Jaden's Blog

  The 13th: A Mirror We Can’t Ignore First Impressions When I first sat down to watch Ava DuVernay’s 13th , I thought I had a decent grasp of how race and incarceration overlap in America. I knew about mass incarceration, the “War on Drugs,” and a few court cases. But honestly, I underestimated just how deeply the system is designed to keep people—especially Black men—trapped. By the end, I felt this weird mix of emotions: frustrated, inspired, and even guilty for how little I’d really thought about these connections before. The Loophole in the 13th Amendment The documentary hits you fast with its central claim: the 13th Amendment, which supposedly ended slavery, left a loophole—slavery is illegal “ except as punishment for a crime .” That one word, except , has shaped everything that came after. It opened the door for politicians, corporations, and law enforcement to reinvent slavery in a new form: mass incarceration. Politics, Policies, and Rhetoric What struck me most ...

  When Excitement Scares Us: Politics, Identity, and the Right to Disagree Politics is kinda wild sometimes. It’s not just about laws or who’s in office, but also about feelings, identity, and the stories people tell about themselves. That really hit me when I watched the MSNBC clip “‘Everyone is excited about her and that scares me’: Female Trump voters on Harris.” The whole vibe of the video felt like people wrestling with change, and honestly I could relate to some of that unease. One thing that stuck in my head: someone saying they were scared of all the excitement around Harris. Like, excitement is usually seen as positive in politics, right? But here it felt threatening. That made me think about how much politics is about perception, not just facts on paper. Politics as Storytelling Yeah, politics is about passing laws and managing budgets, but it’s also about stories . Candidates create narratives about who “we” are, and voters decide if they see...

  Why Your Voice Really Matters in Making Public Policy Ever feel like the people in charge are making decisions that totally affect your life, but you didn’t get even a little say? Yeah…same. And it’s kinda frustrating when you think about it. Schools, roads, healthcare—stuff that hits home every single day. Yet we often just shrug and let the politicians handle it all. They’re supposed to represent us, sure, but let’s be real—they don’t always. Here’s the deal: in the U.S. we’ve got what’s called a representative democracy. Basically, we vote and then trust people we elect to make decisions for us. Sounds fine on paper, right? But in practice, most people stop paying attention after election day. Meanwhile, those decisions? They keep rolling in, whether or not they fit our actual lives. The Constitution gives us rights—vote, speak up, protest, petition. All that good stuff. But if we’re not using them, what’s the point? Honestly, a lot of us sit out because it feels complica...

  Dear Mayor Dailey: Affordable Housing Isn’t Just Nice — It’s Necessary I’ll never forget driving to class one morning and passing a small cluster of tents not far from campus. One girl sat quietly beneath a tarp, textbooks spread out in the dirt. She looked tired—like she had already studied all night, but not rested at all. I walked by, heart thudding, realizing that this moment could’ve been me, or my roommate, or anyone balancing school and rent. That’s when it hit me: if our mayor asked what should be the top local issue to tackle, my answer would echo in that girl's hollowed eyes: affordable housing. Because when you don’t have a place to sleep, everything else class, work, hope and falls apart. Why Housing Must Be the Top Priority in Tallahassee Tallahassee’s housing challenge isn’t abstract—it’s massive. The metro area needs 187,283 housing units to meet demand, yet only 172,558 currently exist , leaving a gap of 14,725 homes . PadSplit To worsen matters, workers...