The Social Porcupine

"I want to live life," I said.  "You may!" Called all the books on the thrift store shelves. "Own and us a million lives shall be yours!" And yet, how easily I forfeited those lives when one particular life beckoned me to lay my bookish self aside and  travel.  I stopped hiding my hair under a plaid hat and became the fiery, sweet  Ruby girl  that one either loved or hated. I never had time to read, but I was making time to write stories, my only solace through those days when I wished for less drama and more tolerance, where I hated that I always had to defend beliefs I cared little for as I inwardly battled deeper questions none could understand because all they saw was that I wore dresses and didn't celebrate Christmas. I stepped on my first plane and sat by a boy for two weeks, a feat for a timid girl who couldn't carry a conversation with  any  guy, as I learned about some of what I  might  believe. I learned to love hiking, and suddenly...

Trump is wearing a mask, at last, say leftists. Even went as far as to tweet a picture of himself in a mask and say that wearing masks is patriotic and that he's the biggest patriot ever.  I'm not kidding if you haven't seen this. It's real. At first, I laughed.  And then I was like, "You know? He's actually kinda right." Maybe it is patriotic to wear a mask.  Because, what does patriotism even mean? A loyalty or allegiance to one's country and fellowman.  Which means:  Nazi's were patriots.  Communists were patriots.  Democrats, republicans, libertarians; all of these are patriots.  When the church was early and young, they thought it was wrong to give their allegiance to anyone but God. They were loyal and loving and kind to their fellow man, always ready to be as the Good Samaritan. But they did not worship a flag or set of nationalist ideals. God alone held their complete loyalty.  Early Christians weren't patriots.  And so, yes mayb...

Siblings and I, pushing even our shadows into a future we wish to live in I haven't been purposely silent on the coronavirus. Though, in all honesty, I've actually been quite loud about my opinions. For some reason, they just haven't made it to my blog ... until now. At first, I laughed. It's not that I never believed what was happening ... I just never expected the paranoia to actually become so organized. Even up unto my last days in Germany, it was just a joke. I had bigger stresses, and the virus was amusing. But then ... the borders were closed two days before I flew home and it dawned on me.  This wasn't just any normal virus. People were freaking, and it was going to affect me in ways I didn't like at all. I made it home ... but the home wasn't as I'd left it. My own family were still sensible, as were many of my friends. But, oh, the fear in America was toxic and heavy. My cleaning business pretty much died. I received many messages a...

There are always all sorts of conspiracy theories out there. All sorts of "false" truths. But despite all the multiple conspiracy theories, does that mean that bad things aren't actually happening? That's what some people say about what has been happening in Nevada, Oregon, Montana, and surrounding states. It isn't real. One side says that their rights are being taken away from them. Yet many claim nothing is happening - it's all the imagination. Or that these people in question are terrorists. Either way - the story isn't getting much publicity. It's being ignored by the media. What exactly is happening? Some of us want to know. I want to know. It is said... People are being put in jail and/ or shot at. One man, Levoy Finicum , has been shot. The Hammond family is in prison for starting a back-fire with out permits. The Bundy family is facing prison time because they got involved with the Hammonds. Before hand, the federal gov...