onto the next chapter. . .

after a painful bittersweet struggle, i am understanding and embracing this new found freedom. i now realize what it means to "not belong to anyone or anything." when i first registered to vote, 8 years ago, i registered as non-partisan. i couldn't decide between republican or democrat and didn't know much about the green or libertarian parties. to this day, i'm still non-partisan with a critical understanding there isn't much difference between the republican or democratic parties. people will always allude to ideological differences and practices but they use the same tools of capitalism, oppression, exploitation, manipulation, etc. you can pretty much say, "everything is one" or as lauryn hill says "everything is everything."

recently, i found myself at a divide among parties. i didn't understand why this divide existed if the mission was to serve the community, serve the people. i didn't understand how this generation would be at the same table as previous generations fighting over tsimis, pride, etc. i felt like collateral damage to someone else's war. i didn't want to believe this split was possible between these organizations. i didn't wanna to return to age 11 standing in the football fields in middle school being forced to choose between two sides, filipino or not. (i chose to hang out with more filipinos.)

this time was different. i didn't have the agency to choose. it was taken from me and i was kicked to the curb because of a highly political situation.