April 2017 – Katrina Michelle Russell

What makes America great in the first place?

April 28, 2017April 26, 2017 Katrina Russell

This is an actual honest question that I keep asking, and that I never get an answer to. I hear it all the time, “It’s time to make America great again”. First of all, I’m of the mindset that despite it’s flaws America is already pretty great, so what does it mean to make it great “again”.

If the average person was to talk about when America hit it’s prime. When America really blossomed into the great country that we know it to be, it wasn’t during the frontier time when people were dying in droves trying to cross the wild lands. It wasn’t during the time of the old west when gun slingers could mosey on in and shoot up the place. It wasn’t during the Civil War when brother was killing brother. It wasn’t during the roaring 20s when mobsters started bootlegging their booze and causing havoc in the streets. It wasn’t during the Great Depression when people were jumping off buildings so their families could have the life insurance.

The time when America seemed to really shine was about WWII. The amazing men and women who stood up against the evils of hate and destruction. The young people of that time are known as “The Greatest Generation”. They lived through the depression and came out the other side with a sense of pride and humanity. They fought and died to protect the lives of others. To protect the rights of others. They came home and everything changed. College grants were given. The housing market opened up in suburbs. They had babies who became the Hippies of the 60s and 70s who understood that ALL PEOPLE ARE CREATED EQUAL.

Ah, America was great. Americans understood that “With great power came great responsibility” and that it was important to fight for “Truth, Justice, and the American Way!”.

There is a young man who has taken on the thankless task of interviewing the Veterans that are left from WWII. He has created a documentary and believes that it is important for their legacy to be remembered. He believes that we will all be better people if we meet these incredible men and women who were part of saving the world from the Axis of Evil…. that’s what they were called. Because it was understood that they were in fact evil. That killing people by the millions for their religious belief or their disability was in fact evil. He wants to make sure that their stories live forever, and that they didn’t suffer and die for nothing.

Today there are millions more people who are suffering in other countries. Not just Syria or the nations that we hear about because they happen to do business with us, as in the case of ISIS have turned their attention globally. There are many countries in which people are dying everyday. Either through starvation, or raids, or bombings… millions of innocent men, women, and children who are just as important as American men, women, and children but happen to have been born in a different geographical location.

What do you think makes America great? Do you think that we are great because we can all get the newest iPhone? Do you think that America is great because we have the fastest internet service? I believe America is so great, and has always been so great because we were founded on the notion that we are all equal. We were founded on the notion that we should all look out for each other.

If we want to keep America great we have to remember this. We have to remember the comradery that came out of WWII. We have to remember the hippies who said “make love not war”. We have to remember our founding fathers who said all people were, “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. We have to remember our Presidents who said, “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country”.

A lot of people take this last one to mean that no one should be given a free handout… but that’s a misinterpretation. What it means is that no one person should think that they are better than the whole. That in order for this country to succeed those who have need to take care of those who either do not have or can not have for themselves. That it is our job as Americans who have become strong and powerful to take care of the weak and needing.

You can use Christianity or just Humanity as your understanding of this statement. A good Christian, or a good person, helps those in need. They don’t hoard greedily while others suffer. They don’t judge others who may think or feel different from themselves… or look or love differently either.

People say that this country was founded on Christian ideals.. and that we need to keep God in our laws and our schools. Ok, well, God and Christ said to love thy neighbor. To not judge lest ye be judged. To give unto others.

What makes your America great?

Love, Uncategorized

The real reason your thoughts create your reality

April 27, 2017April 26, 2017 Katrina Russell

This is not a new concept. People have been saying this for centuries. What you think about is what determines your reality. There are soothsayers and psychics and scientists that will all tell you the same thing for their own reasons.

You have to manifest your destiny. You have to see what you want in your minds eye in order to create the life you want in reality. You have to make a vision board. You have to meditate daily. You have to journal. You have to create the right vibrational frequency. There is all kinds of advice out there for what you HAVE to do in order to create the life that you desire.

