MAGA

Blog: Just Give Me A Sec

I’m going to be real with you all, I do not feel like writing today but I’m going to because it’s important that I push through & it’s important that I maintain this space as a refuge of honesty, vulnerability, & a reflection of myself. I’m not going to make this blog about any of the things I just told you, because I’ve done that in the past & I’d be retreading the same words in a different order. The reason, primarily, that I don’t feel like writing a blog today is because of the topics that I actually want to talk about. I want to talk about the “we told you so’s” of the US political landscape aren’t vindicating & are in fact just further disheartening. I was to talk about how those who are disengaging with everything happening are those who need to be paying attention the most, who vote in these cycles of hate & division. I want to talk about how even though so many of us are so exhausted by what’s happening, that it’s important for us not to look away. To not turn a blind eye to all of it but to also maintain our mental, physical, & spiritual health. I want to talk about how it’s okay to lean on your vices to get you through right now, that there’s no judgement there. But of all of those topics, of which might be reserved for later days, I’m not going to write on any of them today.

Part of that boils down to me taking care of my mental health. I could go on another tangent, another rant & type til my fingers bleed in the off chance that it gets someone to actually care about other people but I already am doing that on the daily. I am posting & reposting constantly in the hopes that someone finally gets it, that someone finally sees through the BS & decides to lean into supporting those we are all called to love, our neighbors, & does something about it. I just can’t today. I can’t because I am tired. Tonight I am tired. & it sucks, it really does, because all in all, at this current moment in time, my circumstance is pretty fine. I just know that is not the case for a lot of folks I claim as family or hold love for. Not that that should matter. Not that the fact that I have names to faces & shared experiences or memory should be the thing that prompts me to speak out in the face of evil & injustice. I have a platform that I have been blessed with. I have people show up here consistently & ingest the words I put virtually to paper & that is a blessing. So to some degree, I know I owe my voice & my platform to those in need in the times when voices are called upon to amplify suffering. I just can’t be that today, or I guess constantly on this site.

I’ve always said this blog is a mixed bag of things, I want that to remain true. I can’t constantly be waving the flag of justice in this format for a couple of reasons. The first is that while social/climate/political justice is definitely a part of who I am, it isn’t all that “Charlie Rogers” is as a brand, which, unfortunately, is what I am. I am an artist & a part of being an artist, especially commercially facing, is being a brand. I said last week that I’m more than willing to sacrifice that, but if that is all this blog becomes or is allowed to be, then I fear I will either end up yelling into an echo chamber once those who disagree with me have left, or my music brand/persona will veer entirely into the realm of political commentary & will send me spiraling off track.

I guess I don’t entirely know what I’m trying to say here. I think in a lot of ways what I’ve written thus far sounds like I don’t want to speak up any more & that couldn’t be farther from the truth. I just need a break this week & I’m sure a lot of you reading this could as well, otherwise we run the risk of driving this into the realm of disaster porn. Where we intake more & more of this horrific content & find ourselves endlessly searching for something else to be upset about. Not that the ever growing list is in any way in short supply of that. It wears you down, & that’s where I think I am right now. Worn down.

I sat here at my desk for an hour & a half staring at the title line of this blog input. I wrote in example titles of each of the topics that I listed in the opening paragraph but every time I did I felt the pang of that “here we go again” exhaustion creep up. The call of the void that leads to me sitting in a place of fury & resentment for the duration of the time that it takes for me to write these entries. Instead I opted for none of them & offered up an explanation that circumnavigates them instead of steering us into the maw of this depression inducing Charybdian cesspool. And maybe in doing so I’ve allowed some of you to be picked off or fall away so that we can continue on, but I guess that’s the price I’m paying here…Are these greek mythology metaphors doing it for you? That’s what the kids are after these days right? Loose allegory that evokes the Odyssey? (If all of that flew over your head you’ve got a bit of reading up to do before Chris Nolan comes swinging through next summer.)

So I guess in a lot of ways, instead of opting to screaming into the digital void, I’ve offered you all a bit of a nothing burger this week. A look into my splintered, ruptured psyche at the moment & all the vapid contradictions that come with it. But I think a lot of us are feeling this way. A lot of us want so desperately to share every single thing that comes across our laps in the hopes that it finally sparks something in the hearts & minds of those who are in favor of all of this chaos, or at the very least are complicit in it. I’m here to tell you that it’s okay to set the torch down for a minute, to collect your thoughts, to ease your soul, to unburden your hearts, to shift the focus of your mind, & allow the eyes & ears to fall upon softer happenings at the moment. This will be a marathon, not a sprint & it’s important that we pace ourselves so that we can make it to the finish line with some semblance of sanity.

