I remember clearly why I engaged again. In 2007 all I saw, particularly on social media, which was not nearly as developed as it is now, was divisive approaches to conversation.  People in full attack.  Attacking their family and friends and neighbors.  For a long time I refused to read comments on any article that I happen to read.  One day I was reading how a high school had held the diploma or two students who were graduating solely on the basis of each of their families cheering for them when each of their names were called.  I hated what had happened to these two young ladies.  The story spoke about how for each of these graduating students, it was the first time anyone in their families had succeeded in school.  I then made the mistake of violating my own rule and started reading the comments.  I was appalled, and then furious at what I was reading. One girl was Spanish and one girl was black.  Didn't matter to me. It sure did in the comment section.

I was taken aback at the nastiness of the comments.  The direct attacks on the ethnicity and culture of each girl and the demeaning nature of so many comments.  It was one of the beginnings of why I decided to walk through the advocacy door again.

Then a woman and a black man ran against each other in the Democratic Primary.  It was obvious that history was going to happen.  Either we would have an ethnically diverse man or a woman running for President of the United States in 2008 on one side of the aisle, for the first time.  Candidate Obama intrigued me based on his platform.  He was calling out the behavior of our government in many of the ways that I was.   Specifically, he attacked the constitutionality of surveillance, war powers, the patriot act, drone warfare and executive overreach.  It was exciting to me.  Besides the expansion of our society to have diversity and inclusiveness in every way, I am a believer in liberty and our constitutional protections,  As an advocate g