Putting on the Progressive Pants

Hello and it's nice to make your aquaintence.

Every author, every storyteller, every person needs to begin by establishing his or her relevance and authority in explaining the matter. So, I should probably begin by explaining my political/social background, upbringing, and current status. I should probably also explain how I ever got to the point of transcending from one ideology through the countless others to finally arriving (and being content) with the notion of progressivism.

I was born in the mid-1980s during Reagan's presidency. My father was in the navy and my mother was barefoot, pregnant, no job, and pretty lacked skills, unless you count being able to make meatloaf (at least I hear it's great, I rarely ever ate meat growing up because I didn't like the taste.) My father soon left the military after the first Persian Gulf fiasco and we moved quite frequently because working in nuclear power plants required that of him. It was a pretty convential American life from that point through my elementary school years.

I knew Bill Clinton as the President and I knew I liked him. I liked his voice and laugh, probably because I was born in the south and something in his vocal chords connected to my brain. That twang sticks in your mind a lot longer than you'd think.

My parents split when I was 12 and under violent circumstances. My mother literally just walked out leaving the kids behind and trying to save herself. I was really angry and bitter so a long time afterwards because there was little support through either school or my community to deal with everything falling apart in my life.

From about 12 until I graduated high school, I found myself in just a neverending cycle of depression, self-inflicted hurt, and frustration. One side of the family didn't want me entering college (and later kicked me out because I applied) and the other was absent entirely. I became active in informing myself of current events in high school. And however miserable I thought my life was, I read the plights of others around the world and thought, "my god I couldn't deal with those bullets." I was just in purebreed sprawl suburbia, with a family who thought of women in a completely backwards way- not in a warzone or being raped because I happen to be born in some genetic lottery.

9/11 had happened in my freshmen year of high school and by my senior year in high school, it was the reelection campaign of Bush/Cheney. They even came to my school for a support rally. Little glimpse into that day: all I could think about in my mind was the 2 minute hate from Orwell's "1984". Banners, chants, people yelling things I'm not too entirely sure they understood.

Despite my growing concern about different issues happening around the world. I declared myself "libertarian". I was a jaded little suburban kid who wanted the government and everyone else to leave me alone. I thought governments were just entirely fatal institutions, soaked in corruption and people who sought to control us through manipulation and fear. After all, my life was like that and certainly the administration I had witnessed to did as well.

I went to Univ. of Pittsburgh for a year, then left having absolutely no clue what I wanted to do. Personal issues unresolved from the past decade or so were resurfacing and I needed help.

I found help and I went to the local community college here in Pittsburgh, thinking I would just stay for a semester and then go back to Pitt and pretend like I wasn't a mental case. I felt embarrassed for even going to community college because it has the reputation of being "dumbed down". All my friends went to these great four year schools and here I was someone who could barely hack it at Pitt, going to community college.

I took an education class, purely on a whim, and found the subject to be terribly interesting and fascinating. I decided to stay for another semester just because I wanted to take more education classes and see what it was about. I also took a political science course called "Modern Political Thought" and it was, to say the least, enlightening. My professor was engaging and the material was difficult, but I really enjoyed it. I soon found myself tuning into NPR and becoming a straight-up political junkie, "The Nation" subscription and all. Oh, and I dropped the whole "libertarian" thing to become a communist for a solid two months.

You see, I was originally an art history major and I envisioned my life telling visitors at a museum about how Van Gogh painted many of his originals on bed sheets because he couldn't afford canvass. I took two art history classes and felt uninspired and like I was wasting my time. I certainly appreciate those who can major in that subject, but I felt my life needed something active in it. Something ever--changing and something now. Works of art represent the time, the place, and the people within it. I wanted something that didn't feel so dead- at least to me.

I found political science and education to be the majors which stirred up passion and excitement in me. I've never dreaded going to either class (except maybe exam day.) As I joined groups like Amnesty International and Global Solutions, I found myself being emotional about politics. I dispelled all the earlier notions I had that pulling myself up by my bootstraps is the only method that worked in making life easier. We can have the freedom, the more efficient government, and a better future, but it takes education, action, and most importantly (to me anyway) belief to do so.

So now, I am now finishing up my second year and getting ready to transfer to a four year college in pursuit of becoming an educator in political science, whether it's as a high school social studies teacher or as a professor in political science.

After all this, you're probably still wondering how I got on those progressive pants officially.

Well, I dropped the whole communist thing after awhile and then declared myself as a "democrat" in 2006. I have a serious case of DD (disaffected democrat), but candidates like Barack Obama who emphasize many progressive reforms have really inspired me (and I haven't lost total hope.) Literally, a month ago, while I was working a voter registration drive, an older lady had asked me who I was voting for in the primary. I told her I was considering Obama and we chatted for a bit about different reforms, urban issues, education, etc. She asked me what I defined myself because I don't really sound like your traditional run-of-the-mill Democrat. I told her about how social issues and efficient reform mean so much to me and that frankly, ma'am, "you can call me a progressive."

And the pants are still on.