Hi everyone, I'm Charlie...oh also, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON???

Let me start with this - I am NOT a writer. I write how I speak and sometimes that's not always pretty (I have the language and drinking ability of a Navy sailor on leave...thank you for your service). I will do my best to self-censor my language prior to posting, but sometimes you just have to drop a FUCK, ya know? I am just an everyday 25-year old broad out here trying to survive, thrive and figure out what the fuck is going on...does anyone know (asking for a friend)? Like everyone else, I am inside WFH and maybe no one will read these, actually I will be surprised if a single person reads this (hey, Mom...no wait, Mom if you're reading this I am so sorry I said "fuck"), but maybe it helps or brings a smile to one other human and that would be pretty awesome. So here it goes...

I'll be honest, before the riots and the civil rights movement started to really pick up steam, I was not plugged into reading or watching the news, articles, etc. Once all of this violence and issues of police brutality started to really become the centerpiece of every major news outlet, I made it a point to learn and read as much content as I possibly could in order to understand these issues at their core and try to do my part in remaining educated these issues that are impacting not only my fellow Americans, but even close friends of mine. Aside from researching written and medic content, I ended up learning the most from the conversations I had with people. It allowed me to hear first hand accounts of negative experiences of my peers and form an understanding (as best as I can as a white person...we won't ever fully understand) of what they have been going through and how they are dealing with the current reality in our country.

From there, I have continued to make education a priority and making sure that I stay on top of social justice issues that are a reality in our country everyday. Flashback to almost a year ago, I was so closed off to what was happening around me and now that I am super plugged in, I just have the say...WHAT IN THE HELLLLL IS GOING ON RIGHT NOW?! Does anyone else feel this way? There have been so many moments I get a notification on my phone and it's like: "Adoption agency should be able to reject gay couples, Trump administration argues" and I sit back and I just think "...this CANNOT be real..." and that is just one example obviously. I just find it remarkable at how quickly this country is walking backwards in so many ways. This is just my intro piece and I am writing like how I speak (which if you can't tell...I rant and go off) and I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I just feel so confused/angry/lost/every other emotion besides the good ones, at the state of being right now in the U.S. Like how in the shit did we get here???

Let me end with this, I am not an expert AT ALL..I don't have the knowledge, nor the credentials to even be considered a valuable asset to a political conversation TBH, I am just a person, on a journey of educating myself on the issues and now that I have started down this long road, I have to say; this shit is CRAZY. If you're reading this, please leave a comment or something (even if you tell me to go screw myself, any feedback is appreciated, Karen).

Total # of curse words: 7 (including the "fucking" below..oh wait, so there's 8 total now, guys my bad)

Total # of grammar mistakes: if I knew what they were, they wouldn't fucking be there.

Love, Charlie