Intro To The Opinionated

You should know: I did not choose to start this blog. I did not wake up one morning and think to myself, gee, what fun it would be to create a web log. I did not discover blogger on my own and I certainly did not scream with joy when I found out this would be a school assignment.

You should also know: Most of the people in my class are not aiming to write about anything important. This isn't a bad thing (believe me, I love reading about my classmates' opinions on mashed potatoes and the latest football game). I'm just not planning to do that. My English teacher told us to chose a topic that we care passionately about, and while I don't care passionately about many things, I happen to care about caring about things. As humans, we are allowed abundant knowledge. So, if I'm honest, it kind of bothers me when people spend their time obsessing over things that don't matter.

You should know this, too: I'm not trying to offend anyone. If you're super emotional about swiss cheese then awesome, good for you. And maybe you couldn't care less about the things I find significant. That's cool too.

I guess I'm just trying to tell you not to root yourself in things you don't care about. If you're in love with something and it makes you happy, then great. Find what matters to you. Then, if you're anything like me, you'll write about it.

Welcome to my blog. I genuinely hope it doesn't suck.

Stick Figure Courtesy

Donald Trump Photo Courtesy

I suppose I should start by introducing myself, though I'm not really sure how to do that. My name is Abbi, I'm a freshman in high school, and I have no idea how to do anything. As of right now I am sitting in the basement eating grapes and watching Friends.

This whole idea is sort of funny to me. I'm not sure why anyone would voluntarily read something that I wrote just to meet the 500 word count. You're probably wondering when I'm going to start talking about "things that matter." You're probably wondering why you should care about my opinion at all.

My dad once asked me, in the middle of a fairly heated argument about equal rights, "What do you, a fifteen year old girl from [my wealthy hometown], know about any of this?" And despite being agitated and wanting to punch his face in, I had to admit that he was right. I'm cisgender, straight, white, and privileged. It's not like I've ever truly experienced these types of things head-on. Half the things I write about have never happened to me.

But I still understand it. I see things and I acknowledge them. There's problems in the world – lots of them – and I get that. I like to think I'm not ignorant. Maybe I don't have the experience, but I have insight and compassion. As Nick Giovanni said, "Writers don't write from experience. Writers write from empathy."