The first day I walked into those hallowed halls, I was immediately hit with huge culture shock. While all of my old friends were from the city, the students at my new school hailed from every suburb in Illinois. The teachers were stern and old-fashioned. The rules were strict. Although my old school didn’t even have a dress code, in Catholic school, it was collared shirts and khakis every day. We went to Mass, prayed in every class, and studied religion regularly. I hadn’t gone to church in years, and now I was learning about the Book of Job and the Gospels every day.

Just before you cross into Gatlinburg, Tennessee, you’ll find a town different than your typical Southern city. The small, yet energetic, city of Asheville rests within the valley of the Appalachian Mountains between the Swannanoa and French Broad Rivers. The heart of the city reveals new age aesthetics that influence many tourists, including former President Barack Obama, to visit the town regularly. Others travel to Asheville for the geographic diversity that surrounds it.

Today I am sitting in the Portland Public Library, scrolling through updates about impeachment day. I have been waiting for this day for a very long time. Three years and a few weeks. I know the facts, what people are saying, he most likely will not be removed, but I still find the idea of impeachment quite frightening: because years of taking advantage of women is not enough to be removed from office.

On Christmas morning, I woke up to snap stories of kids showing off their brand new Mercedes and Louis Vuitton purses. For some people, this may seem crazy, but it’s the norm in Silicon Valley: privileged kids and their rich, successful parents. However, this privilege comes with a price.

If by some curse you end up in the modest little town of Sanford, North Carolina, you’ll end up driving by a different church about every five miles. On Sundays, and even Wednesdays, the parking lots will be crowded with the towns’ citizens. Living in the South, religion has always had a large part in my life. It has always been the topic of conversations and has always controlled my Sunday mornings, but most importantly it has seeped into the social fabrics of my small hometown.

Vermont is notorious for having a nearly all-white population. In fact, 96.2% of Vermont’s population is white. Locally, I could count the number of people of color that go to my school on one hand as well as the number of republicans. I love to preach the importance of civil discourse, but civility is easy when you're arguing the same point. I don’t know what there is to debate. 

Indiana has always been a state that I have struggled to live in. Filled with what seems like endless corn and soybean fields, it is difficult to appreciate Indiana’s environment, and it is easy to crave a plane ride to a faraway place, where there are more people than chickens.