Emma Barrow

Emma Barrow

‘Hope on a Tightrope’, I feel like the tightrope has gotten smaller since 2008. West speaks of progressives gaining power and steam once more but boulders and logs and debris is being thrown on the tracks. There is a great need for unity, or a common voice. Everyone is so afraid of the backlash for standing up for something they believe in. We live in a culture of instantaneousness. There is no waiting time for information, the internet has made sure of that. With the click of a button you can access things from around the world, we can skype with people on different continents. Yes, technology is fantastic, I so grateful for it, but it has desensitized us to how long things take in the real world. When Obama came into office he had 8 years of negligence to begin repairing. I am not arguing that he and his adminiatration have down enough, or quickly enough, but they have been working. Americans expect the economy to be instantly mended, the war to be instantly over, all the damage to miraculously disappear. You can’t just jump out into nothing without a safety net, you’ll fall. You wouldn’t jump off a cliff without a parachute and I think that the parachute is what needs to be built. It’s a scary time, we see the tea parties, which are interesting because while they are totally absurd they are also growing at an extreme pace. People are grasping anything they can, they feel voiceless and when people feel powerless they resort to extreme meaures.