This is my first post to my new blog, so it will be brief. I am a 50-something grandmother, a divorced mother of two grown sons, a daughter of two loving parents and the oldest of two sisters. I practiced as an LPN in three different states for over 25 years. I worked my way through LPN school as a nursing assistant. Prior to that, I was an assistant manager of a fast food seafood restaurant fresh out of high school. I attended high school in Hopkinsville, KY, and graduated in 1980. I completed nursing school in Madisonville, KY in 1982. I consider both Louisville, KY and Clarksville, IN my home towns.
I have two states that I call "home" - Kentucky and Indiana. I am actually a Hoosier by birth and currently live on the Indiana side of the river. I've lived most of my life in Kentucky. Both sides of my family are multi-generation Kentuckians. My paternal grandparents moved to Clarksville when my father was a young boy and lived there until the time of their deaths. Most of my family still lives on the Louisville side of the Ohio River. My father was stationed in Okinawa, Japan when I was born and my mother lived with her parents in Louisville but she chose to have me in Clark Memorial Hospital on the Indiana side of the river. Just giving a little history to explain my devotion to both states. My blog will focus on political issues in both states and the country at large, with a few posts on history, genealogy, family, and community events thrown in for good measure.
You may have deduced, given the title of my blog, that I am a liberal. You would be correct in that assumption. I did spend most of my life as a "Reagan Republican" and I come from a very long line of Republicans. Most of my family are still Republicans. My parents taught my sister and me to think for ourselves and to consider opposing views with an open mind. I tease my dad about that. If he had not taught us to be so open-minded, I would still be a Republican. I want to point out to my fellow liberals that neither of my parents are extreme in their conservatism. I actually suspect my mom may be left of center, but she has always secretive about her activity in the voting booth. I know that my father doesn't hesitate to cross party lines when he feels the Republican candidate is not well suited for the office. My father sincerely hoped that President Obama would be a successful president, even though he did not vote for him. We disagree upon whether he has been a successful president or not, but he never hoped for President Obama, or the country, to fail. He is also a fan of President Obama's public speaking skills, even if he doesn't agree with him on the content of those speeches. My father is the man who taught me, at a very young age, that bigotry and intolerance are wrong. When I embraced Paganism, he responded with tolerance and respect for my faith. I expected no less. He was very disturbed by the bigotry directed toward Muslims in the wake of 9/11. My daddy is a good man, even if we do lock horns over politics. He certainly does not fit the current stereotype of extreme right wing conservatives. I don't like stereotypes, especially when applied to my family, so I thought I would explain the conservative side of my family at the outset.
I ask those who visit to take into consideration that the ideological shift I experienced does not come out of thin air, nor does it happen overnight. This was a long, careful thought process that involved research, soul-searching, more research, deliberation, discussions and debates with both liberals and conservatives, and re-evaluation of my social and political beliefs. When I completed that process, I emerged on the other side a liberal. I ask the reader to approach my blog with an open mind, as well.
I will end this first post with a most appropriate quote by a fellow Louisvillian.
A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life. - Muhammad Ali
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