Unhinged and Uncreative

It’s been some time since I’ve attempted this so bear with me. Despite the advice from one of my favorite authors here my first post will undoubtedly be a little “unhinged.”

My last post on this little creative space we’ve set up was over four years ago and a lot has happened since then including my lack of positivity which unfortunately can certainly be attributed to many things but mostly, if there was one turning point, it would have to be the election of the narcissist-in-chief. Call me a snowflake, “libtard” or whatever else derogatory term he’s made so commonplace now but I honestly thought we as a country were better than what that man represents and for the longest time I felt that silence was better than really putting out there how I felt about situations that were arising due to the current leader of the free country. 

But the thing with creativity, at least for me, is that I feed off of what’s around me and for the past four years there has certainly been a greater negativity surrounding our country. People are tearing each other apart on social media due to their political views and posting so many false news articles that we as a country have begun to treat anything printed, as an untrue story. 

But the fact of the matter is that most major print publications are actually doing a pretty decent job right now. We tend to look at opinion news such as CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC as legitimate sources for information but they’re running a 24 hour “news” cycle which is based almost solely on varied opinions, and if you don’t hear what you want on a topic on one station you can simply change to the one that aligns with your views and you can share stories and articles from this opinion based news source as concrete facts to all of your friends.

I think some of us forgot the basics of reporting, and I’m not talking about the news cycle, I’m talking about way back when you were in school and worked on reports and had to cite your sources. Generally, you had to support your paper with at least three legitimate sources, and most of us nowadays seem to think that any and all sources are apparently legitimate, even if that source is “RuinALibsDay.org.” Do yourself and everyone else a favor, if you read a story that you want to be true so that you can share that your opinion is right and true, take 5 seconds to Google it and see what you come up with first.

Under Trump we have become meaner, less empathetic, and further divided, and I have lost some of the faith that I’ve always carried in this great country of ours. The thing I keep trying to remind myself is that even though he is our President, less than half of the people who actually voted, voted for him. And looking at the larger picture, only about 60% of registered voters in the country voted at all, so that means that less than 30% of our population wanted (want) this man as our President. But to listen to his loyal followers, or himself, you would think he won by a unanimous decision. Now I’m not disappointed in the people who voted for him, or the ones who continue to back him despite rants like his most recent about how he voted by mail for a Florida election but that mail voting is a terrible practice…I’m disappointed in the parties and the turds they’ve put forth for us to vote for in the first place. I’m disappointed that out of all the possible candidates somehow we elected one who makes America hate again. I’m disappointed because I used to be able to look around and see all of the good in this country and lately it’s hard to see through the hate.

When Trump was first elected the kids on my bus were pretty excited. Many of their parents had obviously supported him leading up to the election and they were taking their cues from them. I’ve always been really open with the kids and am more than willing to discuss with them serious issues if they want to, in this case I expressed my concerns with them about how I felt like he may set a bad example for them and change the opinion of many people around the world as to who we are as a people. It took about two weeks of him being President before some of these very enthusiastic, one day voters, started to see him for who he really is, but it has taken many others much longer.

I hate that my return to blogging is a political post, but to me it’s more of an airing of grievances, an explanation as to why it’s taken me four years to get back behind the keyboard and start to think creatively again. I promise that future posts will be dedicated to seeing the positive in this world, which I’m getting better at each day here, but for now I just need you all to trust the process as they say. 

I am glad to be back writing again, and I know there are so many great days ahead for BD&LL as well as our country despite our current situation and the uncertainty that this pandemic has brought our way. 

I personally have been reading a ton, and in future posts will discuss some of the books and authors that have helped me to gain a better understanding about many of the issues that interest me and hopefully turn some of our readers onto some really great authors and books. 

Here's some Interesting Reads for you this week:

• Parents Are Not OK
• The Unique Sadness of Mourning the Musicians Who Helped Us Grieve
• Boredom is a Pit Stop

I’ve talked to some of our past contributors who are gearing up for the reprisal with Mike and I and hopefully we can get back to bringing you some laughs, food for thought, and just some positive things in a world that could really use more of that right now. Thanks for staying with us (and in this case me) during our hiatus and this unhinged first piece of mine, here’s to better days ahead!

Thanks for reading,

Jason