V-Log #1: Fallout of Trump's Election

For the first time on this blog, I'm going to be detailing my thoughts in a video rather than through text. And what better topic to start out with than everyone's favorite subject in the whole wide world: POLITICS!

Heritage Discovery!

THIS JUST IN: I've received a MAJOR LEAD on my American Indian heritage! SO many thanks to Mom and Aunt Lois for digging this up!!

Turns out, I was slightly mislead about which tribes I'm descended from; previously I assumed that my lineage could be traced back both to the Chickasaw and Cherokee nations, but as it turns out, I was only half-right. One of my ancestors was Chickasaw... the other was Choctaw! Literally the direct relatives of the Chickasaw Indians! This opens up a whole new world for me, and a new culture to study and learn about. This is all so exciting!!

And this discovery isn't without its intrigue either; many years ago my great-grandmother Marie Evans attempted to find out more about our Native American lineage, even looking up records about the family ancestry... but much of it was covered up (unsuccessfully) either by the record keepers or members of the family themselves. Apparently there exists an old tape of Marie showing old photographs of my ancestors -- INCLUDING the Indians! Hopefully this tape will turn up soon.

This turnabout marks an exciting new chapter in my quest to deduce the identities of my Native American forebears! Onward to discovery!!

~M.D.

Michael's Thoughts On: The 2016 Voting Season

So it's getting time to vote again, I hear... I guess it'd be a fair question to ask who I'm voting for this year. Will it be Donald Trump? Bernie Sanders? Hillary Clinton?

Nope. I'm not voting for any of them.

Why, you ask? Because I've had enough. I've had enough of the clown house that is the modern political scene. I've had enough with this generation that's turned an important national event into a competition of idiots. Turn on any television program about the runners-up and what do you see? Name-calling, dirt-throwing, and all of this wrapped up in a nice little entertainment package. Don't you see what's happened here? Thanks to the forming of political parties we're more divided now than ever!

Everything's "Republican vs Democrat"; "conservative vs liberal"; "right vs left"... I'm sorry, but when did our priorities go from the betterment of our country to putting down other people for the pettiest of opinion differences? Why are we all more concerned about our party winning than we are about what will be best for America? I don't know if you've all noticed, but ISIS is knocking on our doorstep! NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO LAUGH AT SILLY PEOPLE IN SUITS YELLING AT EACH OTHER!!! We need each other now more than EVER, but the modern political spectrum has turned us against each other! Well I say NO MORE!

So in silent protest, I'm choosing not to vote this year. I refuse to empower any of the runners-up with my support; instead I'll deprive them of what they want and simply continue living my life in the best way that I can. The people splitting us apart can only succeed if we let them, people. The power's still in our hands to decide whether we give them our vote or not. So instead, I'll do something radical: I'll pray for the good of our country and put it all in God's hands. Better His than any of ours.

~M.D.

Rant: The Falsehood Of Western "Rape Culture"

So lately there's been a common trend that I've been seeing in society and social media where men are constantly being talked down to for being "potential rapists" even if they would never even consider such a terrible crime to begin with. There also seems to be this idea that men need to be reminded that rape is wrong and that rapists will stop what they're doing if they're "re-educated"... and speaking as a man myself, this is a fat load of bull. Let me tell you why.

The thing that these people seem to forget about rapists is that they KNOW what they're doing is wrong. They KNOW what they're doing is hurting someone. They KNOW the consequences of their actions. The problem isn't that they don't know better; the problem is that they DO know better, and they just don't care. Heck, they RELISH in the pain and misery they can cause another person. It gives them a rush of power and authority that makes them feel like the strongest person in the world. Thankfully though, rapists are a minority in the United States... which is something that you won't hear these "rape culture activists" admitting upfront, since they'd rather insist that all men are potential rapists -- when in reality most of us are a greater threat to rapists than we are to women! Heck, if I caught one in the act, I'd leave next to nothing for the cops to collect!

Which brings me to yet another fact that I don't see a whole lot of people talking about; the common narrative seems to be "male perpetrator, female victim", and while that does indeed happen, that's not the only rape scenario that plays out in the United States. Did you know that there are female rapists out there also? Yes, believe it or not, there are quite a few women out there who do force men into sex whether they want it or not. But do you ever hear about that in the news? Nope. If a woman rapes a man, he's usually too afraid to admit it because he knows that our society has been conditioned to think that all men will always desire sex even if it was forced upon them. And if he admits that he was in fact raped by a woman, more often than not he'll be mocked and laughed at. That's disgusting to me! And what's worse, if the woman becomes pregnant after the fact it'll ALWAYS work out like this: man gets blamed for having sex with her, man is burdened with parental responsibility, masses feel sorry for the female rapist because she's a woman. Every time!

This brings me to the end of my rant. Make no mistake: rape is one of the cruelest, most vile crimes you can ever commit against another person... but even worse is choosing to trivialize it with stereotypes, victim-blaming, and man-shaming. Rape isn't a male-only crime, nor is it hard-wired into the minds of all men to seek out an unwilling partner. But so long as we maintain the narrative of men needing to be "re-educated" because they're all "dangerous rapists in waiting", we inevitably miss the whole point of what makes the crime so awful to begin with.

