I have taken an almost two year hiatus from blogging. At the time, I let my blog become a burden, allowed it to become heavy until it weighed me down, and anything I wrote felt boring, irrelevant, and like an irksome duty.

I am returning to blogging because there is a great deal to say. I don’t mean by me, necessarily (although I do have a voice that I intend to put to use.) More than this, there are so many voices being cut out, intentionally silenced each day, and there are so many truths that deserve to be brought to the light, talked about, discussed, mulled over.

I want to use my voice because I am tired of scrolling through Facebook feeling lonely and sad and disempowered. I am tired of seeing heartbreaking story after heartbreaking story in the news every day, and hearing that “that’s just the way it goes,” “business as usual,” or “there’s nothing to be done, nothing at all to be done.”

I feel the collective world shrugging, sighing, resigned to the status quo, which everyone agrees is full of institutionalized prejudice, skewed power dynamics, truth-warping, and the stifling sense of collective despair among everyone who wants to make a difference but who feels that they won’t ever be able to do anything to create real change.

To be specific, I am referring to a variety of painful events:

• The string of murders by U.S. law enforcement officers of young boys and men of color;
• The despair many of us feel in the face of the deeply entrenched and institutionalized racism in our nation of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”, where the fact that all men are created equal is a truth “[held]…to be self-evident”;
• Also, the fact that the ERA failed to pass more than 30 years ago, and so those of us who identify as female are still not considered equal in the hallowed legal language of the United States Constitution;
• The fact that Gamer Gate was even a thing. (It’s 2015. Really, guys?!?!);
• The prevalence of violent and degrading language about women in mainstream music, and the fact that this somehow still seems okay. (Again. What year is it.);
• The climate is shifting, and quickly, yet we see accelerated investment by those in power around the world in growth at any cost, from Beijing to Dubai to New York to Los Angeles. And most of the decision makers (at least those of them who admit that climate change might actually be a thing) turn a blind eye to the fact that it will be the poorest and most marginalized people who will feel (and are already feeling) the effects of our disregard for the long-term health of our planet.

I have a voice, so I will begin using it. No more fear.

And no more wondering whether there is any reason to use my voice at all in the face of such overwhelming evidence that all of the inhabitants of Spaceship Earth–human and otherwise–are royally screwed. I can speak out, and I can vote (which is one of those moments when I’m truly proud to be a U.S. Citizen), and I can get clear on how and on what types of products I will spend my money.

And I can blog.