Civic Responsibility Follow-up

      For anyone new to The Garden, a little while back I got a bit frustrated with a political situation that was at the time developing in our country. There had been an enormous number of "illegal immigrant" children dumped at our south western border. In an effort to alleviate the strain on that area, they were being relocated (temporarily, as I found out today) to other locations around the country. Unfortunately, some of our civilians (I use the "civil" part very loosely) thought in some redneck manner it was reasonable to repel this "invasion"- with guns. As a mother of two myself, the idea of those children having no place to go tears at me, especially when we have so many willing to pay exorbitant fees to adopt from overseas. Therefore, the idea that they were greeted by an armed you're not welcome here party  REALLY pissed me off. So, I did what I could and wrote a letter. I then blogged my irritation and several drafts of the letter showing my efforts to condense it to the White House contact form character criteria while retaining its tone and message.The entry date is 7/16 and can be found here.

     Today, I received the following response:

    
     I'm not going to lie, when I first saw that I had a response in my inbox (ESPECIALLY the day before my 25th birthday) I was stoked. I wrote that letter two months ago, I can't believe they actually thought enough to write back!
    
     And then I read their letter, which enlightened me that obviously they didn't have the courtesy to more than skim mine.

     Dude are you serious?! I actually sat down and composed, not simply wrote, composed a letter. Then I butchered it to shit and STILL managed to keep the purpose- I made a meme for the sake of cheese! And what I get is a generic form-styled response. It lent a very broad-spectrum response, a finger point, and a closure. Very disappointed Uncle Sam.

As another stone silenced in the pond-
Night Rose

I swear I'm not a "Social Warrior"

     Now that you are crying bullshit and calling me Pinocchio allow me to clarify that title: I am not what the wonderful internetz have deemed a "Social Justice Warrior". A "Social Justice Warrior" is, as defined by the Urban Dictionary:

Social Justice Warrior:

A pejorative term for an individual who repeatedly and vehemently engages in arguments on social justice on the Internet, often in a shallow or not well-thought-out way, for the purpose of raising their own personal reputation. A social justice warrior, or SJW, does not necessarily strongly believe all that they say, or even care about the groups they are fighting on behalf of. They typically repeat points from whoever is the most popular blogger or commenter of the moment, hoping that they will "get SJ points" and become popular in return. They are very sure to adopt stances that are "correct" in their social circle.

The SJW's favorite activity of all is to dogpile. Their favorite websites to frequent are Livejournal and Tumblr. They do not have relevant favorite real-world places, because SJWs are primarily civil rights activists only online. 

   
     I'll be the first to admit- I do 99.9% of my activism online. I could list off a million excuses reasons for this but the primary ones are that I am selfish and lazy. However, if I bother to post about something you had better believe it's important to me. And unlike the SJW's, I don't give the pass of gas if people agree with me- on the contrary I prefer that they think for themselves. I despise sheep and think herd mentality to be the ultimate offense to human intelligence there is. Question your world, create your own opinions. Even if they aren't entirely perfect at least you're conscious enough to HAVE an opinion. Unfortunately, the majority of our peers are more content to take the road well-trodden and not risk the status quo. 

     Given the trend my recent posts have been on, and given the one pounding in my head for release seems determined to continue, I felt this was an important point to make. The topics I flare up about are extremely close to home- the state of our school systems for example. My aspirations in high school were cut short when my school was forced to cut courses and teachers- I couldn't use my art classes to earn scholarships because there WERE no art classes. Now, nearly a decade later my own children were put on waiting lists to get into school. My daughter just got the call today that she will start Kindergarten on Tuesday- nearly a month into the school year. My son still awaits placement for Pre-K, and it's likely they won't be able to find a place for him in the same school my daughter will be attending. 

     I could just bottle it up. I could sit by silently and let the world run its course. But it's just not me. While I am not a "Social Justice Warrior", I am an advocate. I advocate progress, I advocate awareness, I advocate social development. I support expression, and strongly encourage involvement in one's natural world. I cannot be satisfied with the status quo. Rather than just allowing issues to slip by I will be as the rock, forcing the stream to change its course or at the very least interrupting it. Complacency is killing our country and our culture and I am done participating in it.

Be less afraid of making a ripple with action than drowning because you chose to sit still.

~Night Rose

Quest for Passion

     One of the first things Alexis tells you to do in I Am That Girl to begin discovering your passion is to think about what REALLY pisses you off. It didn't take much thought at the moment as my children are waiting to find out what school (if any) they will be attending this year or if they will be put on a waiting list. Education has been a thorn in my side as long as I can remember- I came from a small-town school with cow pastures on all four sides. When I was in junior high, the state reduced funding and our proposed budget failed. As a result, our Art, Music, and Sports programs were cut along with Health and Home Economics. I was an art-centered student. I was devastated. All my strengths were cut in one go and with them any chance I had of getting a scholarship. Now as an adult my extremely bright, eager to learn children are playing hopscotch of being placed in one of two schools. One is bilingual and is at best mediocre, the other is in the heart of the ghetto and has the test scores to prove it. I do not want to see my children's spark snuffed so early but I don't have the time (or energy/resources) to home school my children.

     My children and Education are two of my passions. Writing is a third. Obviously I have more searching to do- but considering I had to hop out of my wonderfully warm bathtub to my frigid living room to get this out of my head and documented, I'd say we're off to a pretty good start.

Start a riot of your own.
~Night Rose

Stirring the Rose's brain kettle...

     I am in the beginnings of reading a book- I am not ashamed to say that it is meant to be a self-help/motivational book. It is about self identification and the finding of one's passion in life. For any who are curious, the book is I Am That Girl by Alexis Jones. And it has me questioning myself.

     Hang on, wait a second- Rose is QUESTIONING herself? The blunt, brassy, heart-on-her-sleeve, blogging-her-balls-to-the-world Rose is soul searching?! Over a chick-book?! Stop the press- we have an imposter.

     That's pretty much how I feel about it too- shocking for something I picked up off the clearance rack at work for $2 because I liked a bracelet line and had forgotten my current novel at home. But nevertheless it is the case. What am I passionate about? What truly stirs me to action? What are my boundaries? My values? Who is that girl in the mirror, and why does she always want something more?

     As of a little over a week from now, I will have walked through the life of that girl for twenty five years. Her roots are my own. I've known her friends, experienced her milestones, examined her decisions. I've mourned her pains and celebrated her blessings. Once or twice a wise blacksmith has tried to ask her the same questions this book is demanding now. But up till now, I've never really fought for any of the answers. I've dragged through the path I felt would be most acceptable- even when I hated every moment. I've had five years since high school to chase my dreams without really having any. It's very difficult to be satisfied when you don't know what you want in the first place.

     Well, twenty five years is enough. If I'm ever going to go beyond the scraping by I'm going to have to decide how I would best do that instead of seeking the first appealing job that grabs my bait. I am going to continue reading I Am That Girl, and invite anyone reading this to do the same and begin their journey with me. Claire's has long since clearanced them out, but they can be found on Amazon here. I will post as inspired while reading, and I hope at least some will take this journey with me. I'm done simply "doing", it's time to "be".


Fruitful journeys mes amis~
Night Rose