~M.D.

Patches Cotton: A Eulogy By Michael Day

On June 1st, 2016, the Day family lost another beloved pet that's been a part of our household for many long and happy years. Patches Cotton Day, who has been a part of our family ever since our earliest days living in Cincinnati, passed away after developing a tumor and having to be put down. She was a very sweet cat who lived for 13 years; no matter who you were, she was friendly and approachable and happy to be around people. She was also incredibly small, being roughly the size of a kitten all her life, and had the softest and fluffiest fur I've ever felt on a cat. She enjoyed going outside, being picked up and cuddled, and spontaneously appearing in all sorts of strange places.

This picture is the very last one I ever took of Patches while she was still alive. It's strange to think that she would pass away just 9 days after Ryan and I did everything we could to get her out of a tree, not realizing what little time we really had left with her. It's a sad time for everyone in the Day family since Patches was beloved by all... but we were nevertheless happy and blessed to have known her, and to have given her the greatest and most loving life she could have known.

I'm fighting through my tears as I write this, so I'll conclude with this: we love you, Patches Cotton Day. We've always loved you in life, and we'll continue loving you in death. Keep Starbright company in Heaven, will you?

Rest in peace, Patches... I love you.

~M.D.

Current Events

Hello all!

Well, Mom and Katie are finally back along with our big golden retriever Lucky. I was surprised to see that he'd gotten a haircut over the last week; he looks like a completely different dog without all that shaggy fur! And speaking of surprises, more stories of the Georgia house have come back with Mom... namely the discovery of a small and aggressive scorpion on the ceiling.

Yep, turns out we'll have to contend with scorpions in Georgia as well as the usual menagerie of ticks and fleas. Thankfully though, this was the only one that they've found in the house so far, meaning that for all we know there could be just a handful in our area. And if we deal with the local bugs on our property, the scorpions and other predators will have no reason at all to get into the house in the first place. Thankfully measures are already being put in place to confront the bugs and clean up our new living space.

In more somber news, Patches' health isn't looking too good; she's lost her appetite and consequently she is getting thinner. Mom's arranged a visit to the doctor's tomorrow in the hopes that we'll be able to get her some help, and honestly I don't expect that it'll be a problem for long. But still, something's up and it's disheartening to see her this way.

Finally I've still got about 3 weeks left before having to go down to Georgia. I'm hoping that things will be more cleared up by then, but it's not likely. Regardless though, I've found a place where I might like to work! It's called the Phoenix and Dragon Bookstore and it's got just about everything I could want in a workplace: books, scented candles, crystals, and even free-roaming cats apparently! Definitely gonna make it a point to check this place out when I get down there.

That's all for now. Be well!

~M.D.

Michael's Thoughts On: Forcing Cap. America To Be Gay

So there's been a lot of controversy surrounding topics like this, and so I thought I'd throw in my two cents in a professional and mature manner.

If you didn't know already, let me fill you in: lately there's been a mass craze about taking popular mainstream characters in film, television, and other forms of media and making them gay... purely to make them gay. Not because it contributes drama to the plot or makes the characters more interesting, no, nothing rational like that. They just wanted characters to be gay for the sake of gayness. Whatever it is, if it's popular enough people are pleading -- if not outright demanding -- that at least one of the main characters should be given a love interest of the same gender, even if it doesn't make any sense or would feel forced.

Some would say that this is meant to give support to the gay community, but I have to ask: if support and progressivism really is the idea here, then why not make original characters to fill in the blanks and let the straight characters remain straight? There's a fine line between positivity and pandering; and the idea of taking someone like Captain America, who has consistently expressed purely heterosexual leanings, and making him suddenly attracted to other men isn't supportive at all. It's just a plea for attention and an effort to pander to a demographic that, let's be honest here, isn't even asking for Cap and others to be gay in the first place.

You heard me right: the gay community themselves ARE NOT the ones demanding that the orientations of fictional characters be switched around. They're more interested in just living their lives like regular people, and enjoying films like Captain America without constantly wishing that they were represented in them. That's because they're confident enough in themselves that they don't need to be validated by other forms of media. So if the "target demographic" isn't making these requests, and in fact would rather have characters just be themselves instead of being modeled after a political message, then this begs the question: who's making these demands in the first place?

I'll tell you who: the "trendy" college-age SJW's that we all love to hate. They're the ones who feel like we need to pander to whatever progressive trend is hot at the moment, and we shouldn't listen to their demands. They're not in it for the gay community; they're in it to make themselves feel good. That's all it's ever been about: self-serving douche bags who desperately want to cry "victim" because without an enemy, their lives have no meaning. Now keep in mind, I can deal with gay characters in films if it's done right, even if I don't personally believe the lifestyle to be a Godly one; after all they're still a part of the world and they're still people, with value that goes deeper than their sexual preferences. But there seems to be a trend going on now where social justice warriors are decrying the presence of straight romance in films... and it's gotta stop.

Don't feed the Tumblr whales, folks.

~M.D.