Two Ideas for Elizabeth Warren

Ok! Got my first invitation to donate yesterday – and, though I need to dig into debates that occurred when I was traveling, I am leaning towards this E. Warren chick thanks to her mighty mouth and strong resolve.

I mean. Girl can go off and I love it.

In considering the candidates and the upcoming election season, I suppose the best place to start is what is important to me.

So – as of today – here are two things.

  1. I should be able to request a download of my child’s online statistics, organized by app or website. I should be able to view a report of what my child’s digital footprint tells marketers and be as informed as the companies that are going to use their data, sell to them and persuade them in all regards. This should be simple: to access and to understand. In the spirit of media literacy, I should be able to click a button, enter my child’s IP address or Apple ID and be able to take good, next action to protect them and their privacy.
  2. I should be able to view an asterisk on a personal profile that warns me of potential danger. This should be a weighting based on a person’s access of porn sites, black web software, registry to key organizations or reports against them. This type of note should simply be able to set public settings as a writer, with a filtered exception.

We have to make the internet safer. I believe that the underlying messages on the web and in the media tie to root causes of all sorts of epidemics. I do not want to fear “what next” I want to us to cause “what’s next” and bring some peace of mind to American homes.

Thoughts, Elizabeth?

 

You are Going to Be Okay if the City and County Merge

I am growing impatient with stale voices opposing Better Together in the spirit of self-preservation and fear of losing what is “so perfect” and “so good”. St. Louis’ embodiment of familial traits offers a literal investment in the evolution of our city. Evolution with potential so great and profound that those faithful in this region would be wise to consider. Think of your family: you have each individual personality (your Webster, your Kirkwood) and you have your family name. Better Together is positioning our region to be a family. The threat of losing individuality or care for individual needs is not real unless you allow it to be real. Be an advocate for the components you care about (for me, it’s police oversight) but resist being a show stopper. Become educated on Better Together rather than simply reading one-sided fear mongering news. Think about the possibilities for future generations: what if our kids’ kids had a city that is on the map in a way that has re-engineered community for all? Use your voice to influence change, not to stop it. The only thing to fear is limited thinking.