April French

The paradox of not being able to successfully appeal to someone’s humanity (after committing an inhumane act) without acknowledging that you both have humanity (and that your humanity makes you vulnerable to their inhumane behavior).

When I don’t feel like I belong, I go find spaces where I do belong, or reconnect with spaces/people I’ve lost touch with. I’m a square peg determined to find square holes. No shoving myself in round ones anymore.

Love following you on fb, checking this app out to see if I like it better than fb. I know it’s a different type of social media, but Facebook is so frustrating. I was a lurker on the other one 😝

I’ve tried a couple of posts I wouldn’t dare on fb or twitter, for fear of trolls. You have a much higher profile than I do, though, so your mileage may vary.

I knooooow 😭😭😭

I’m a really good problem solver. Part of why I’m good at it is figuring out the root cause of a problem. That is how I use my tendency to be negative ( to see what’s wrong) for good.

Still trying to figure out how to use this superpower.

Tweet that says if your concern with trans women is that men might claim to self-ID as trans to gain access to women’s spaces and assault them, then your problem is actually with predatory men and not trans women.

All of this.

It’s almost impossible for people to take. People meaning *all* of us.

I can’t engage in righteous anger.

If I do, I lose myself. It’s not good for me, or anyone around me.

But, I’m working on letting you have yours. Maybe it doesn’t destroy your life like it does mine. Maybe you can use it for good.

This doesn’t mean I don’t have it.

Yes and neither is good or bad, it’s just different. I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to live in various parts of California growing up and then moving around to Texas, Georgia, Maryland and Colorado. I now live in Europe. I wish everyone had the opportunity.

Your anger is noted. It’s yours, though, none of that is mine.

Yaaaaaaassssssss

I can’t honor you until I honor myself. I don’t speak in absolutes; as I work to honor myself more, I’m more able to honor myself.

Instead of hating MAGAs, I’m trying to love myself more. Has nothing to do with them and everything to do with me.

That’s me. I have NOTHING figured out. /end🧵

I just want the freedom to be team carrot. I want to sit in the carroty space of it all before I consider the stick. Maybe this reeks of privilege, idk. All I know is that a lot of the people focused on the stick are really imbalanced and I have to honor myself first.🧵

Sorry, got distracted!

🥕 and stick

I am aligned with the carrot. That doesn’t mean I don’t think the stick isn’t important, it just feels to me like too many people are focused on the stick and my Libra self seeks balance.

I don’t want to make anyone be team carrot.🧵

Even if their viewpoint makes me uncomfortable.

The viewpoints that cause me pain (like those who think some people should have less rights than others), I’m not willing to hold space for, and I don’t have to hold space for them. That’s a boundary for me.🧵

My disagreement doesn’t necessarily mean I don’t think those groups should exist. I just don’t align with them.

I’m trying to examine my words so that I don’t sound like I’ve got it figured it out, and that while I have a different viewpoint, I respect the viewpoints of others.🧵

I wish there was a construct other than a binary, but I can’t think of one (comment if you can), so this is what I’ve got:

I feel a tension in politics between carrots and sticks. I’m aware of orgs that might share some of my beliefs, but we disagree on how to get there. I want to be really clear:🧵

What is so scary about the notion that you don’t 100% get it?

I think there’s a push/pull effect here. Lots of rural areas have a no outsiders policy so entrenched if they see a car they don’t recognize, they’ll follow it.

All dark corners would benefit from shining a light on them, which is, I think, what you’re getting at?

Why are you trying to shut down discourse?

I had no idea of the magnitude of the East Coast bubble until
I moved from MD to Co Springs. There is sooooo much people are missing. Rural America isn’t a cess pool, and if it is, it didn’t get that way in a vacuum.

Omg I love this one! Process is important. The journey is crucial. Remembering this helps me to say “fuck it!” less. Bad things happen after I say this 😆

I don’t think wokeism went too far, actually. I think we made a lot of assumptions about ourselves and other people and didn’t bother to self-reflect or check for understanding. And when people voiced concerns, we couldn’t stand the discomfort. I’ve been working on that, personally, for a while.

“Liberal democracy,” he says, “offers moral constraints without problem-solving” — a lot of rules, not a lot of change — while “populism offers problem-solving without moral constraints.”

Oof 😓 it tracks, tho

I’m not sure I’m ready to adopt a MAGA 😆 but I do want to understand.

And I’m definitely interested in holding everyone accountable for their actions, that’s something I should probably say more often.

I’m so scared of even saying these things out loud.

EXACTLY! Thank you for this reminder 💕

What wisdom have you found?

And I’m just learning how to articulate this to myself, let alone other people.

This doesn’t have to be perfect to be good. I need conversation and feedback, I need to get it wrong a bunch before I get it even halfway right. And I hope this is a space that I can do that.

6/6

I want to start a new chapter of my life, I’m already doing that in a big way (I’ll be jobless in a week, another tale for another time), and I want to unpack things I think about Democrats and Republicans that don’t serve me anymore.

And in noticing my own stuff, I’m noticing other stuff..

5/6

So, I’m focusing on myself, on what I can change, and a big part of that for me is how I’ve looked at US politics and how I’ve viewed the side I stand with and the side I am against. And there’s a lot of old-ass thinking that I’ve cleared out of other parts of my life.

4/6