I think this week will be a shorter posting. I’m not here to check out of the problems the world is facing, nor am I here to deflect my responsibility in upholding the systems & practices that led us here. I just know that this is far from over & while others take to the streets where they are shot, arrested, beaten, disappeared, it is important that those of us paying attention assist where we can & rest when we need so that when the battle shifts to our doorstep we are prepared to confront it.

As always, much love to you all,

-C

Blog: Shut Up & Sing

Hi all,

Welcome to 2026…what a wild ride it has been thus far. I hope you had yourself happy holidays in spite of all the goings on of the world & are looking forward to the coming year, no matter how deflating the first ten days of it have been.

If you hadn’t guessed by the title of this here blog, we’re going to call a spade a spade & talk about it. At least to a degree. I won’t be going into the gruesome details, we’ve all seen the clips. Nor shall I be diving into the news or any other specifics around the current events that are circling us all like black buzzards in the sky. I want to instead talk about this weird phenomenon that seems to only be centered around artists. That is the idea of people saying “shut up & sing.”

It’s not something exclusive to singers/songwriters either, it often applies to actors, painters, novelists, anyone within the creative field. It’s this idea that the politics of the person creating the art should never be heard…even though art, in all of its forms, is inherently political. Art is always saying something, that’s the point. It is the entire point actually, & this philosophy that we as artists should never be pundits, is nothing short of ludicrous. When in reality artists are often the ones we turn to most for their punditry.

Every artistic movement in history has cropped up in response to the happenings of the world around it. Every. Single. One. The rise of certain trends in music, styles of painting, types of literature are always intrinsically linked to the goings on in the world that surrounds the creator. It’s natural. It’s logical. It’s what makes art, art. The problem that emerges comes from the discrepancy of assigned meaning which also, in every natural way possible, is intrinsically applied to a piece of work.

We as artists can self express & create endlessly. We can emote, put pin to paper, put paint to canvas, motion to clay, fire to metal, lyrics to music, produce recreations & extensions of our self, our feelings, our thoughts til we’re blue in the face. And let me be clear, that has immense value, creating to create is the ideal motive for art. However, that is not the world we live in unfortunately. A lot of the time we are creating for the goal of monetization. We are creating a product, something that connects to a consumer & has them feel some sort of way about the art they are consuming. The broader the scope, the more lucrative it is. Yay capitalism I guess… The dissonance comes from when the ideals & preconceived notions of the consumer do not line up with the intent of the author. And for all intents & purposes, why should they? We all live in our own human experiences with our own beliefs & emotions, & we find commonality in the communication of said life lines through said expressions of humanity. It upsets us when our assumptions don’t match the intended message of a work because it creates a rift between our personal experiences & that of the creator.

In that instance I understand. This then leads to a lashing out. You expressed something contrary to what I believed about something that I consumed & enjoyed & I take that personally because in essence, this has become an extension of who I am as person & the ways in which I express myself. That then falls back onto the artist instead of the consumer whose job it should be to look at these two diverging fields of thought & try to understand the commonality between them. Remember, the artist will never know your point of view on their piece. They created their art as an extension of themselves. Its intended purpose is as they have stated & if that doesn’t align with the way in which you have interpreted their art, it is up to you as a consumer to understand why & potentially a different way of looking at the piece. The artist cannot cater to the ‘x’ amount of people who engage with their art, the only thing they can control is themselves & the way they express their feelings & beliefs. Please do try to remember that going forward.

In the current world & its political climate I often see this idea of “oh, I wish they’d just shut up & sing” reflecting what I just talked about above. The crazy thing to me is that it typically is directed towards more liberal ways of thinking. As if art & the expression there of are not ‘liberal’ ways on engaging with the world. To be an artist is to be a free thinker, to interact with the world in a way that is often abstract & can vary wildly from the nuanced to the brazen. No one on the left side of the aisle is out here saying “shut up & sing” we just (typically) choose to no longer engage with art that we see as damaging to the psyche & wellbeing of those around us. It’s also statistically a much fewer & farther between practice as, again statistically, a more rigid, conservative mind, seldom produces art of measure & social impact. I’m sure some of y’all are going to be maddened by that statement, I’d challenge you to examine why that is.

I think at this point I’d like to take this out of the broad scope that I’ve presented & narrow it down to myself specifically. After all, I am the artist involved here.

I mean that not just as in “I am the artist (musically) involved here,” but also as the artist (writer) involved here. You are reading what equates to a piece of art, I have something to say, I am saying it here. It will stir up feelings within you that either align with my way of thinking to varying degrees, or completely oppose it. Either way, I am the creator & my intended purpose for the construction of this piece of ‘art’ is as stated by me the artist creating this piece of art.