Then there are the skeptics. The you just have to work hard. You have to set goals. You have to get an education. You can’t just dream about things and make them happen. You have to be willing to get your hands dirty.

All I have to say is, they’re right. All of them.

You have to decide what you want. You have to decide how you want to achieve your goal. You have to have a clear picture of what your dream is. You have to stay focused on said dream through all other distraction. Then you have to set goals, work hard and get your hands dirty.

Tony Robbins has a bit in his speeches in which he tells everyone to look around the room and notice everything that is the color brown. Then he tells them to close their eyes and picture everything that’s green. Well, they have no idea. They weren’t looking for green things. How are they supposed to know?

It’s the same thing in life. If you decide that you want to be a kick ass Real Estate agent, and you aren’t going to stop until you are making millions and at the top of your field. Unless you start off with your daddy giving you millions and the banks funding your every move, you are going to have to hustle. You are going to have to live breath and sleep Real Estate. But here’s the thing, when you really decide that this is your focus it becomes easy. Suddenly you’re noticing people all around you talking about selling their houses. You’ll notice the “for sale by owner” signs. You’ll overhear people talking about how they can’t find that perfect ranch with 4 bedrooms and a Jacuzzi in the back.

Your brain picks up on what you want it to pick up on. If you decide that you want the perfect relationship and you really think about what the perfect relationship means to you. What it is.. and more importantly, what it is not. You will start to notice the red flags and beacons every where. You’ll notice when you’re on a date that the man pays a little too much attention to his phone, or the TV over your head. You’ll notice that men that are driven in their careers aren’t usually the ones out at the bars on a Tuesday night. If you want kids you’ll notice that when your interest is around their nephew he barely gives him a second glance.

People are creatures of habit. You have to learn to form the right habits to get what you want to achieve. If you want to lose weight and all you focus on is how much you miss chocolate.. that’s not going to help you. If you decide that you want an active and fit lifestyle and not just to loose weight you’ll start noticing all the outdoor activities there are in your community and how much fun the new “pound” sensation is then you’re more apt to reach your target and stay there.

You have to make the decision. You have to fully commit to change. You have to re-train your brain to take on new habits and new opportunities. Your brain wants to stay complacent. Your brain wants to be happy doing what it’s always done. If you really want to succeed. If you really want to change your life.. you have to actually become what you’re envisioning. Not just hope for the best. Not just try a few things. You have to be the change.

bullying, Love, parenting, Uncategorized

When does the joke cross the line?

April 26, 2017April 25, 2017 Katrina Russell

I recently saw a joke post about a baby being left in the car and some “Good Samaritans” coming along to save him, only to realize that the baby was wearing a competing sports team shirt so they decided to leave the baby. Now, obviously the baby, though crying and not happy about the joke was not in any danger. At the end you realize that it is clearly staged, and I’m not here to talk about this particular post but more about the comments made on the post.

379B032100000578-3760221-image-a-18_1472223973197 Some people were completely horrified that anyone could even jokingly do anything like that to a child. Others found it in severely bad taste as babies are dying almost everyday under the same circumstance, and yet others thought that the neigh-sayers were just “snowflakes” and needed to get a sense of humor.

There is a mentality out there that people are not allowed to be offended by a joke or allowed to take themselves or the joke seriously. Now, clearly no one was hurt in this particular joke, which is why I’m choosing not to comment on these actions, however.. a joke is not always innocent. Sometimes people get hurt.

In the same week I read another story about a pre-teen girl and her friends who played a joke on her 11 year old “boyfriend”. She [posted on her social media page that she was going to kill herself and her friends backed up the joke by saying that she did. The 11 Boys_Suicide_Social_Media_29927-303e8 year old boy was so distraught by the whole situation that in good ole Romeo and Juliet style he ended up actually killing himself.

This is an example of how a joke CAN very easily go to far. It was one thing to start he joke, it was something else to keep it going after the boy was clearly distraught. The girls in question are now being charged in his death… I don’t know how I feel about that, but I am completely disgusted by the adults who have commented on the page more concerned about “why does an 11 year old have a girlfriend?” and “where were the parents? why weren’t they watching him?”

