Election Reflection

So I awoke at 5:30am on November 9th to hear the news.

This past week in Interventions I, our professor, Denise talked about the importance of “then what” (i.e. you’re not going to smoke…then what are you going to do instead?) when setting goals with clients.

I am not, I cannot just accept the results of the US election as if they don’t impact me, my right to exist, my friends, my friends’ right to exist, my family, my classmates, my colleagues, my neighbors, or my clients…so there are a lot of then whats, right now:

I’m going to redouble my efforts to expand Food Gnomes and continue to feed the hungry. I am also going to move forward with getting the Food Gnomes Potluck program to bring people together for meals and conversations off the ground. We need the mutual support and that’s always better over broken bread.

I am going to continue to volunteer with the UBSSW at Friends of Night People because I foresee a much more difficult four years for them than for myself.

I am going to once again start teaching sex education, not just at conventions where we have flashy titles like Gay Sex: 101 but wherever possible and appropriate because knowledge is power and empowerment and wellness and safety…and because curriculum changes may be coming.

I will call all of my clients by next week and schedule some longer sessions with them, so they can process their fears about reduced Medicaid and other entitlement programs.

And, more importantly, I am going to go into my field placement each week bright eyed and bushy tailed and do everything I can do so that all of my students, of every background, know how much they matter, how much they are valued, how happy we are to have them there, and how much they have a right to be there.