We are seeing, around the globe, the rise of fascism. Many of you don’t want to call that specific spade a spade because you voted for it, but it is. In every single definition, it is. I am seeing more & more people speaking up against the growing pressure of this regressive political movement & with said rise in vocalization, I too am seeing this narrative of “shut up & sing” rearing its myopic head & it’s stirred some thoughts within me as someone who finds themselves on the receiving end of this thought.

My dad always used to say that to me. When I was starting out in music I would get called out by him for posting things that were political, that spoke out against injustice. He would tell me that it would cost me my career, that, especially in country music, I was throwing away my chanced & maybe he was right. Maybe, after all of this time trying endlessly to make it in this industry my father was correct, but I think I’ve realized something. I think, especially over the last year or so as the authoritarian BS rains down upon America, I have been standing in front of this problem & not allowing myself to have the revelation that I needed to push through. Maybe he’s right. Maybe my insistence upon sharing the ugly, calling out the hate, the damage, the corruption, my need to stand with the disenfranchised, the broken, the targeted has cost me a foot hold or hundreds in the music industry or in the pursuit of creating a fan base. Maybe that’s true. It probably is. But if the price of this career, this job, is my silence in the face of suffering, injustice, atrocities, & malicious intent then I do not think the job is worth the price.

I do not think any job is worth me being complicit, is worth my silence, is worth not standing up for what I believe to my core to be right. If that is what costs me the thing I’ve worked towards for over a decade of my life, then so be it. It’s not worth it anyway.

I don’t feel that’s the case though. If anything, I think all that it has helped me to do is weed out those who I don’t want by my side anyway, those who I would rather not have as fans. It removes any chance of that dissonance & allows me to carry on towards something that is whole heartedly aligned with who I am as an artist & person.

As Always My Dears,

Much Love To You All,

-C

Blog: I'm Angry, I'm Anxious, & I'm Over It

Hi y’all,

If you're rejoining us from last week, I have unfortunate news for you. Unlike last week’s show & tell installment here on the blog, this week will take a much more serious twist, if the title weren't indicative enough of that. I have had a lot of people reaching out in the last week, specifically asking me when new music is coming out & I feel that I need to fill you in on what my life has looked like & why there has been a bit musical gap in my catalog. A lot of that will have to do with my current mental state as well as the goings on of the world, specifically here in The US. I know a lot of you who actually need to read this blog won’t do so because it may seen hyperbolic, incendiary, inflammatory, farfetched, catastrophizing, ludicrous, or otherwise conflict with something you believe or are just blatantly ignoring. I will let you know that I am not here to pull punches. I’m here to be honest, to write the truth of everything happening & how it is making me feel.

Let me start by addressing the music question. As a fee of you may also have noticed, these blog entries have gotten somewhat inconsistent. That’s not intentional, but it does also tie into the lack of music. You see I have been so stressed out, so anxious, so angry, frustrated, & over encumbered that it has caused me to enter into what basically equates to a state of paralysis most days. My creativity has flown the coop & my body is in a constant state of flight or fight wrestling between maintaining the most pedestrian of states or packing up & selling everything I can to GTFO out of this rotting, bloated whale of a country before it collapses in on me. I am so anxious most days that all I can do to not slide into a full on panic attack is just go numb, do nothing, distract myself any way I can. I literally wake up most days after sleeping through all of my alarms to do my best to make it through the day without booking one way tickets to anywhere & leaving my house to fall to ruin. I go to bed & I have to find something to lull my mind outside of itself for long enough to allow me to finally fall asleep. Typically, from the time I get into bed, to the time I fall asleep, this ends up being about four hours. Additionally, my body wakes me up every thirty minutes to an hour in a panic until Evan wakes up for work & I am able to sleep through knowing full well if something happened he’d come wake me up. It’s exhausting & it’s a horrible way to live if I’m being honest, but that’s how fascism works.

They want us so bogged down with all of the harm that they’re doing to everyone that it overwhelms us. They want us to be in a panic, like a deer in the headlights, not knowing which way to run off for safety. Fascism thrives on it. So, alas, here I am.

I am a queer, chronically depressed, neurodivergent leftist living in a deep red state. In fact, the red state that was just rated to have the lowest quality of life of anywhere in the country. We beat Alabama this year, nuts. I know that I have three things working in my favor at the moment: I’m caucasian, I’m a man, & I have financial resources available to me, but that does very little to placate my fears, & yes, they are fears.

