Welcome to my new blog!

There is so much going on in the world that I care about, have an opinion about, and want to influence.  My voice is my power and I’ve decided to use it in this new and hopefully positive way.  In my first ever post, I should introduce myself before talking about the results of this 2016 presidential election.

I’m a baby-boomer, born August 26, 1959.  I’m an African American woman, married to my second husband.  We’re a “blending” family as our six children were all grown when we married and after 13 years, we are still getting to know each other.  I gave birth to three children, two girls and one boy.  I have two great son-in-laws, and the youngest, my son, is now engaged to be married.  All three of my children are college grads and productive citizens .  I’ll likely refer to them every now and then.  By the way, I’ve decided to make Sundays my blog day each week.  Besides being a mother,  I’m a university administrator with a doctorate in education from UCLA and 20 years working with college students both in and out of the classroom.  I left the business world to pursue my first love, education back in 1996.  I want to change the world for the better and in my mind, education has the power to transform lives in a way that can transform the world.  So, I’m a huge advocate for access to education for anyone willing and able to learn.

What’s foremost on my mind today is the election of a scary new president.  All my friends assured me that Donald Trump wouldn’t be elected, but I was skeptical.  I felt his election win coming even though it was the last thing I wanted for our country.

Like some of you, I’ve been nervous everyday since the election.  I’m afraid for what it means to the most vulnerable among us: undocumented people, women, black men, Muslims, and the poor.  I feel like tribalism worn over diversity and inclusion.  It seems that those who want to “make America great again” really meant, “Make America white again” where white males had little to no competition for jobs, the love of white women, or education from women and people of color.  They seem to crave the America where a woman’s place was in the home taking care of her husband and children.  They want the America where working women should expect to be sexually harassed to get ahead and if they didn’t like it they could quit that job and find another.  They seem to want an America where people of color and women “need not apply” for many jobs–where opportunities for those “inferior” folks were strictly limited.

So, here we are.  I’m not saying that everyone who voted for Trump is a racist, a xenophobe, or hates women.  I’m saying that everyone who voted for Trump was able to overlook these qualities in favor of just blowing things up!  They overlooked his constant lies, his bullying, his racism, his cheating, his behavior towards women, and his stupid childish tweets.  I wonder how many of them are now saying, “Oh shit!  Look what we got!”  For about a minute there was a ray of hope and then he starting making his cabinet picks. Then he kept on tweeting.  Now all we see are his folks trying hard to explain what he meant or didn’t mean.  What can we do about this?  I refuse to sit by and allow our country and this earth be destroyed.  I refuse to go backward.  So, I’m starting this blog.  But before this I reached out to lawmakers.

I’ve written to Speaker Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel asking them to hold Donald Trump accountable.  I’ve asked them to protect us and our environment from a man who clearly has no intellectual interest in world events, history, diplomacy, or science.  I plan to do my best to hold him accountable and I hope you will, too.  Write to members of both houses.  Together we’ll need to make the mid-term elections in two years for congress just as important as the election for president in 2020.

I already miss the intelligence and class of the Obamas!