After being left hurt and angry by the election, my friend Marissa suggested I write and since I have this blog to share my thoughts, I will write here. I feel scatterbrained, unable to stay on the same single thought for too long. My mind is trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle with half of the pieces missing. How could this happen? Could I have done something? What do I do now?
I’m not sure. And as I said, forming and communicating coherent thoughts feels nearly impossible at the moment, so I’m going to make a list of things I know now. These are some conclusions I have drawn since November 8, 2016:
1. The United States of America feels like the Divided States of America.
2. We are taught that growing up in America is the ultimate dream and we are lucky. Some days I feel this pride, but other days, I can’t look at our country’s flag and not hurt thinking of the hate around every corner.
3. White privilege proves more and more obvious every single day, yet many will never recognize it.
4. “If you’re not scared, you’re not paying attention.” - Grey’s Anatomy
5. Many Trump supporters are hopelessly defending their candidate and saying things like, “Give him a chance!” He already won. You no longer need to convince me to like him because the election is over and you don’t need my vote. So when you defend your candidate, who are you really trying to convince? Me or you?
6. The popular vote should mean more than it does.
7. I am not a sore loser. This is not me being sour about Clinton’s loss. I did not vote for Clinton in the primaries. This is about progression. This is about human rights.
8. There is no such thing as mainstream media.
9. Liberal media? Maybe, but it certainly did not "rig" this election.
10. If conservatives are going to be upset about liberal media, why don’t they just level up their media game? I’m sorry, but this just seems elementary to me.
11. Being a journalist will present new challenges going forward.
12. I will no longer tell my children that 2016 was the year I watched the first woman president get elected.
13. I will now tell my children that 2016 was the year we became resilient. The year that we hit the ground running. The year that Hillary Clinton lit a fire under our asses and we blew the smoke in Donald Trump’s face.
14. I am just as proud to be a woman now as I would have been seeing Hillary get elected into office.
15. If you think these election results are what God wanted, we do not pray to the same god at night.
16. This election screamed “We hate her more than we care about your fundamental human rights!”
17. Millennials do it right (for the most part). If we let the future of the country decide the future of the country, things would be different.
18. I will never forget the look in Marissa’s eyes just before we both sobbed on Tuesday night.
19. I am so thankful for Zack hugging me and breathing with me until I was ready to let go.
20. The community of people I have surrounded myself with, the resilient community, is the best.
21. I will never forget this feeling. I will never let myself forget it.
I'm Still With Her