This current administration continues to denigrate & strip the citizens of this country of the fundamental things a government is meant to provide for its people while also vilifying anyone who they deem lesser amongst their constant barrage of misinformation, disinformation, & outright propaganda. They have striped this country of its checks & balances & continue to do so further with every passing day it seems. They’re outright opening concentration camps, which some of you are way too chill with, & send innocent people to their death either through deportation, malnutrition, or starvation all under the banner of “christian values.” It disgusts me & what disgusts me further is the amount of you I know personally that are okay with all of this or at the bare minimum, passive to it. Your passivity is your support. It is abundantly clear what side of history you stand on & unfortunately, I feel it has ruined my ability to respect or trust any of you ever again. You truly should be ashamed of yourselves. God knows I’m ashamed of you.

So that leads us to the anger, which if you haven’t guessed, we’re deep within.

I loathe being an angry, hateful person. It feels like poison to the soul for me, but I can’t escape it & I can’t channel it at the largest, most responsible targets out there, so I am forced to funnel it down into those I know who are complicit in all of this, those who I know voted for this. Those who, despite the horrible things done from 2016-2020, or the continuous stream of lies, slander, divisive politics, & hate, still supported it in 2020 & 2024. I live in cold fury for all of you.

My entire family voted for Trump, My entire family. I’ll announce that, because at the end of all of this, when the damage has been done & we revert away from the authoritarian bullshit, because it’s not sustainable, everyone will deny they had any involvement in it or support of it. My family, who has a son/brother/nephew/grandchild/cousin/etc in a same sex relationship, who profess to love the teachings of Jesus, all voted for a man who actively seeks to do Evan & I harm & all the other people they claim to “love” behind the mask of christianity all voted for one of the most hateful, deceptive candidates in the written history of the globe & still to this day don’t seem to understand why I take issue with that. They don’t understand why it has strained our relationships, why I go on the defense or shut down around them, why I avoided going back to see them as long as I could, why every part of me wants to leave all of this behind & find a corner of the world where people actually care about one another & don’t actively do things to harm those they claim to love. I resent them & I hate that I resent them, but I do, because they go on living their lives like nothing is wrong. Like this is just another presidential cycle & all of this will be undone in four years when in reality people are dying, losing their rights, & being shipped God knows where because of it.

I also have the benefit of education &, honestly, nuerodivergence. I am an expert at pattern recognition & had to take a course at University all about the rise of Nazi Germany, the fall, & the denial of the Holocaust. It’s the second most failed course at Belmont University. Our professor required us to go through the text book at least three times, annotating in different colors each time we did. We are deep in the trenches y’all. But none of it matters. I’m just the squeaky liberal wheel of the family who, for the longest time, they came to with questions about politics. Why? Because I was insanely well versed in them. I could tell you who voted which way on what bill, what’s in the bill, who’s up for reelection, etc., etc., etc.. It didn't matter, because it doesn’t match a narrative. So now, as I reach out for help, trying to impress how much I want to leave this country for mine & Evan’s safety, I get shrugged off. The topic gets changed. My understanding, my expertise, all of the red flags, & the fears amount to nothing because it doesn't support the narrative.

I have friends who I no longer speak with, because I can’t. How can I be friends with someone who is in favor of any of this? From a moral perspective, how? You & I are not aligned as human beings on what a basic human right is & I no longer wish to extend the privilege of my friendship to you because you can’t even do the bare minimum of extending the courtesy of a vote to me. Why would I want you to be a part of my life?

So yes, I’m angry. & I know this is a bit of me airing my dirty laundry on the internet but I can’t keep going on pretending like everything, myself included, is okay. I am exhausted: physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually exhausted, because how could I not be? It doesn’t help either that I have to be the one of Evan & I to consistently keep the foot on the gas of us getting our life in order to move when all he wants to do is slam on the brakes. I know it’s out of fear, because it is scary. How do you leave behind everything & everyone you’ve ever known? I get it. Trust me, I’m scared too (see paragraphs about anxiety above). But if no one does anything than nothing gets done & we end up stuck in a place that wants to see us dead. Every survival coded cell in my body is screaming at me to run & instead I sit here renovating my office or doing dishes.

I’m sorry about this post. I really am. I’m sorry because it’s a lot & it’s very personal & it’s not bright & shiny & hopeful. I’m sure this post is going to offend some people, in fact I guarantee it & I’m sure I’ll be fighting the fires I’ve started here all week long but I’m so tired. I’m so tired of pretending I’m okay to the outside world, or that this is a normal way to behave towards the people you profess to love. I’m tired of all the rug sweeping & the playing nice just to save face when inside I feel like I’m literally being ripped apart. I am hurt & maybe this is me lashing out, but I can’t begin to heal if I keep trying to ignore the wound that is festering within me.

