Preamble: We the people, of the divided states of America, did not sign up for this. We had sought to form a good union, branching beyond the past, not returning to what we thought should be “great again.” We dreamed of justice for all, wherever they fell on the rainbow of skin tones, the array of identities. We hoped to ensure peace within our country, not sow separation. We cared about the general welfare of citizens. At one point, we thought that liberty and posterity for all was achievable.

We didn’t intend for our words in 1787 to be knotted and spun how you wanted them to be spoken. We wrote a constitution for the United States, not the Shattered ones. 

Let us clarify.

Articles

The privilege to make laws will lie in the whole Congress, which will consist of a diverse Senate and House.

You cannot get rid of DEI. We wrote it into law. 

There shall be no secrecy between the Senate and the people of the states. No lies. No fraud.

You lie. About everything.

The governing bodies of the states shall be paid, and may be pardoned from arrest during their service in all cases, EXCEPT TREASON, FELONY, and BREACH OF WORLD AND DOMESTIC PEACE.

You have been convicted of 34 felonies, and yet pardoned yourself, breaking the law.

Congress, not the president, is in charge of money: paying debt, giving grants for infrastructure, and promoting education of sciences and the arts.

Getting rid of the Department of Education is not promoting learning. Stealing grants from farmers, families, forest preservers; this is the OPPOSITE of the law.

Amendments

All citizens of the states will be given, on no conditions, the following: 

Freedom of Speech, Religion, Assembly, and Press. 

Censoring social media is censoring the press. This is NOT freedom of press, or speech.

There is a two-term limit on a presidency. 

YOU MAY NOT BE KING.

Citizens of the states may vote at 18 or older.

Stop making it so difficult. Registration is harder than the decision itself.

Closing

We signed this then, and we say it now: We, the people, will not back down. Where you sow divide, we plant seeds, for hatred is not what this world needs. You fight the law. No big deal. We fought a war so our country could heal. Instead of acknowledging this, go ahead: Kill our planet, see the dead. 

You think you are perfect. We know we are not. 

Stop going back to what you thought was great, for it was not. 

To save our home, and fuse the cracks between states, 

read our words. 

And we shall pray.

The ancient Greeks believed that names held power. I happen to agree. 

I don’t remember when I first discovered this truth. It is something I feel like I have always known, since the moment I received my first name. 

My first name was the one my father gave me when he held me for the first time. I liked my name well enough, but it always felt to me like a glove that didn’t fit quite right. That was my name, but I felt no connection to it. It was just a sound. There are certain expectations that come with certain names; a Tiffany is very different from a Jane. The expectations of this first name did not align with who I wanted to be. 

I remember kneeling on the bathroom counter as a young child, staring at myself in the mirror. I whispered my name to my reflection over and over, searching for any relation between the sound leaving my lips and the child staring at me through the glass. I sat there for so long that the steam from my words fogged up the glass and obscured my reflection. The older I became, the more I felt like this name was something more akin to a mask, or maybe a label, than it was to my identity. It was as though my name was lost in translation, so to speak, as I grew up. My name began to eclipse me. That was its power.

It is strange that at birth we are given a sound upon which to shape our identity, before anyone coud possibly know which sound is the correct one. Why is it that the name shapes the person, and not the other way around?

At the age of thirteen, I decided that enough was enough, and I changed my name to my second name, the same one I carry now. The first few times someone called me this name were positively electric. Something about the world, I knew, had shifted. This is when I first realized the incredible power that names hold. Suddenly, I was not the helpless little girl I had once been trapped as, but the intelligent, independent person I hoped to become. The world was easier to navigate. I felt lighter, freer. I could look in the mirror and know who I was. For me, a name made all the difference. That was its power. 

Of course, I have had other names; hundreds of fleeting things that had their moment and held their power. Sometimes, they were wonderful names, spoken with adoration by a parent, a friend, a partner or even a stranger. These nicknames were my shield. They meant that I was safe, cared for, and that I, as a person, was something marvelous. There were evil names, too. These do not bear repeating, for they are repeated enough in my own subconcious. It is difficult to forget the shattered feeling that permeates one’s soul when they are called such a foul word. I will bear those words with me forever. Just as a name had made me whole, these names began to break me. That was their power. 

The Greeks were right: names hold a great deal of power. Take care of your name, and be mindful of the names you give others. These little sounds can alter a person’s life, for better or for worse; that is their power.

I wish for a day where my dreams do not change for each day of the week.

But perhaps I do not.

Because some days I wish for a future where I am always busy, in a city that sleeps even less than I do.

Other days where all I wish for is a quiet life in the French countryside, where my only worry is what I will wear to water my garden.

Yes, these ideas are both fanciful, but it is so much fun to be able to dream mindlessly.

So, a toast to dreams that change daily and to people that do too.