Why Vote?

The provincial election is around the corner and I don't think I've ever been this excited to exercise my democratic right to vote. I feel the party that has been in power has only hurt the people of this province-since the first day they were elected 4 years ago and threw themselves a grandiose party on the taxpayer's dime. Since then I've only watched my power and water bills grow, school funding cut for my daughter (and all other children of this province) forcing her into combined grade classes in elementary school, the ax of the well established and successful reading recovery program which has resulted in my daughter now taking the piss-poor substitute program that sees her not learning from a specialized teacher, but other children, road repairs that have been horrid patch jobs that must be done over and over again, outright fraud of certain MLAs in how they spend the taxpayer dollar, overcrowded ERs rooms, where people wait for DAYS to be seen because all the beds are taken by the elderly that should be in long time care beds that don't exist...the list goes on and on.

Yet I hear from alot of people my age and younger they don't see the value in their vote, the "what's the point-all the parties are crooked" idea that results in ambivalence towards provincial politics (and all politics in general). I argue that voting in the local and provincial elections is even more important that voting in the federal election as the results of the provincial election will more directly impact us taxpayers in the next four years than any federal election has in recent memory.

In my own riding we have an MLA who has won the past two elections. While she is a nice person and has managed to avoid the mud-slinging that pervades the party she belongs to, it is time for a new face with new ideas. She takes credit for starting the ball rolling on a proposed high school for my area, but this idea has been pushed by the parents of the community for many years, and I truly feel it was a more politically charged strategic move that has driven the political support for the new high school. Regardless, that is the one positive thing that has come out of the last four years. That said I hope to welcome a new MLA to the role in the next couple of weeks, one that will work hard to continue to push for the new high school, will support revisions to the power company monopoly of this province, bring back the outsourcing of road repairs and take a hard look at the existing out of date grade school curriculum and the disservice it does to our children's futures. I implore all voting citizens of Nova Scotia, to exercise their right to vote on October 8th-if you don't you really have no right to complain after the election is over!

Welcome

I'm a 30-something mom of a beautiful girl and wife to a wonderful husband. Both my husband and myself are university educated, have full time jobs, own our own home, own a car...you know, everything you are "supposed" to have by the time you are in your thirties. At least that's what North American society has shown us we should expect and strive for all of our lives. And while there is nothing wrong with the way we live or how we came to this situation, I see every day how the cultural norms of my mother's generation just don't apply any longer to people my age and younger. The Internet has made our world very small and the social issues we face can change by the hour thanks to this marvel of technology. Even the jobs my husband and I have wouldn't have existed when my parents were, well, young parents.

I've created this blog for a couple of purposes. First, I seriously need a place to vent. There are very few people in my life that have a life similar to mine. I actually know of 2 other women I can relate with. Yup, only 2 other women who are well educated, independent of their parents (financially), have their own place, hold a full time job and struggle to be super-mom when they walk through the door every night. Second, I realize I am living through a time of social upheaval and change thanks to innovations in technology, health care, education and human rights. I feel I might be letting my daughter down if I don't write some of my experiences down for her so when she's my age she can look back and see into this part of my life and maybe how it affected her and the woman she will one day become.

So...welcome. If you happen across this blog and it speaks to you, awesome I'd be thrilled to hear from other moms who also struggle with merging the 70's family stereotype with the social norms of this new century.