For the past few years, I’ve been doing this thing where I try to keep my social media profiles quite separate.

Instagram for images and inspiration and stories and where I spend most of my SM time.

Facebook for… well, mainly for clients actually. I rarely post to my personal page anymore and when I do, it’s a call to action for something (psst…. you should go check out what I posted yesterday.)

And Twitter for all my political rage and the odd subtweet (I know, I know, petty).

I am not sure if this has been a good strategy or not, but it is what I’ve done up to now to keep my sanity intact.

Someone posted a tweet the other day asking if the person you are on Twitter is the same person you are in real life. It made me realize that the people who follow me on Twitter might think I am nothing but a very rage-y, profanity-laden, liberal snowflake.

And let’s face it, at this time in Alberta, with this government doing all it can to undermine the very nature of our people and province, they wouldn’t be far off. And don’t come at me with all the “but Natasha, Oil and Gas IS the nature of our province” because NOPE. We are SO MUCH MORE THAN THAT. And what frustrates me more than anything else, is that this government has decided to be so narrow-minded and narrow-focused in it’s policies and it’s treatment of its citizens, they refuse to even consider how Alberta could and SHOULD be exploring/developing/innovating all of our MORE-ness, now more than ever. (that was a lot of MORE-I’m such a good writer😜)

Now is not the time to deny science or make up lies about simple economics that my 6th grader can see right through. Now is not the time to tie us to a sinking ship while rich CEOs take their companies, jump said ship and leave us listening to the band on deck lulling us to our inevitable downfall. Our province continues to lose jobs (in all sectors) and our government is actively attacking professions and their livelihoods and risking another huge brain-drain for Alberta. They’ve taken over pensions that no one asked them to and are investing these in industries no financial planner in their right mind would ever suggest to you in our current world economic climate. This government in it’s infinite stupidity is going to make it so that the rest of the world will surpass us in diversifying economies and energies and we will forever be playing catch-up. And who do you think will suffer even more because of this lack of foresight? It’s not the rich CEOs or the government ministers with their 6 figure jobs and guaranteed pensions, I’ll tell you that!

The one MAJOR difference I see in the social platforms I use, is the level of compassion and empathy granted to others. On Instagram it’s all flowers and pretty and messages of kindness and love and some kick ass feminism too (well, for me it is, because DUH, I’ve curated it to be so). On Twitter, people are MAD AS HELL (and often funny as hell too), but what I’ve curated on Twitter is also a reflection of what matters to me. Some people will tell me I’ve created an echo chamber and anything I tweet is just being said to those who already agree with me. GOOD! I have over 4600 followers on Twitter, if that many people are worried about the state of our world and want to make it a better place then I am all for my little chamber of echoes! And anyway, I prefer to think of it as a pond and if I drop a pebble in it, maybe one of the ripples will make it to someone’s timeline and will be the thing that makes them change their mind, their behaviour, or at least maybe engage in a conversation and be open to learning things from a different perspective. Then again, maybe I give people to much benefit of the doubt. I’m an optimist goddammit!!

It’s kinda like this…

I’ve also been worried (for years actually) about sharing too much on social platforms that would deem me as “unlikeable” for certain brands or companies or publishers and therefore restrict me in terms of who would hire me or publish my writing. I can now say that the level of FUCKS THAT I GIVE about this are relatively zero! Go ahead and look me up on social media and you will know that I am an unabashed, unapologetic, INTERSECTIONAL feminist and a left-leaning Liberal (that’s a Democrat for all my US peeps). I’m also a very privileged white woman who will use my platforms to fight for any and all who do not have the privileges I do, and to amplify the voices of marginalized folx and those who know more about issues than I do. I like social justice, pretty things, and the work FUCK and I’m not afraid (anymore) to mix them up.

Because there really is no time to pussyfoot around these issues affecting us anymore. Our world in on fire, both literally and figuratively, innocent people are being shot down in planes because of war-mongering egos, Puerto Rico has been hit with over 200 earthquakes this month alone (did you even know that?? I didn’t until today), our local conservative government is LYING to us daily, women still make 65-85 cents to every dollar made by a man, and this blog post went a little deeper than I had originally anticipated.

I don’t have the answers to all of this, expect maybe one.

Kindness and compassion. Can these please be the leading values/virtues we take with us into every conversation, every post, every meeting, every way we can make even the slightest difference in this fucked up world?

Pretty please?

With a motherfucking cherry on top!

XOXO,

N~