Changing the subject a little bit, how would you rate your political activism over the years?
In high school I kinda came into my political consciousness. My parents were both registered Republicans, and it took until about my sophomore year (circa 2003) for me to really form many of my own opinions about things. wakephan09 and I then junior and senior years worked for the county Democratic party but our candidates got completely owned in the 2004 Senate election. I'll admit I kinda checked out of politics for the better part of a decade after that, at least in terms of being involved with candidates. In 2005 I rode my bike across the country raising money for a local W-S AIDS charity. At Wake I was president of Student Global AIDS Campaign. Then I graduated in the recession and kind of checked back into politics again in Hershey, PA. I still did a lot of volunteering, mostly ESL and adult literacy stuff through the local library, but I didn't really have a candidate locally or nationally that had me excited or got me really involved with party politics. It took until the 2016 primary for me to really start thinking again about being an engaged citizen and participating in the political process. My wife worked for the Hillary campaign, and I briefly made calls for Bernie before working downballot in Philadelphia (I did NOT like Hillary but wanted to be involved anyway). The last few years have been the most politically engaged and active I've felt, but have also been a reckoning for me about what engagement means. We're ten months from another national election and I'm really starting to waver on this idea that participation in politics is something I can derive meaning and value from. I think I was happier when my civic participation was closer to volunteering or other kinds of activism. I'm really getting cynical and feeling beat down about the political process and fully recognize the role my own actions and opinions play in that. I know my own politics and opinions have also changed a lot through the years, and I have no idea if access to more and better information makes me more informed or shapes my biases.
Without getting into the specifics about politics and candidates and such, where have you been through the years? Active? Never involved? Give money but sit back?