Genuinely wishing authentic, nonjudgemental, thoughtful love to you all,

-C

Blog: No More Kings

Today is June 14th, 2025, it’s about 3:30 PM Central Time, & I feel I’d be remiss if I didn’t use my platform & this blog to talk about it.

The significance of the day & its date, for those who find themselves out of the loop…somehow, is multilayered. Traditionally in here, in The US, it is flag day, the day in which the stars & stripes were introduced as the official flag of The United States of America by the 2nd Congress of the newly founded country back in 1777. It also, unfortunately, is Donald Trump’s birthday &, as such, also marks the publicly branded day of protest, No Kings Day.

Now, if my feelings towards the current administration weren’t abundantly clear, not just from blogs over the course of 2025, but also since 2016 & all over all of my social media pages, I loathe the man. I think he is the greasy, cheeto dust covered white head on the zit that is everything toxic, regressive, authoritarian, fascist, manipulative, destructive, & anti-anything good about this country. I understand him to be a symptom, not the condition, but he & his cronies; Elon Musk, JD Vance, Mike Johnson, Peter Thiel, Marjorie Taylor Green, Lauren Boebert, Kristi Noem, RFK Junior, Pete Hegseth, Karoline Leavitt, Matt Gates, etc, etc, etc, are the current perpetrators & greatest threat to US democracy by leagues. I just wanted to be clear where I stand with all of this before we move on to the meat & potatoes of this blog. Just incase there was any question where my loyalties lie. Right, back to No Kings Day.

I feel we are standing on the precipice of something, on the edge of a knife that either tilts this country further into the wanna be authoritarian grips of MAGA Republicans, or something that tears down these constrictive establishments & finally allows this country to become a more modernized civilian centered state whose government truly exists for the betterment of the people of these United States. Naturally I, & the majority of the world, hope it’s the latter.

So, No Kings. Why today? Well for starters, as aforementioned, today is DJT’s birthday. He decided, in his best attempt to emulate a dictator, to throw himself a glorious propaganda parade centered around the military that cost the US tax payers an estimated $45 Million dollars. What better way to stick a thorn in the man’s side than to organize an even bigger event protesting him & everything he & his fellow conspirators are doing in Washington? That started out as the plan anyway. Then came the ICE raids.

Two weeks ago Trump let his brownshirts, ICE, loose on the city of Los Angeles. They began rounding up & arresting immigrants (here legally or not), citizens who fit a certain threshold of melanin present in their natural skin tone, peaceful protestors, & later even a sitting congressman who dared to ask Kristi Noam a question about their policies during a press conference. This of course spurred protestors to spring into action. The conflict then escalated when Trump called in the National Guard, which was neither sanctioned, nor approved by California Governor, Gavin Newsome. Traditionally, & according the the constitution, the National Guard should only be called in by the head executor of the state in question, i.e. the governor. Trump & Newsome then became to dispute which resulted in Trump calling for the arrest of Newsome & calling in the Marines to be used in “controlling” what have continued to be entirely peaceful protests. The conflict boils on with an estimated cost to tax payers sitting around $134 million dollars as of four days ago. So now, in addition to the general protest of everything Trump & Mob have been doing to rip this country to shreds, there is also the added layer of ICE protests happening throughout the No Kings Day Protests.

Alright, let’s pause, take a breath. I know I just gave you a lot of information if you weren’t in the know, now you are. I want to redirect for a second because I don’t want you all to think I’m just here to report the news to you, I know that a lot of you are already getting it bombarded at you from all angles & this may be an escape outlet for you to come & hear the ramblings to an ADHD riddled millennial who does way too many things & also way too little. The reason I came on here today & chose this as the topic is because of a few things.

One, naturally it’s timely, as we are currently sitting smack dab in the middle of the day where protests are still going on & the parade in DC is gearing up to go here shortly. If you’re reading this after the fact, I don’t know how this day ends. I don’t know if the powder keg is lit or if things go swimmingly, I don’t have the gift of foresight, nor am I writing this with the benefit of hindsight.

Second, this is clearly a moment in this country’s hopefully continued story that history has its eye on. I didn’t want to look back on my time on this earth & feel that I didn’t choose a side & that I didn’t stand up for those who are being violently discriminated against & vilified. I guess that’s a bit selfish & carries a weight of self importance, but I know a lot of people out there listen to my songs, watch my videos, read my blogs, & I don’t want any of those who may fall under the banner of this administration’s persecution to think that I do not stand for them, that I do not feel deeply for all that is happening, that I did nothing to try & prevent these atrocities from happening or expanding. I am here for you, whatever you need, wholeheartedly.