The whole event took place in about a half hour.. it’s COMPLETELY ACCEPTABLE for an 11 year old to be in his room alone for that amount of time. As far as watching his social media accounts.. he was on with other kids from his school not the creepy unknown stalkers who parents are trained to look out for.

There was yet another story about an internet meme of an 11 year old girl that turned very bad very quickly and pretty much ruined her life. Most people would say, “what’s the big deal? It’s just a joke.” It’s not a joke.. this is bullying. And it’s the worst kind of bullying, because it’s not even taken seriously. If someone gets assaulted or their lunch money gets stolen then other’s can empathize. They wouldn’t want that to happen to them. If someone is tormented or trolled as a joke then there is no empathy. There is no understanding. There is just more bullying about how the victim has the problem and needs to learn to lighten up.

I could possibly understand this if it’s done to an adult. I understand that by the time we reach adulthood we need to learn that what other’s do or think shouldn’t bother us.. but these two instances are not adults. Most of the time bullying isn’t. And, yes, a joke at someone else’s expense is mean. It’s bullying and it should not be tolerated.

bullying, parenting, Uncategorized

It’s time to fight for ALL women

April 25, 2017 Katrina Russell

635782283761408764-1021982020_Equality-feminism Feminism has a bad rep. Feminists are known as men hating and “anti-feminine”. They are known to tell women that they can’t want to be stay at home moms. They can’t want to get married. They have to be strong, independent and basically asexual. Though they’re allowed to have as much sex as they want and enjoy it.. they can’t be used by men in the process. Not sure if that means that they have to be lesbians or dominatrices.

The point is none of that is feminism. Feminism by definition 1: the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes. or 2: organized activity on behalf of women’s rights and interests.

It doesn’t even mention that a feminist has to be a woman. Just an idea and/or movement that men and women should be treated equally and have the right to live life the way they want.

I read an interesting blog recently about how women shouldn’t use feminism to “stick it to other women”. In the same sense it shouldn’t be used to put down men. I have a son. He is only four years old but he is sweet and wonderful and has not quite figured out the difference between a boy and a girl. He understands that “mama doesn’t have a winky” but unless he’s looking in everyone’s pants it’s a tough way to explain that to him.

His favorite toys are his dinosaurs, his cars, painting and his doll house and kitchen set. My father once scowled when I bought him his kitchen set. I caught him right before he made the “those are for girls” statement and said, “right, cuz he’ll never have to learn how to cook, right dad?”. Thankfully my father was not a moron and quickly backtracked before he made his stupid comment and said, “yeah, I guess… when you look at it that way”. But what other way is there to look at it. Toys are designed to teach kids how to do thing. There is a Hell of a lot better chance that he is going to cook his own dinner or clean his own house than there is that he’s going to ride on the dinosaur train.

It is important that we teach our children to be good and strong people. It is important for us to teach our children how to respect others and help out when they can and ask for help when they need.

My nephew has been taught that he is not allowed to cry. He’s only 6. Girls are now starting to be taught the same because they can’t be considered the “weaker sex”. Women have to be more like men. They can’t want to stay home. They can’t like wearing cute dresses. They can’t want to have children and be married. Why? Why can’t a woman do what she wants? Isn’t that kind of the point of feminism? To earn the freedom and the opportunity for both sexes to live the way they want? feminist-male-joseph-gordon-levitt

If my son marries a crazy rich and successful woman and chooses to be a stay at home dad… good on him. If they both choose to work…. and they choose a male nanny… have at it. If he chooses to never get married or have kids, I will be sad, as I love children, but I will understand that it’s his choice, and isn’t that what we’re fighting for?

parenting, Uncategorized

It’s called a vagina

April 4, 2017April 1, 2017 Katrina Russell

Panel-1 I can’t believe this is even a thing that I have to deal with. I have a son, and it never occurred to me that this would come up.

