WhatNolanSays
6/15/2008 03:09:00 AM Posted In politics 0 Comments »
Hello everyone. I'm Nolan David Sylvia. I currently appear before you because I'd like to ignite a cause. I've recently graduated high school, and I am enrolled at Howard Community College located in the beautiful city of Columbia, Maryland. But see, this blog wont be about me. At least not entirely. The cause I speak of is a real one. It involves the direction in which our country is moving in, and the decisions that will influence it. It is a subject in which most people around my age (I'm 17), do not quite fully understand, nor are very much interested in. My aim in this blog is to bring out those people who may feel like their voice doesn't count, or aren't very much moved by the subject of politics at all. I want to help my peers understand the world, from someone on their level, who can identify the issues that will affect them most.
You may be wondering how a person like me (Black, gay, a less than stellar student) could've stumbled into such an arena. Well, it all started about 2 or 3 years ago. I started falling asleep to MSNBC, partly because it bored me and helped me go to sleep, but also because the anchors voices were always so soothing :) But one night, I couldn't sleep. I actually decided to watch the news for a change. What the heck I figured, "Find out what's going on in the world Nolan!". So I did. It was a rerun of Countdown with Keith Olbermann that had originally aired a couple hours previously. I have to admit that the colors are what initially attracted me. And his hair is so gorgeous I decided to stay a while. By the end of the hour this man had changed my whole view of the world. Sure, I had watched the news before. I was an avid NBC Nightly News guy with Peter Jennings. But I had never allowed myself to really sit down and watch an actual NEWSPROGRAM. Olbermann made my first real experience with politics, and foreign affairs quite enjoyable. He made it funny, witty, and understandable all at the same time. I steadily began to watch more often, maybe a couple times a week, and by the end of my senior year, my tv was on MSNBC at 6am when i got up for school, and 9:30pm when i got home from work. The whole primary season of course was the starting point of my obsession with politics. The exciting possibilities of the first African American, and Female candidates to be elected as President of the United States, got me.....I have to say.......a little excited. I watched the dramas unfold through the first caucus in Iowa to Obama's Jeremiah Wright controversy, through to Hilary's long awaited concession speech. The process that our country is involved in has me overwhelmed with the need of knowledge to understand our situation in this world. I've come to a place in my life where I feel obligated to share my thoughts with others so we can grow together and finally arrive at a place of understanding. It's sad that, even though teens ages 13-17 cant vote, aren't thoroughly well versed on current events. Or how certain outcomes of such a vital election, could sway their lives in ways they can't imagine. I hope to change that, one person at a time. This job's not going to be easy but someone has to do it.
You may be wondering how a person like me (Black, gay, a less than stellar student) could've stumbled into such an arena. Well, it all started about 2 or 3 years ago. I started falling asleep to MSNBC, partly because it bored me and helped me go to sleep, but also because the anchors voices were always so soothing :) But one night, I couldn't sleep. I actually decided to watch the news for a change. What the heck I figured, "Find out what's going on in the world Nolan!". So I did. It was a rerun of Countdown with Keith Olbermann that had originally aired a couple hours previously. I have to admit that the colors are what initially attracted me. And his hair is so gorgeous I decided to stay a while. By the end of the hour this man had changed my whole view of the world. Sure, I had watched the news before. I was an avid NBC Nightly News guy with Peter Jennings. But I had never allowed myself to really sit down and watch an actual NEWSPROGRAM. Olbermann made my first real experience with politics, and foreign affairs quite enjoyable. He made it funny, witty, and understandable all at the same time. I steadily began to watch more often, maybe a couple times a week, and by the end of my senior year, my tv was on MSNBC at 6am when i got up for school, and 9:30pm when i got home from work. The whole primary season of course was the starting point of my obsession with politics. The exciting possibilities of the first African American, and Female candidates to be elected as President of the United States, got me.....I have to say.......a little excited. I watched the dramas unfold through the first caucus in Iowa to Obama's Jeremiah Wright controversy, through to Hilary's long awaited concession speech. The process that our country is involved in has me overwhelmed with the need of knowledge to understand our situation in this world. I've come to a place in my life where I feel obligated to share my thoughts with others so we can grow together and finally arrive at a place of understanding. It's sad that, even though teens ages 13-17 cant vote, aren't thoroughly well versed on current events. Or how certain outcomes of such a vital election, could sway their lives in ways they can't imagine. I hope to change that, one person at a time. This job's not going to be easy but someone has to do it.
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