Blog Goals

A Little Bit About Me

Hi.  My name is Amanda and I am a 35 year old liberal who has gotten sick of all of the false media and issues being blow out of proportion on social media.  I need a space where people can come, check out the facts (I will research both sides of issues and both types of candidates for upcoming elections!) and find information that they need.

Opinions and Facts

I will have some personal opinion pieces too, but I am going to do my best to keep fact and opinion in separate posts and to label it as such.  I live in a small town in west-central Illinois called Canton.  I am going to share local, state, and national election information.  I want people to be able to understand who their candidates are and researching is something that I find enjoyable.  This will give me a platform to share my research/knowledge with all of you.

My Family

I am a mom to four.  Andrew (July 2003), Althea (July 2008), Huxley (October 2009), and Adeline (December 2011) are the lights of my life and the main thing that I live for.  I am married to an amazing husband, Shane.  Together we attempt to raise our young humans to be open minded free thinking individuals, even if their thoughts and opinions are far different from ours.  I want to see the world be a better place for these four amazing beings and hope that by learning and hopefully educating others as to the issues and the values, that I can accomplish helping to leave a lasting impact on the world around us.

Education and Career Background

I originally earned my BOTBA (no declared major) with minors in both Sociology and African American Studies in May 2006.  I worked in the social work field with adults with severe and persistent mental illness, many of whom were living in extreme poverty.  I have worked in this environment in both urban (east side Indianapolis) and rural (IN and IL) areas.  I decided to stay home with my children after this time.  I still worked from home part time as a freelance writer and blogger.  You might recognize my name from mom's blogs where I have previously written....Jenn's Blah Blah Blog and Simply Shawn N Jenn most recently.  I have a several ebooks that I wrote on Amazon and have been featured on numerous websites/blogs/news sites.

I am now back in school work on my second BA in History (graduating May 2019) and then will continue on to pursue my MA in History (anticipated graduation May 2021).  I work as a substitute teacher where I hope to inspire the students to form opinions on their own.  I often site two sides to things when asked or when going through a lesson plan that a teacher has left and attempt to always present those two sides fairly (I hope to do this with the candidates for all of you too!).  This is why I will have opinion pieces labeled as such!

I have always loved learning and History has been an important part of my life for a long time.  I tell everyone that history was my first love and that sociology was a new found love when I entered college.  I aspire to be a social historian and would love to be able to earn my PhD if life allows after obtaining my MA.

10 Fun Facts About Me

So here are a few additional things that I find interesting about me.  I get called conservative by liberals and liberal by conservatives.  I am not sure what this means but maybe someone can shed some light on my opinion pieces.

1.  I eat mostly pescetarian.  (I have been vegan/vegetarian in the past and have sometimes eaten fowl breast, but I NEVER eat other meats and I don't eat eggs!)
2.  My favorite thing to do is spend time with my family.
3.  When I have time, I love to cook....but I HATE dishes!
4.  I LOVE to read and plan on highlighting my summer reading/current reading in blog posts as well.
5.  Learning new things is my favorite, whether it be in school or just in life in general.
6.  I do not care if my beliefs are unpopular, I am okay with people not liking me.  I love drawing comparisons with our present time and history from the past.  I especially find this fascinating when exploring politics.
7.  I try to be a good person and think of how my choices/decisions will impact others before I choose to act in any way.
8.  If I were ever to win the lottery, become very wealthy I would start a non-profit organization called the Angel Mark House (maybe I will write a blog post on the reason why sometime!)!
9.
10.  I love to write and research writing is my absolute favorite.

10 People Who Have Been BIG Influences in My Life (Some are Old and Some are New)

1.  My Children -- Although it might sound odd to some of you, my children have helped to shape me in some important ways and have helped me to grow in ways that I did not ever think was possible.

2.  My dad -- That stubborn old man taught me to speak out about what I think, even though we are often on opposite sides of the issues.

3.  Dr. Alphonso Simpson -- He taught me so much about other cultures and helped to shape me into the person that I am.  I am so thankful after growing up in a conservative small town that he was able to show me that I could think different.  He helped me to understand that not all people in America have equal opportunity. 

4.  Kathy Smysor -- As my history teacher in high school, Kathy really taught me to love history and to have a passion for exploring the world around me.

5.  Michael Maher -- My first sociology instructor at Spoon River College.  He taught me to fall in love with the discipline and instilled this strong value in me to always search for how society will be effected by actions.

6.  A Homeless Man Named Mark -- You can find inspiration in all places.  Mark was one of the most generous and kind souls that I have ever met.  He shared so much wisdom and a story that truly reminded me that we are all a few bad strokes of luck away from being in the same position.  

7.  Hunter S. Thompson -- Hunter was an amazing author who taught me to explore all aspects of life and reminded me that I could have the dream of writing!

8.  Ayn Rand -- Her books helped me to fully expand my mind, learn about how politics could be different, and believe that a different society was possible.

9.  Bernie Sanders -- He seriously is amazing!  I have never felt so inspired as I did when I heard him speak.

10.  My friend Bruce -- He taught me to love harder and to love more.  He had a zeal for life and has truly helped me to find a way to love myself more so that I can love others more.