Cat Pollock Writes

I'm back in school, and up to my eyeballs in research for a history paper due in a few weeks. It's a blessing and a curse. Seriously. As I am discovering for the nth time (seriously, I can't even remember how many times I've started and stopped at this school thing), it is everything I love and everything I hate combined. And in this discovering and rediscovering process, I'm becoming more and more aware of how many things in life are tied together in that way - A thing we love to a thing we hate. So as I'm watching all the social media posts churning out this month because it's Autism Awareness Month, I am painfully aware of another thing I hate attached to something I love. More specifically, some thing I hate to some one I love. Some one being my brother, James. James crashing a girls' night with one of my sisters a few years ago. There have been days this month where I've thought about putting up an away notice on my profile p

The first time I ever experienced a lockdown (that I can recall), I was sitting in my sixth grade math class. It was approaching time to switch back to homeroom when the announcement came over the loudspeakers. There are a group of protesters at the district office, they said. We’re asking everyone to stay in their classrooms and teachers to lock their doors until we know what is going on. It mattered to our safety because the school district office was right next to our school, and a chain link fence was all that stood between these protesters and us. If things got ugly. By steve lyon from los angeles, ca, usa (Strike threat.) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0) or CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons The person on the loudspeaker didn’t say it, but it was going through everyone’s heads. Our brains tend to go the worst case scenario in those types of situations, don’t they? So while my math teache

Eighteen months. It's been eighteen months since my feet last rested on Kenyan soil. They're itching to be covered in that dust again. My ears are ready to hear the sound of school children's hysterical laughter as they scamper away at the prospect of being chased. And my eyes are ready to see some beautiful and familiar faces. The good news is that I get to go back this fall - two years after my first visit to them. It seemed a little bit rash to me even, but the words came flying out of my mouth anyway on that last Sunday morning we were with them. The commitment I made, that Rich affirmed, to come back to them in two years time. And I'm fundraising now in order to keep that commitment. You can get all the details you need through my GoFundME campaign ( https://www.gofundme.com/6kxcvbbv ). If you have any other questions, feel free to ask - here, on Facebook, on Twitter... wherever it is easier for you find me. In the meantime, I&#