As of two hours ago there have been over 1 million people in attendance of the No Kings protest across 2,100 cities around the globe. This number is expected to reach more than 5 million with over 100,000 in the flagship protest in Philadelphia alone. This number rivals the record held by the 2017 Women’s March as the largest protest in United States history.

This cannot be ignored. The people of this country are screaming out for the reigns of government to be employed, for all of these horrid human beings to be held accountable for their actions, & for the continued terrorizing of marginalized communities to be stopped. If The United States is to continue as a democracy then the checks & balances put in place by the constitution must be upheld. Lawmakers must gain a backbone, put their constituents before their own personal fears & interests, & enforce the rule of law within the walls of Washington DC immediately.

If you are an immigrant in this country I want you to know that I stand with you & support you. I want you to know how important you are to this country, its history, its culture, & its community. Your struggle, the attacks on your communities will not be ignored or be allowed to go unanswered for. You are the backbone of this society & America would not exist without you & the hopes & dreams you have for yourself & your families. I am so sorry for everything that is happening, I am so sorry that this feels like an uphill fight. You are not at fault for the shortcomings of this country, the people who foster hate in their hearts, the people who support people like Donald Trump are. For what makes America great is its diversity, the melting pot of all that came before, all that is here, & all that will come after. You are valid & welcome here by those of us who actually understand the American dream for what it is & can be. Not some distorted, fear mongered, scapegoated abomination that rips families apart, keeps people in poverty, segregates, amplies voices of division & derision, & picks on the little man. I am here for you endlessly. For the night is darkest just before the dawn.

As always, much love to you all,

Please be safe out there, be vigilant, & take care of each other,

-C

Blog: The Buck That Falls Short Of The Ballot Box

I need to get something off of my chest & I want to do so in a way that is both delicate to those involved yet still holds space for the harsh reality of hurt that I feel. I also don’t want this to just be some “woe is me” dump, because I want to share all of this because there is a continuous conversation happening around me where the themes of this story are concerned. With that knowledge in mind I wanted to get on here & convey this feeling & this pit that eternally resides in my stomach because I know there are others out there coping with the same feelings & many of you have been for a while.

It’s hard to make people care. Flat out. It’s hard to get people to change any rigid expectation or opinions formed through life experience in favor of seeing something they’ve never seen before, or thought they would have to deal with. You cannot make someone be empathetic if the systems ingrained in their psyche tell them that you might just be deserving of any pain that they may cause you. Unfortunately, that kind of conditioning doesn't leave much room for authentic human, non-judgmental connection. This is how a lot of us are feeling right now, specifically those of us who belong to marginalized communities or stand firmly planted in the support of those being outwardly harmed by the current administration in the United States.

I want to relay a story to you all. I won’t be overly going into specifics nor am I here to publicly shame anyone, but I want to tell this like it is. This last Christmas I had a falling out with my family, it revolved around politics & I ended up leaving Christmas day to drive home to Nashville to be with Evan who bumped his flight up a day so he could be here to support me. A gem. Since that day I have felt an ever widening chasm between my family & I. Communication diminished or outright didn’t happen at all until my birthday last month & if I’m being entirely real with you all, I am still very hurt by the whole ordeal & the continued support they have for someone who is not just doing harm to those within my community, but ripping families apart across the nation. I’ve spent months mulling over this feeling, wondering if maybe I’m overreacting, if my hurt is justified, etc., but not matter how much I try to turn it over in my mind or release the hold it has on me, the ache doesn't seem to go away. It’s made it so that I actually feel very uncomfortable going back to Kansas. The idea of which immediately floods me with anxiety.

Now I am in a position where I have to face that anxiety & hurt head on. You see, annually, my parents are gracious enough to put together a family reunion. The location changes every year & they do so because so many of us live in so many different places around the country. It gives them the opportunity to see us all together & build an experience & memory around that. Cute. On paper I’m grateful for it. In reality the booking of the tickets the other night has sent me into an anxious spiral.

I’m going to divert for a second here & answer a question that may linger following the precious paragraph; then why not just back out? Because, I love these people. Genuinely. They are my family. So I show up over & over again with hope, with the desire to be seen or heard because I don’t want to be the loner that doesn’t talk to or see his family. I don’t want my nieces & nephew growing up thinking I abandoned them for something I’m sure will be explained away superficially because those conveying the information don’t understand. I want desperately to belong to them, whole heartedly, & without having to minimize the parts of myself that don’t fit into their ideal image, but on the other hand I’m having a really hard time being the ‘squeaky wheel.’

