What if You Knew Her?

I've watched the entire Vietnam War series on PBS so far. I've found it to be an excellent documentary, with voices from all perspectives and sides telling their stories. I've learned a lot about what was actually going on. Some of it has made me angry. All of it has been eye-opening.

Tonight it was different, though. Tonight the program covered the shootings of the four students at Kent State in May 1970. Tonight my emotions overwhelmed me as the program ended with the playing of the song, "Ohio" by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

I think for me, this was the turning point where I felt the war hit home. I was 14 in 1970; the students who were killed were not much older than I was. Killed in f***ing cold blood by a bunch of scared boys about the same age in Army uniforms whose leadership were bungling fools.

I don't know about others my age, but Kent State opened my eyes and brought a kind of reality to the war that I hadn't felt before. After that I watched it much more closely.

We were lucky; March 1973 was when the last combat troops left Vietnam. We didn't turn 18 until later in 1973 and 1974. We were also lucky that we lived here and not there. I can't imagine what it was like to live through what the people in Vietnam lived through.

We were part of it, though. We went through our critical adolescent period as the world we were prepared and groomed for started falling to pieces. The mirror cracked for me with Kent State in 1970. And tonight in 2017 the flood gates opened when the images and the music met again,

What if you knew her and found her dead on the ground?
How could you run when you know?

Science Under Fire

I am a firm believer that there is a purposeful agenda by the right to "dumb down" the American people. Other than likely interference and possible Trump campaign collusion with Russia, I believe that this dumbing down is part of why Donald Trump was elected. Alternative facts were (and still are being) planted in the brains of many people who either never learned or forgot how to think critically.

Some of the worst and most dangerous alternative facts that have been planted have to do with science. Scientists, collectors of real data, are being usurped by idiot conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones, religious zealots preaching the ridiculous literal Bible story of creation over the theory of evolution, and especially Donald Trump himself who constantly gets his "facts" from dubious sources or just makes them up. 

For this reason, I went out and marched in the St. Paul, Minnesota March for Science. Many people have asked me, "Why the March for Science?" What I said above is the main reason. A lot of people feel similarly. 

We had over 10,000 show up in St. Paul and there also were more than 600 other cities worldwide that had marches. It was so cool to look around and see the size of the crowd and some of the signs were awesome. The speakers were impressive and the signs people were carrying were great. This was my first "march" and it was a great experience.

I'll end this post with some photos from the St. Paul, Minnesota March for Science.

There is No Planet B - March for Science, St. Paul, Minnesota, 4/22/17

Break the Cycle, Rise Above, Focus on Science - March for Science, St. Paul, Minnesota, 4/22/17

We Don't Have Enough Funds to Make A Better Sign - March for Science, St. Paul, Minn,

No Science = No Beer! March for Science, St. Paul, Minnesota 4/22/17

May the Facts Be With You - March for Science, St. Paul, Minnesota, 4/22/17

Danger, Alternative Facts Removal - March for Science, St. Paul, Minnesota, 4/22/17

Crowd dispersing at the March for Science, St. Paul, Minnesota, 4/22/17

Keep the Earth clean, it's not Uranus. - March for Science, St. Paul, Minnesota, 4/22/17

Invasive Species - trumpelon - March for Science, St. Paul, Minnesota, 4/22/17