Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

To everyone on Facebook and Twitter who has shared my posts, thank you. To all the writers I read on a regular basis, keep writing and thank you. I love fashion and writing is sort of like that for me. Looking at different styles of how words and ideas go together is not much different than putting outfits and accessories together. A lot of people I read have great style.

Social media is great because it keeps us all connected with what's going on in our world and helps us understand what's going on in other people's worlds. On the way home from my recent trip to Florida, I was watching Texas women, including a friend's mom, standing with Wendy Davis. When we got back to NC, I was watching the SCOTUS Blog for news about DOMA and Prop 8. While government has attempted to legislate our reproductive rights, I've enjoyed watching the creative ways women have been taking a stand and getting other women (and men) involved.

There's really no excuse in today's world not to stand up, even if you can't vote yet. I've heard kids say, "I'm just a kid, I can worry about all that stuff later." By the time you get to later, if you have any rights left you can thank those of us who chose to participate now. Guess what? There's a big world out there full of people who can fill the emptiness in your soul when that one person unfriends you for doing something like standing up for your gay friends. It's much more fun to participate than it is to sit on the sidelines.

On Wednesday, I was listening to the NC Senate and took particular interest in one what person, Senator Josh Stein of Wake County, was saying about voting rights. So, like any teenage girl would, I stalked his Twitter and trolled his voting record. He's done a good job standing up for the people and he shows people he's listening, which is also good. He stood up for women's rights in the Senate yesterday as well as voting rights. I've seen several tweets today from people wanting him to run for Governor in 2016.

I've got what's probably the best Twitter feed of any 12 year old girl you know. One connection on social media leads to another, then another, and before you know it you can be really well-informed. When people can connect with the people in government who represent their ideas and the people in government realize this and start listening more to what the people say, this is democracy in the 21st century. It's easy to tell which of our elected ones are practicing 21st century democracy and which ones are stuck in the past.

Technology gives us the opportunity to invite lots of people to the party. We have the ability to occupy everything. It's funny to watch people with old ideas try to sell those ideas to people here in modern times. There was much coverage of Senator Bob Rucho and how he said in the Senate that he had to write to the Board of Elections to clarify when his confused teenage son was supposed to vote. Despite this, yesterday in the Senate Rucho spoke about the effectiveness of his family in teaching civics. Senator Rucho and his friends don't seem to understand how all those people end up out on the lawn outside the legislature on Mondays. They don't understand how democracy works in the 21st century. NC's teachers, some of whom teach the civics classes Senator Rucho doesn't think NC schools need, are going to give them all a lesson.

When my dad was a kid, he would rush home to watch the Watergate hearings. He didn't have 1000 TV channels, a computer, or mobile device. He still refuses to have a mobile device. Now, I'm sitting here blogging about current events while following the news, playing a game, watching Golden Girls, and texting a friend. My dad still prefers the newspaper and books to reading news on the internet and sometimes I get to tell him about stuff going on he doesn't know about. We like watching the Daily Show together. My dad is a funny guy and knows a lot about history. I'd much rather take his daddy civics class than Senator Rucho's.

Even in these dark times, there is hope. The Department of Justice, the ACLU, and a lot of ordinary people aren't going to sit by silently and let people's rights be trampled on without attempting to do something about it. We just have to be patient and in the meantime, we have a lot of ways to connect with each other and keep each other engaged. We'll make jokes to help us feel better. We'll keep sharing information with each other. In these dark times, new relationships are being formed and new bonds of friendship are being made. We'll make a difference and we'll have one heck of a good time doing it together.

E Pluribus Unum. Haters gonna hate. Forward together, not one step back. Time to get this party crunk.