I’m having a really hard time with three things in particular. I’m having a hard time setting aside the hurt I still feel from them. I’m having a hard time with reuniting under the knowledge that some of these people, who claim to love & support me, still actively & fervently support a regime that seeks to do Evan & I & our friends harm. & if I’m being entirely real, I’m having a hard time seeing the principles they claim to embody reflected in them.

There’s dissonance, duality. God knows I am far from perfect but it is bringing up an impossible moral quandary within me. I don’t & cannot seem to understand how people who, for all intents & purposes, are ‘good people,’ who would give the shirt of their back to someone in need, can be in support of something so heinously hateful & damaging. Not only to this nation but also those within it. I don’t understand how people who claim they will do anything to support you out of ‘love’ find that ‘love’ to be in short order when it comes to casting a ballot. I cannot wrap my head around it & it’s killing me.

Let’s forget me for a second. Let’s put aside the LGBTQ of it all & just focus on some other people. How does the buck for loving your neighbor, for “treating the foreigner among you as native-born” stop when someone has crossed into this country out of desperation & fear? Stop when someone is brown or black? Stop when someone risks their life to come here in hopes for a better life for their family? How is that Godly? How do you sit in a pew praying to someone who advocated for the poor, the maligned, the outcast, the immigrant, the sex worker, the addict, the “least of these” & told them to “come as they are” just to cheer & speak favorably about people being ripped from their families or sent out of the country without due process or stripped of their rights as a human being? How is that Christ like?

I don’t understand the dissonance & it eats away at me because I know how these people feel about people like me. I have heard it my whole life. I know how these people persecute & judge people like me. I hear it now. I have the privilege of being CIS, white, male, & somedays ‘straight passing.’ I know how people talk about people like me because they talk about people like me TO me with a cross around their neck & “Jesus in their hearts.” Then they sell out their neighbors, their friends, their family members at the ballot box in favor of the lies of ‘less taxation’ or the promise of a return to when they had more white power & other people couldn’t annoy them with the sprinkles of equality this nation has given them over the years. You are called to walk by faith, to let people know you are Christian by your love, but when the curtain is drawn, when the selection is private, you sell anyone you can down the river for a spoon fed lie about egg prices. How is anyone supposed to feel supported & loved in that?

Maybe when they come for us then you’ll finally understand. Maybe when they decide we no longer can get married, no longer live together, slap us with a criminal charge, or just send us to El Salvador, Kenya, or Libya, then you’ll finally understand. But I’m not holding my breath on that one because you don’t seem to understand when it’s happening to nationalized citizens whose only crime was being born with a little more melanin.

If you are like me & so many that I know who find commonality in the feelings within this blog, I am truly sorry. I don’t have the answers for you, clearly. I just want you to know that there’s someone out here that understands, that feels for you. I want you to know that your frustrations, your pain, your rage, your anxiety, all of it is valid & justified. You deserve to live in a world that sees you for the amazingly unique & complex person that you are & celebrates that instead of expecting you to shrink yourself or inflicts physical or emotional harm because of it. My love & my broken heart go out to you. Take a piece if you need, I hope that it makes yours feel a little more full.

From one bleeding hearted liberal to another,

Much love & safety to you all,

-C

Blog: Well If It Isn't The Consequences Of My Own Actions...

TW: Transphobic Comments, Anti-LGBTQ Rhetoric, Strong Language

If you aren’t a listener of country music or if you don’t pay attention to news cycles, the events of the last week may have completely missed you. If you’re reading that first line going “yeah, I don’t have a clue what you could be alluding to,” allow me to fill you in. Failed artist & second wife to country singer (a gracious title at best) Jason Aldean, Brittany Aldean, posted something regarding trans/LGBTQ kids & in which she referred to the plight of trans kids & their desire for gender affirmation comparing it to a “tom boy phase” & being “glad he parents didn’t change her gender” when she went through it. To which the conservative side of the country industry all started pilling in on, her husband Jason even going so far as to say “yeah, I don’t think we would have worked out.”

Cassadee Pope called her out on twitter with the following tweet:

Maren Morris then joined in on the rhetoric & tweeted the following:

To which Fox News pundit & overall really atrocious human Candace Owens replied:

The two then went back & forth giving the following exchange:

“Artists” like Aldean & RaeLynn also begin sharing their support for Brittany’s remarks along with the wife of one hit wonder, Chuck Wicks, & Whitney Duncan.

