I’ve seen both sides of the coin. “heads i win”, “tails you lose” it’s time we stop playing their game.
I grew up in a working-class family. I was born with arthritis that kept me from playing sports or joining the military (the typical avenues working-class have for secondary education). I learned early on, not everyone has the same opportunities for success.
From manufacturing, to insurance, food service, and construction; I’ve taken on a lot of roles to provide for a family that I started young. What I hoped would be lucrative career in network management, turned into exploitation from a predatory school seeking to capitalize on student loans. What I learned along the way: there’s a lot of obstacles, not a lot of clarity, and we’re all just doing the best we can with what we’ve been taught. It’s time we start to question the answers we’re given when so much of our society is rooted in maximizing profits.
I started organizing in 2017 when friends and family were hit by a 100yr flood. I started helping neighbors and those who didn’t have support. I worked to educate the community on how to get aid from FEMA and best practices on how to be made “whole” again. In 2019, a similar disaster struck when several dams flooded, devastating numerous towns, and villages along its path. It taught me the cost of being unprepared is immeasurable to the price of investing in our communities.
When our rights began being encroached in 2022, I went from observer to participant. I took petitions to art fairs, concerts, doorsteps, and more. There was no way my daughter would lose the rights to her body and if my son’s wife needed an abortion to save her life, it was going to be possible. I realized then how much money and effort was being used to misinform the people to manipulate their decision. I started working to educate the people around me and secure the rights for my children, and the children of all Michiganders.