announced that she returned $95 million dollars in federal funds allocated to reopen schools safely.
The audience cheered when she stated that we’ve had our schools open all year, and that Biden must think “the COVID just started.”
“They sent additional funds to get our students black in classrooms,” she continued on.
That’s not a typo. She absolutely said that.
Reynolds presented having “our kids in school” as a success story. She failed to mention that she ordered…
Trauma will always come back to haunt us
The morning of my birthday in 2014, a pickup warrant dragged me across an abandoned dirt lot by my ankles. My subordinate was gaining on us. I starred her down until our eyes met. I nodded for her to let it go.
I felt scared, but not panicked. My adrenaline induced reaction was to escape, but I didn’t try. As long as both of his hands were on me; he wasn’t able to pull the trigger of his pistol. The goal was to protect the community, not myself.
Ground zero was on the other side of a 14-foot tall cinderblock…
As we continue to perpetuate a lethally polarized virus, when will enough be enough?
On Friday morning, April 23rd, I woke to the inevitable. After months of positive case counts mounting in Iowa’s school system, children are dying. Based on projection models, it’s only the beginning.
To be sure I wasn’t misinterpreting the data or suffering the delusional effects of a conspiracy theory, I reached out to Sara Anne Willette with the Iowa COVID-19 Tracker project who confirmed my worst nightmare.
On August 4, 2020, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds (R) ordered the state’s 327 school districts to open for a minimum of 50% in person classroom instruction. …
“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.” — Benjamin Franklin
Chances are, only seven people will read this, but that’s okay because I’ll never reach my goal without executing actionable steps. My goal is to write, even if it’s not what people want to read.
I compromised. I included a flashy headline and image because it’s an expectation. If you feel mislead, I totally get it.
I’m not a fan of flashy headlines or imagines either, but what’s a girl to do? It’s the standard norm for internet publishing.
Ahh…
You probably clicked on the headline because…
And other things Americans should never have to say
“U.S. Senate Candidate Joni Ernst references the true meaning of Second Amendment and says she believes in the right to defend oneself from intruders or oppressive government.” — 2014 campaign.
- The Republican party is blatantly racist. They don’t bother hiding it anymore.
- White supremacists hunt and kill citizens by the handfuls. It’s commonplace in our country.
- Police murder people of color like it’s a sport, while the narrative is that I should fear unarmed black men? What. The. Actual. Fuck.
- Asian hate crimes are trending. Red states are pushing anti-transgender legislation and refusing federal requests to help house migrant children…
Erika Anne Sauter
Advanced Behavioral Science Ed. I blog to stay sane.