Later country artist, Ryan Hurd, & subsequent husband to Morris also weighed in tweeting the following:

And round & round it went including RaeLynn spending a bachelorette weekend toting a “Daddy T” hat & owning the moniker of ‘Insurrection Barbie,” Aldean & Wicks dropping a fundraiser for victims of child trafficking through the sale of shirts that said “Don’t Tread On Our Kids” of which only part of the proceeds went to the charity in question, & Maren posting a reel of a speech she gave live at a show the evening of the happenings stating the following:

So why bring this all up? Why dedicate an entire blog to this infighting within the country music world? Well, because for once, there were consequences for the actions of those involved.

It’s not hard to guess what side of this argument I fall on. I struggle to find a member of my friend group & chosen family who do not belong to the Alphabet Mafia. I also want to make it clear that I’m not over here trying to be divisive or throw my hat into the ring where this argument is concerned, I want to highlight a point here & in actuality, maybe help bridge the wide ass political gap this country has at the moment.

Yesterday it was announced the GreenLight Publicity Firm, a firm that has worked with Jason for the entirety of his career will be dropping Aldean as a client, due to the harmful narrative that he & his wife helped to perpetuate this week. Now before you start going all “cancel culture this” & “cancel culture that” & “they’re trying to silence us” & “blah, blah, blah” let’s pause & examine shall we?

I have no issue with being politically opposed where issues of state & finance are concerned. I’m fine to sit down & have a conversation with someone who swings right about how we as a country spend our money or the advantages & disadvantages of certain social services, etc, etc. However, where the divide in this country has materialized is not about policy any longer, I will say in this instance the MAGA crowd is correct, it’s about morality only there within the Far Right lives a fallacy built on blame, name calling, & division. We are no longer voting along the lines of policy, we are voting along the lines of morality, & morality & human rights are not up for debate.

I don’t know if you as a reader have ever struggled with being a societal “other;” whether you’re BIPOC, or Queer, or an immigrant, or any combination of the above, it’s hard simply getting by day to day. It is no easy feat for a young individual to come to the conclusion that they are trans or non-binary. It is no easy feat to outwardly choose to expose & express yourself as a member of the “other” knowing full well you may face the ire of those who view themselves “morally opposed” to who you are as a person & human being. There in lies the line we as a society, are fortunately, starting to draw.

Things were bleak in the states for a while during the years of Trump especially for those in the societal minorities. I’m sure if you’re a long time reader of mine you can not the point when I stopped feeling the need to constantly report on the harmful policies being put in place. For those of us who exist on the fringe the last couple years have started to feel more & more hopeful, after four years of dread.

Along with this hope, especially in the last year or so, has come a return in what is becoming more or less socially acceptable & the morality of The US as a country has swung back more in the direction of progress & inclusivity as opposed to scapegoating & fear mongering. With this uptick in “um, that’s not okay” has also come the natural progression of people like Aldean seeing the consequences that hateful, ignorant comments will land you. Have a lot of his fanbase doubled down? Of course, it’s hard to change a mind through a news cycle but it is refreshing to see, especially in country music, someone get chastised for the harmful things they perpetuate & outwardly endorse.

I’ve never identified as a trans individual, I’ve have never felt any inkling that I was born in the wrong body, so I can’t imagine how hard of an identity that is to come to terms with. I’m sure a lot of you reading this fall in that boat as well, but imagine you’ve wrestled with who you are for the entirety of your life & finally have the clarity & peace of mind to express that outwardly. I can’t imagine what an uphill battle it must be just getting through the day to day with the filth people spew at you just for trying to claim your happiness & wholeness. I can’t imagine simply wanting to use a restroom & being assaulted both physically & verbally for it. I can’t imagine posting a picture where you finally see the person you’ve always known you were underneath & having people accost you over the internet. I simply cannot imagine it because it is outside of anything within my field of experience but I empathize with you. I stand with you. I recognize your struggle & am here to be whatever you need me to be.

We as a country, as a world, are sorely lacking empathy. We get so caught up in the “me, me, me’s” that we lose sight of the “us.” I’m glad these ignorant comments & harmful policies are no longer going unchecked. It’s how we build a world that is more inclusive & supportive of everyone, not just those who look, act, sound, & identify like us.

I’m sorry for the late posting on this, the jet lag really did me in this weekend but if you’d like to donate to help trans youth across the country Maren Morris is currently selling shirts where 100% of the proceeds go to the Trans Lifeline & the GLAAD Trans Media Project. I’ll post the link about it below:

As always I hope you’ve had a fantastic weekend, much love to each of you. I challenge you this week to lean into your discomfort, to sit down & hear or read the story of someone whose life is on the societal fringe. Then I challenge you to find that glowing ember of empathy in your heart.

-C

I feel called to finish this off with a quote from the late Billy Block who would always close out his radio segment with “Remember, if you see someone without a smile, give them yours.”

Have a great holiday weekend!

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