Julie explores life with curiosity, creativity, and connection. I share observations with humor, offering perspective on the world and how it shapes us—lightening life’s complexities along the way.
Weekend Exhale: Permission to Unclench If you are reading this, congratulations. You survived another week in the United States of America — the only country where the news cycle moves faster than a caffeinated squirrel on roller skates. Take a breath. Seriously. Right now. Because somewhere between geopolitical brinkmanship, stock market
I feel we’re in a repeating cycle, one that just never ends. If you’ve glanced at the news lately—and let’s be honest, it’s hard not to—you might feel like the national mood has shifted from “concerned citizens” to “passengers on a roller coaster that
Sometimes a political campaign begins with consultants, polling memos, and donors. And sometimes it begins with a middle-school teacher who decides he’s had enough. That’s essentially the story of James Talarico the 36-year-old Texas lawmaker who has been drawing national attention for a campaign that sounds less like
There are moments in Washington when the political theater becomes so absurd that the script falls apart. Yesterday’s Senate hearing with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was one of those moments. And the most striking part? The sharpest criticism didn’t come from Democrats. It came from a Republican.
Ah, nothing says serious statesmanship like issuing ultimatums from Mar-a-Lago, threatening billions of people with military action, and then pivoting to… a photo op with your own naval fleet. Welcome back to the Trump foreign policy spectacle, folks — brought to you by chaos, confusion, and the faint whiff of political
The news will still be there in an hour. The outrage will still be simmering. The headlines will still be flashing. The commentators will still be breathless. But your nervous system? It might not be. We are living in a time when attention is currency, and fear is the fastest
For the past month, we have walked together through Black history — not the sanitized, laminated version meant for bulletin boards — but the living, breathing, complicated truth of it. It has been heavy. It was supposed to be. Black history in America is not an elective. It is not supplemental reading.
Black History Fact: Black Americans continue to face disparities across wealth, health, education, policing, and political representation—despite decades of “progress.” Black history does not end with milestones. It continues in courtrooms, classrooms, hospitals, voting booths, and streets. The danger of Black History Month is believing it concludes something. It
Black History Fact: After the War on Drugs expanded in the late 20th century, Black Americans were incarcerated at vastly disproportionate rates despite similar drug usage across races. Punishment did not end at prison. Black history shows us how criminal records became lifelong barriers—to housing, employment, voting, and stability.
Black History Fact: Black communities have been disproportionately exposed to pollution and environmental hazards due to discriminatory housing and zoning policies. Environmental racism is not incidental. Black history shows us that toxic sites, highways, landfills, and industrial plants were placed where political power was weakest. The result? Higher rates of
From the earliest days of American newspapers, Black people were either invisible or caricatured. Enslaved people were described as property. Reconstruction-era Black leaders were portrayed as corrupt or incompetent. During Jim Crow, headlines routinely reinforced fear, criminality, and inferiority. Even well into the 20th century, major outlets either minimized racial
Black History Fact: Black churches were among the few institutions fully controlled by Black communities and became central hubs for organizing, education, and resistance. Religion in Black history is complex. It was used to justify slavery—and to survive it. Black churches offered sanctuary where society offered hostility. They became