The igloo is melting!

Normally I try to stay away from this type of thing on my deviantART page. Up 'til now, deviantART has just been a place to post my funny pony comics, write some funny Journals, and explore the massive art galleries looking for inspiration, or just when I'm having an off day. My funny comics/Journals have apparently become so popular people go so far as to try to guilt trip me for not releasing more of them, or (still) ask the same question(s)/make the same comments over and over again in hopes that just maybe, out of all the comments I receive daily theirs will catch my eye. Entitlement at its finest, right here, y'all.

But that's another Journal for another day, because right now...I am a little bit angry.

Not just angry, this is the kind of deep-seated rage that people feel when they've been cheated and can do nothing about it. This is the kind of slow, soul-destroying anger that permeates every fiber of my being and just gains more fuel every time I turn on the news. For the better part of two years I've been stuck in this endless cycle of rage as I tried to figure out the world and my place in it...and if I would ever have any significant impact. The revelation came when my rose-tinted glasses completely and abruptly shattered, and I could see this place for the hideous place it really was.


.......people are probably asking why I'm so angry or what could possibly be so bad to give me such a bleak worldview. Well...this Journal has been a long time coming. I've put off writing it because no one wants to read the political musings of some pony artist on the Internet, but after the past few months...maybe writing it will give me some relief



First, and probably the thing that pushed me to my breaking point in writing this Journal, is a news article. Maybe people have heard about this already, and I really hope they have, but for anyone who hasn't,  the GOP is currently trying to pass a bill that would raise full-time employment from 30 hours a week to 40 hours a week (and here are two more articles so people can have a better understanding of this). What it boils down to is; if this thing passes, employees will have to work a minimum of 40 hours a week to qualify for any health benefits.

From the first linked article;
"Employers would only be required to provide health benefits for workers who work 40 hours or more per week. Employers would then be able to give full-time workers 39 hours of work - nearly a full work week that would not hurt employee output - and avoid providing health insurance to the employee, which is required under the ACA {Affordable Care Act}. It's much more difficult to cut a full-time worker's hours to 29 hours to avoid providing health care."

.....these people would pass a bill meant to save employers some money, but would make workers work longer hours and slash their health coverage so employers don't have to comply with the Affordable Care Act mandates.  In the name of our Lord and Savior Ben Franklin, the GOP would see workers work themselves to death just to continue surviving. And with our own financial situation at home and climbing health insurance rates this article threw me into a fit of rage all over again.



Let it never be said that I'm unfairly biased for or against any political party. I try my damnedest to keep an open mind come elections and vote for the candidate I like best, regardless of their political party. But, well...when the  GOP consistently comes out with bills like this, designed to keep the billions and billions of dollars in the rich people's banks and to ensure that the rest of us can only dream of ever having that much money, and as the GOP collectively shouts to high Heaven "why aren't we in the White House yet??"...I cannot honestly say I feel sympathy.

I'm not rich and I know it. I know it so well that when I went back to Art Institute this past month and did the Entrance Counseling to get back in, and when my student loan balance read-out came up I laughed. I laughed, because I am twenty-three years old and still don't trust myself enough to hold a job and manage school at the same time. And after letting my parents handle all the loans and grant specifics for me the reality finally hit me, as I sat in that tiny office and read "$52,283" on the computer screen. I laughed and then I cried, and then when the Admissions counselor came back in after I'd finished the Counseling I stared at her and asked "How do they expect me to pay this?"

And after I left that office I cried some more because, even as I was asking the question I knew the answer; they don't expect me to. They expect me to be buried under that mountain of debt for the rest of my life. They expect me to get some dead-end job and be stuck there for the rest of my life, having graduated from a reputable college to cook their filet mignon and fill their wine glasses while they discuss and compare stocks over dinner. They don't give a flying fuck about some twenty-something girl from the South with approximately $8 to her name...except, of course, when she gives them sparkling instead of the merlot they asked for.

I don't make it a habit of publishing my personal issues online but...I'm afraid. This country is made for people who would prefer to keep their heads down and obediently absorb everything Big Brother is feeding us, not for people who question authority and find glaring flaws in their "logic". I'm afraid that when I do finally have to go out into the world the daily injustices I'll inevitably face will be too much. I'm afraid of what will happen if I dare take a stand against it. That I'll have gone to college, will have (eventually) worked a job or two, or three, made all these comics and Journals that make people laugh and help them through rough spots in their lives...and it will have ultimately been for nothing. And if I can inspire at least one person to do something while I sit here and cower in fear of the unknown, then this whole weepy post'll be worth all the criticism it gets.



.......this got a little more personal than I'd intended but...figured it'd be best to give some kind of explanation as to why I've suddenly dropped off the map again Probably going to regret publishing this later as I have effectively opened myself for criticism but oh well. Always hated smokescreens anyway.

_{and also gonna just remind myself that I still owe art trades to two people; I haven't forgotten...it's just been a stressful couple of months.}

Edit:
Not asking for people's pity here, just writing a rant Journal. Maybe I'll read it tomorrow and decide to go out and make something of myself