Foreword

I am a first-year college student at the time of this writing. I usually write out how I feel, but I want the public to see this; I major in criminal justice, and during my junior year, I will start pre-law to start my pathway to becoming a lawyer. I am only nineteen while I write this; however, that does not make me any less knowledgeable than someone who is in the same course of action, just older than me in age. I am a person, among many, who is passionate about our law, our government, and our politics. I did not come to a sheet of paper, or a Google Doc in this case, to show my passion for these things. I come here to speak out. I speak out against our current administration, how our democracy is barely a thing, how people who peacefully protest get arrested, and many other terrible things. I like to view myself as an activist, even if I cannot make it out to rallies and protests for special causes and social issues in today’s age. However, if I can get my voice out there somehow and someway, I know I can partially make a change. Even if this change, if I make one, is the tiniest bit; if I can change one person's mindset or show them what is truly happening, then I am happy. I know already that I am on the right side of history, but I am surrounded by those who are not.

I come from a very Christian republican family, and was put in a Christian private school for the first years of my school life. I believed that I had to have the same beliefs as my parents, who raised me when I was younger. However, as I grew older, particularly during my junior high school years, I began to reveal my true views. I have progressive beliefs instead of conservative ones when it comes to politics, and I am not religious, even the tiniest bit. However, as a person, I have the right to my own opinion and stance. And this is where I show my stance.

Now, as a freshman college student, only in my first term too, I do not expect people to see this and make a big deal about it. I actually expect barely any people to see this, but one action speaks louder than none. During the first week of the Donald Trump presidency, I logged the things that were happening, and they were not good. I will share those writings here, too. The only reason I had stopped those loggings was because I was under high stress, doing high school and college at the same time, and watching our democracy fall before me hurt me. After all, I felt like I was Anne Frank, only in a much less severe situation. Do I regret stopping journaling about what has happened over the eleven months? Absolutely. But I am back, and now I am speaking out.