When my son was a baby we called his penis his “winky”. It was just a cute name that I didn’t think much about. It’s like calling his toes “tootsies”. I eventually taught him that it was a penis, but in regular conversation we call it a “winky”. Not a big deal.

Then my son was 3. He came in the bathroom with me and for the first time noticed that mama didn’t have a winky. He asked where it was. I explained that girls don’t have them… but then I froze. I didn’t know what else to say. It’s called a vagina. But I couldn’t do it. I was raised in the 80s when that was a dirty word. I felt like saying that to him would be like teaching him a curse word.

It is ridiculous. He was young and just kinda forgot about it. Last week he came in the bathroom after I got out of the shower and he commented on my “butt”. That is what he decided to call my vagina since I never gave him a name for it, and let’s face it.. from his perspective they look the same. He’s never seen inside one.

I feel like this is an example of why women are treated like second class citizens. Men are completely comfortable with their body parts. They are proud of them. Women have been taught that for some reason our parts are dirty or wrong.

In the last year vagina has been in the press along. Our president admitting to “grabbing pussy” when ever he wanted. People started talking about pussy in everyday conversation. But the word “pussy” has a porn connotation. I feel like using that word to describe what he did makes people, especially men, feel like the woman who’s parts he was grabbing was some how asking for it. Men don’t think of their moms and daughters as having pussy. They think of slutty hags as giving their away.

I feel like we need to take our vaginas back, and before I get a bunch of comments about how it’s not called a vagina and only one section of it is, it’s the name that is colloquially known to be the main part. The penis has different parts too, but no one fights about it.

I saw a quote attributed to Betty White, “Balls are weak and sensitive! If you really wanna get tough, grow a vagina! Those things take a pounding!”. Now whether or not she actually said it the quote has a point. We are not the weaker sex. We are not dirty. We are not less than.

To quote JK Rowling, “Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself.” The fact that men have trouble talking about anything female proves the point. We need to use this. We need to talk about ourselves as whole. We shouldn’t hide our femininity. We shouldn’t be ashamed that we have periods. We should hide when we breast feed. We shouldn’t be afraid to use the word vagina. We are women. We give birth to humans. We have no fear.

bullying, Love, parenting, Uncategorized

Who disrespects women the most?

April 2, 2017April 1, 2017 Katrina Russell

I belong to lots of mom facebook groups and follow a lot of mom blogs, and moms.. and women are HORRIBLE to each other. It is ridiculous that we spend so much time trashing each other. I have seen comment after comment on posts about a woman who actually lost a child and women, OTHER MOMS bash the grieving mom.

I’ve seen moms who are “brave enough” to post real postpartum pictures of themselves and u3e7a other moms laugh at them and point out their flaws. Really? The fact that the woman posting pictures have to feel brave is ridiculous! Our bodies are amazing! Our bodies can create another human-being. And I’m not just talking to moms. You don’t have to have children to be amazing, but it seems that moms tend to be the biggest bullies.

That sentence hurt to write. We are raising kids. We are raising new people who are going to grow up and be (hopefully) functional members of society. We read about children who bully other kids and the first thing moms say is, “Where were their parents? What is wrong with these people? They should have their kids taken away… They should go to jail.” Judgement! Judgement! Judgement! Those moms who are judging other parents for teaching bulling are being bullies themselves.

In the last year women have come out of the woodwork with marches and petitions and new groups. There is a whole new women’s movement which is blaming men for not treating women well and not respecting women as people… then they go onto social media and berate other women. Maybe we should look in the mirror before we start blaming other groups for our being held back.

I don’t know how many times I’ve heard women say that they don’t like being friends with other women because they are so catty. They don’t want to hire other women because they are HungerGamesKatnissBowArrow so bossy. They hate women. Why should we expect men to feel otherwise? Women feel the need to be better than other women. We feel like we can’t put another woman up without putting ourselves down. Men have figured out recreational competition. They fight to win, but give credit when beaten. They understand keeping other strong men around them and working as a team and using them to grow. Women are somehow stuck in the stone age where they have to fight for the hunter to supply their food… we need to learn to hunt for ourselves.