Yes, Swimming is here after 6.5 years. Unlikely to have any readers that would see this but I am still going to send a note to everyone to PLEASE VOTE.
I have always taken voting very seriously and, as I've become older, I have grown only more serious about it. In 7th grade, I gave an oral presentation about suffrage and decided to recreate an entire one-woman theatrical interpretation of Marge Piercy's "What are big girls made of?" In hindsight, my dramatic interp was unrelated, but I will never forget what I learned from that project. The horrifying things that those before me went through to make sure I had the right to vote. Civic engagement is sacred to me and I try to vote for everything I possibly can (dumb elections, American Idol, dumb surveys online). People died to give me the right to vote and (as is very evident in the past 5-10y) it's a lot easier to take rights away than it is to get them back or even get them in the first place. For the majority of American citizens, someone died to make sure you had the right to vote so please exercise that right as often as possible. It's the one of the few societal equalizers.
Happy Election Day!
Links to more information about Suffrage:
(1) Who Fought for the Women's right to vote?
(2) 14th Amendment
(3) Suffrage history
(5) Torture during suffrage:
-https://www.history.com/news/night-terror-brutality-suffragists-19th-amendment
-https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/58477/prison-special-one-last-push-womens-suffrage
