Issues

I have been swamped with writing assignments for school and for submissions. In the past month, I attended conferences, workshops, and group meetings. Whew! I have been busy. But it has not stopped me from hearing and reading about different issues most are dealing with across the country. I will try to give you my take on a couple of them and let you go with the flow or not.

Upcoming Presidential Election

Can a woman run the country? Some say yea and some say nay. Me personally, I have reached the point of wondering, does it really matter? All I want is someone to be in charge that has more than just ideas on the agenda. Why? What good is an idea that doesn’t work because it does not take into consideration what the effect will be on the majority of the populous. I think many politicians think the majority are the rich and not the poor. So if the idea works for the rich, you can bet your bottom dollar it won’t work for the poor, including the middle class. Most likely, the middle class is the new poor. They have too much money to qualify for help and not enough money to qualify as well to do. It’s that caught in the middle thing, too much of one and not enough of the other.

Can a woman make a difference? As far as I am concerned, it sure can’t hurt. As a matter a fact, it might even be the solution to this hell hole we the average Americans are currently living in. I use to be a middle class citizen but now I am a starving artist. And believe me when I tell you, I am really a starving artist. Living hand to mouth, check to check, hoping and praying that things will turn around soon. So if a woman, my soul sister, can turn this problem plagued country around, I say, let’s give it a try. It sure couldn’t get any worse than it is now for people like me.

More Layoffs

I live in the automobile driven section of America, Detroit, Michigan. That makes it very hard to accomplish any forward motion when all is dependent on the car. It also doesn’t go well when the image of the city itself is not exactly an image one writes home to momma about. Yet, today I hear of Delphi dropping more suppliers. You know what that means? More people are out of work. Last month, my sister was laid off and her husband will most likely know by the end of this month if his job is on the line. She left Ford as a contract worker and her husband has been with AT&T for more than 25 years. I say my family has something to worry about. You see this follows my son getting laid off last September from the police force. Add all of this to my life as a freelance writer (starving artist) and you can see our family fiscal health is falling apart. We normally help each other during hard times but, who’s going to help who when we all are on the receiving end?

Other Issues

Here in my section of the country, there are issues about the school board, water rates, crime, garbage pickup, home foreclosures, unemployment levels, affirmative action, voting rights, and a host of other things making up a list too long to even record. How I survive in all this mess I will never know. But I do. I do it one day at a time and with a lot of prayer. So do I care if there is a woman president? Am I worried about my family structure holding on? Did Writer’s Digest accept my query? Oh, sorry. My mind started drifting to more writing work and more money. Anyway, yes I do care about all the issues before us today. I can only focus though on my status you see. It is how the bills get paid . . . or not.