Thursday, June 16, 2016

Thoughts on the Orlando Shooting

I know that it has been a few days since the attack on Pulse has happened, but I have just been really pondering the event and wanted to write about it. I woke up on Sunday morning and checked my phone as per usual when I found out about the shooting. There wasn't a ton of information at that point and yet just seeing the huge numbers that 50 people died and 53 others were in the hospital was so shocking. As many of you probably know, I'm a huge fan of drag queens and so I follow a lot of them on social media. On almost ever social media outlet that I'm on, the drag queens that I follow were heart broken and posting their love and support to those affected by the attack. I'm very close to some members of the LGBT+ community and so it was really hard to see how much pain this caused them.

One of the things about this terrible attack that breaks my heart the most, is that it is 2016 and people are afraid to let others be who they are. Pulse was a safe-haven for the gay men and women who were enjoying their time that night, and just because someone did not like to see two men kissing, they killed 50 innocent people. Something about that is wrong in my mind and it absolutely devastates me. It is one thing to not support same sex relationships, but it is another to perform a hate crime and act of terrorism to the group of people. At the end of the day, LGBT+ members are PEOPLE. They have jobs, families, and lives just like ours, but some people refuse to see eye-to-eye with them because of who they love. The only way that the victims of this heinous crime are dealing with this situation right now is through the love and support of their communities and those who choose to stand beside them and fight for more protection.

Hate crimes and acts of terror are becoming more and more frequent as more and more people refuse to modernize their beliefs and accept that the norms are changing. Many people don't even know that a person was arrested on his way to LA Pride wielding explosives. Not every story makes it to the news and yet it is still relevant. It still happened and obviously something needs to happen.

I've been praying so hard that God will just help those that are grieving and mourning and to help those directly and indirectly affected by this horrible horrible situation. My love and support goes out to all those who are hurting and who feel like they are lost, unprotected, and without hope. This is the largest mass shooting in the US and so it will not go without some change happening to make a safer environment for us. My heart aches just knowing that there are people in the world that are crazy enough to do things like this and that the people being targeted are absolutely undeserving. ~Em

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Ultimate Concert Bucket List

Concerts!

Okay guys, I officially have the coolest mom in the world. Want to know why? Well I'm going to tell you why. In two weeks I'm turning 19 and this year for my birthday my mom decided to buy me tickets to three concerts of my choice. So I chose to see X Ambassadors at RiverFest (which was a dream come true) and as a bonus I discovered a band that I fell in love with at RiverFest which is Judah and the Lion. My next concert choice was Panic! at the Disco and Weezer in July, and the third was TwentyOne Pilots in August. As of two days ago my mom still hadn't bought the tickets for either of the latter concerts and I told her that she needed to do that soon because they would sell out quickly! So the next day I get a text from my sister saying that the Panic!/Weezer concert was sold out. My heart dropped to the floor. Then she quickly replied with a "But..." so I was freaking out. Then she texted me again and told me that my mom pulled some strings and we got tickets for the most phenomenal seats in the house for the Panic!/Weezer concert and while she was at it she bought tickets for TwentyOne Pilots which just so happened to be in the pit! I could not believe it! I was absolutely floored. Needless to say this is probably the best birthday present ever. This birthday present inspired me to blog my dream bucket list of concerts also note the ones I have been lucky enough to cross off my bucket list so far! So without further ado, here is my ULTIMATE CONCERT BUCKET LIST!
  1. Adam Lambert
  2. Justin Timberlake 
  3. Usher
  4. X Ambassadors*
  5. Vinyl Theatre*
  6. Panic! at the Disco* (I've seen them once before, so this summer will be my 2nd P!atD concert)
  7. TwentyOne Pilots*
  8. The Griswolds
  9. Matt and Kim
  10. WALK THE MOON
  11. Chris Brown
  12. Rihanna
  13. Beyonce
  14. Nothing But Thieves
  15. Cage the Elephant
  16. Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats
  17. JR JR
  18. Jack Johnson
  19. Michael Buble
  20. Jason Mraz
  21. AWOLNATION*
  22. John Mayer
  23. alt-J
  24. Trey Songz
  25. Eminem
  26. BORNS
  27. Saint Motel
  28. Muse
  29. COIN
  30. Robert DeLong
  31. Hozier
  32. Glass Animals
  33. Vance Joy
  34. The 1975
  35. Lady Gaga
  36. Mumford &Sons
  37. Bruno Mars
  38. The Lumineers
  39. Maroon 5
  40. Foals
This is all I can think of right now, but honestly there are probably so many more that I want to go to and will attend in my days of concert-going. I hope I get to cross all of these bands off of my list and get this incredible experience! I promise I will post pictures of my concert experiences from this summer! ~Em