Vermont is notorious for having a nearly all-white population. In fact, 96.2% of Vermont’s population is white. Locally, I could count the number of people of color that go to my school on one hand as well as the number of republicans. I love to preach the importance of civil discourse, but civility is easy when you're arguing the same point. I don’t know what there is to debate. 

Where I live, if a teenage boy doesn’t have a Trump sign hanging somewhere in his bedroom, I am shocked. When I go to a friend’s house, there is almost always a gun in the house. Many people I know are not necessarily homophobic, but they do not support the LGBTQ community. These are just things I have gotten used to living in Columbia, South Carolina for the past 15 years.

At least once a month, I am asked to join the NRA. Shiny packets will arrive in the mail, or old men in red hats will stop me at the mall. I’ll smile and nod, politely declining to “protect my rights and family”. I’ll throw the stretchy wristband or commemorative koozie away as I walk away silently fuming. I’ve learned that fighting back is futile- “screaming teenage girl outside Great American Cookie” doesn’t carry the strongest ethos. NRA members appealing to Alabama’s youth infuriates me. 

On August 26 Thad Balkman, an Oklahoma district judge, ordered the pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson to pay 572 Million dollars to the state and its residence as a consequence of its role in Oklahoma’s devastating Opioid Addiction Crisis. More than 900 people die each week due to chronic opioid addiction.

When I think of wilderness, I think of the scuffed knees and bloody noses I got roaming the woods as a toddler. I was called wild-child. I have always loved traveling and seeing new places, but when I am exploring the wilderness, wherever it may be, I feel at home. Naturally, some of my fondest memories have been made on adventures in the wild, whether it was a foggy morning rafting on a desert river, staring at the stars, or camping in alpine meadows.

Indiana has always been a state that I have struggled to live in. Filled with what seems like endless corn and soybean fields, it is difficult to appreciate Indiana’s environment, and it is easy to crave a plane ride to a faraway place, where there are more people than chickens.

His strategy is clear: make it appear as if Democratic governors are restricting the freedoms of their constituents. Unfortunately for Trump, his approval ratings have tanked. His unifying message has only divided the country, angering medical professionals, inciting violent protests, and delaying the ultimate safe reopening date of the country.