The struggle is real

I think we've probably all heard this phrase: The struggle is real. Usually attached to a # or in reference to, generally, a silly issue that someone is struggling with - although I have seen it used several times in relation to civil rights issues.

Here, I'm using it to add to the conversation we were having at the end of class - starting or pushing a social movement. I consider myself a children's advocate. Some of those children have disabilities, some do not. I am not always actively fighting for the disability civil rights movement, but it is a big part of what I do fight for on a daily basis. My main issue is educational rights.

The questions I raised in class are the questions I struggle with every single day while trying to find my own niche in the advocacy/activist world. I have been struggling with these questions for years. How can one person become a leader in a advocacy situation? How does your decision to participate affect your work life? How does one permeate the public without "selling out" to corporate moguls? And if you do, will the end justify the means?

Ragged Edge brought these questions to the forefront because it forces us to look at something that resonates with all of us, but is not popular or mainstream. And although blogs have seemingly replaced a subscription piece, as these stories were, they do not resonate the same way. How do we take the popularity of blogs and combine them with the impactability of something such as the Ragged Edge? I'm still turning my gears to come up with answers to all these questions - not only for disability civil rights, but for my broader scope of educational rights for all children.

Maybe the answer is cat memes. They seem to work for everything else..... Maybe we should start a meme war...