the morning after

make america great again!

that's what we keep hearing.

you know what?

COOL.

LET'S DO IT.

america's favorite pass-time is pinterest and upcycling, so let's do it! take the old ideas, our new abilities and knowledge, and let's do this shit.

put wood shop and mechanics back in schools with all the CAD tools and drafting tools. encourage kids to create, build, expand.

make art and band and choir required elements again: help them see the beauty in everything around them with new cameras and drawing pads and use communities as their art canvases. help them find their voices in poetry and sound and share that with the WORLD online and in app stores and viral videos.

teach kids home ec- how to make a nutritious meal, help around the house, be independent. let them search pinterest recipes and craft ideas. let them grow local ingredients together, build their own community garden and learn how to use it.

teach kids to THINK and work instead of how to take tests. make the process and the effort the goal instead of the final score. encourage ALL types of learning. implement all the tools and resources available in the classrooms.

make it so kids who want to can go to affordable college and the ones who don't can still make a good living.

make a living wage so one parent can afford to stay home again.

make block parties and community gatherings regular events. teach people to help their neighbors.

AND HEAR ME:

i didn't say teach the white kids. i didn't say help your straight neighbors. i didn't say teach the kids who we think have a shot at making it further.

I DIDN'T QUALIFY ANYTHING.

there's a reason for that.

HELP. ALL. YOUR. NEIGHBORS.

TEACH. ALL. OUR. CHILDREN.

HELP. EVERYONE. SUCCEED.

we have better tools now. we have better knowledge now. we have experience and things that we know work.

i'm stitting here listening to coworkers gloat over how "that woman" lost and all the bullshit that goes with it.

DON'T LET THAT BE THE VOICE.

band together. help each other. make THAT the voice.

what was the main saying in the election? don't be complacent, go out and VOTE!

there's a reason for that- people get used to it being good. they forget how hard thousands of people worked to make things happen. obama didn't just show up to office with all these ideas in his head that he made happen. people had fought, bled, cried for years to get representatives in the house and senate. they had worked at the lower levels to get ideas and referendums and laws in place to pave the way. obama didn't have a magic wand: he had YEARS of people building a platform for him to stand on.

so let's start building another platform.

when kids have only ever know marriage equality, they are going to forget how hard people worked to make it happen and not be prepared to defend it like we will need to now.

when people are always fed and full they forget the fire that an empty belly can stir.

it. sucks.

we're all tired. we've been working FOREVER. many will want to give up.

but we can't.

make it great again. teach kids. build communities. make families thrive again.

BUT DO IT WITH THE NEW TOOLS AND NEW KNOWLEDGE WE HAVE.

DO IT FOR EVERYONE.

now is the time to band together. now is the time to build a new platform.

start today.

the vanessa behan crisis nursery always needs help.

crosswalk for homeless teens always needs volunteers.

odessey support center for LGBTQ kids will never stop needing allies and love and support.

go out and meet your neighbors.

go out and help someone.

go build a link. a link will be come a section. a section will be come a new platform.

it's 4 years. it's high school again. it's a bad john hughes movies that didn't end the way we wanted it to.

we all survived it before, as much as it sucked.

we can survive it again.