G’day, readers! Happy Thursday to ye all, and happier yet to the new day we get to embrace with love and glory. <3 right then, to the daily news!

Weather:

Spring is still slowly creeping out of bed. Yesterday was wonky between a cold morning and hot afternoon (DMV area). I noticed communication handbooks totally disparage talking about the weather, but I must rebuke this sentiment. Some of my most amazing conversations started with talking about the weather.

Sports:

This Nico Iamaleava fellow has been crowding up the sports world given the preposterousness of his story. For those who don’t know, he is an American football player who allegedly wanted more money from his college of Tennessee, the Volunteers that is. Having watched this story (somewhat) closely, it seems unclear as to whether he wants $4mil or to play for a better team. Given the lack of regulation around colleges paying their players, it is a difficult idea to swallow that a 19 year old young person is so filled with pride that his original payment of $2.5mil was not enough. If you look at my Kofi page, I have a goal of $100,000, of which I have received (generously, gratefully) $10. I am 29.

Politics:

Kilmar Abrego Garcia is the name of the hour, and rightfully so. Having been wrongfully removed from our beautiful country by the Trump administration, he currently (we think) lives and breathes in an El Salvadorian gulag…sorry, prison. He has a family who lives in Maryland, and being from the DMV myself, I am thoroughly offended by the actions of the executive branch. For those who don’t know, the DMV (D.C., Maryland, Virginia) has a strong population of hard working immigrants, a lot of whom have roots in Central America. I have personally met, worked with and befriended hundreds, nay, thousands, nay, countless immigrants, their families and their children, ALL of whom are incredible humans that have done nothing but support the shaping of not only me as a damn proud American (with European roots stemming only just after the turn of the 20th century), but also our beautiful country. I do not have any idea what they will do with him. What I do know now is that we have authorities smiling and hammering at windows as they seek to pluck innocent people off the streets to be sent off to some torture chamber all because they were born different. An awful state of affairs, it is not unlike Russia, where waves of purges and assemblies of show trials by Stalin through the 1930s that lasted well into the 90s, and has found new fire under the likes of a more comfortable-in-power Vladimir Putin. If we are to prevent the deaths of millions, we must speak against the heinous nature of the people who believe in locking other people up without due process. The future of our families well beings depends on what we feel now, and what we feel now will propel us to a more unified, law/person respecting nation.

Personal News:

My pursuit of a bachelors degree is coming to a close. I have been in and out of college for the past 10 years, so being a super senior at 29 years old is an honor. I actually never wanted a degree, all I knew was that people told me I should revolve my life around getting one since middle school. Nothing about it made sense to me at the time, but after high school, I naturally fell into psychology. That lasted two semesters before I dropped out. Then, as time went on, I worked and thought about what I could do with my life. Then, I stumbled upon the novel “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho, and that inspired me to write my own stories. From there, I started writing like a mad dog, but quickly realized i had no idea what I was doing, so i started taking a creative writing class (at the community college i dropped out of) to improve my writing skills. Maybe it was my professors fault, but I was hooked and became an English Major, dedicating my life to the craft word smithing. It really is the only thing I know how to do (somewhat) competently, so is why i write this today!

I won’t be graduating until either this winter or next spring, and even though that doesn’t seem like a lot of time left, it has been a long time coming. Part of me is sad that I didn’t finish sooner (i dropped out a couple times since the first drop out) but I hope my loved ones know it was out of love for myself that I did not succumb to some made up time table.

Well, that’s it for today! Thanks for tuning in, and until Friday, enjoy your Thursday! <3