Harry Potter Baby Names - Part 1

Yep, another baby name post. The other day I found out that the blogette was mentioned in a Mommy Blogger post and I just laughed. Getting a reputation as a mom blogger before I experience motherhood... I joked with my friends that I should probably start writing posts about Starbucks and leggings and flower crowns just to establish that I'm in my twenties and very much single. Not that there's anything wrong with being a mom - it's just not my reality yet. ;) I sometimes worry that all the baby name stuff will make my friends think I'm crazy, but none of them have ditched me just yet and I'm slowly learning to just roll with it. I like the things I like. Pouring over names happens to be one of those things.  

Harry Potter is another. 

It's now common knowledge for all my blog readers that I love Harry Potter. The book series. (Though also the character.) While I wouldn't be so brazen as to name my future kid Harry Potter Allen, I would give subtle nods to the book when picking out names.

Much as we all have (I think) a soft spot for Draco Malfoy, I'm not going to include Voldemort or any loyal Death Eaters. 

Sorry, Voldy.

I'm also breaking this up into two parts because it was getting WAY too long. Today will mainly be about names inspired by the houses, with a nice sprinkling of names based on specific moments, chapters, and themes throughout. (My favorites are at the bottom.) Tomorrow (or, because I procrastinate, more likely next Saturday) will be names based on characters.

Let's start with obvious choices, yes? You could just name your bebe Harry. If I did this, everyone would assume I was naming my baby after the character. So I'd avoid it. But it is a great name, so there's one option. Other ways: throw it in the middle spot. It'd still be incredibly obvious that you love HP if you gave your kind the middle name Nymphadora, Sirius, Albus, Rubeus, etc. Maybe you're cool with that, maybe you aren't. Hermione as a middle name would still be a pretty obvious nod to the brightest witch of her age, but it's also a really beautiful name. If not for the popularity of HP, I think Hermione would be exactly the kind of name parents today love. Old but quirky. But yes. You could also use Harry, Ronald, Arthur, Molly, Minerva, Fred, George, Ginny or Ginevra, the list goes on. Any of those would sound totally normal. Look at some HP names paired with the current top baby names:

Jacob Arthur
Liam George
Sophia Hermione
Zoe Ginevra
Emily Minerva

I also think it's safe to use characters that aren't Ron, Harry, or Hermione or characters who don't have super rare names. Think Luna, Ginny (or a name that shortens to Ginny - Regina, Virginia, Genevieve, etc), Neville, Alice or Franks (Neville's parents), Kingsley, Ted, Angelina, Fred, George, Charlie, Bill, Molly, Seamus, Dean, etc.

You COULD name your kid(s) after your favorite house in a few different ways LIKE:

Rearranging some of the letters:

Gryffindor 
Finn (add an n)
Dory 
Rory
Ford 

Ravenclaw 
Raven
Rae
Arwen (bonus points for LotR connection)
Carla 
Cal 
Clare 
Clara 
Wren
Lawrence (add an e)
Charles (add an h, s)
Carl
Wallace (add an l)
old names are coming back.

Slytherin
Ren?
Rhys (not my style, but it IS a real name)
Sylvie (cheat and add the v)
Elise (add an e)

Hufflepuff
Sorry, Hufflepuffs. I've got nothing. (My second favorite house, too!!)
....maybe Sue, if you add an S. Or Phil, if you add an i.

If you're not down for rearranging the house letters, how about using the founders' names for inspiration? I actually thing Helga, Helena, Rowena, and Godric would all wear well today. Older names are becoming more popular, as are names from myths, legends, and fables. Godric isn't out of place with all the Gideons. Rowena is at home with Fiona. Helena is pretty normal, and Helga fits in with the Margarets (and the Margarets going by "Greta). (There's also Gale [boy or girl] from Helga and Wren or Ren or Rowan from Rowena.)

I don't think Salazar flies. (Nor do I think he's worth using for inspiration for baby naming, what with the muggle-hating and the whole housing a deadly monster in the castle thing. Though "Zuzu" as a nick would be AMAZING.)

And then there's the option to choose names based on the animals and/or traits of each house.

Of course, Gryffindor is represented by a lion. Which means there's great boy options like Lionel, Leo, Leonardo, and Leonard, all of which mean "lion" (brave lion, young lion, etc). For girls, there's Leonie, which seems like it fits in with all the Sylvies today. There are some names that don't mean "lion" but that have "leo" in them just like all those lion names: Leopold (which means "brave people" so it still works well for Gryffindor), Leonore, Leonora.

There's also a whole host of "brave" names. Andrew means "manly," but it's also said to mean brave (which makes Andrea/Andi a nice choice for girls, too). Bernadette means "brave as a bear." Not a lion, but still it's got that brave meaning. Casey is a nice unisex name that means "brave in battle." Valentina means "strength." Anders is a variant of Andrew, so that works nicely. Archie, which seems to be gaining in popularity a lot (maybe thanks to Amy Poehler, who named her son Archie?), means "truly brave" - the perfect Gryffindor-inspired name. Bernard means "strong; brave as a bear." Perhaps my favorite because of the excellent meaning, there's Everett, which means "brave as a wild boar!" Brave! A nice Gryffindor connection! And BOAR! Like a pig! Like a hog! Like HOGWARTS. Swoony swoon. Prewitt means "brave little one" and according to Nameberry, it's French. *I* feel like French names are in right now. Also, our beloved Mrs. Weasley's maiden name was Prewett! Double connection!

You see where I'm going with this. Pick a name that means "brave" or one of the other traits of the house! Easy, subtle, and fantastic.

Ravenclaw ideas: Anne (okay, okay. Anne means "grace" according to Nameberry. But according to Behind the Name, it's "the short form of names beginning with the Germanic element arn "eagle" so I'm counting it!!!) Arnold means "strong as an eagle" - perfect. (And apparently, Arnette???) Arden means "valley of the eagle." I've heard that "Aubrey" means "wise," though Nameberry says it means "elf ruler" - in LotR elves are pretty wise though, so this could work, albeit a nice stretch. My total favorite: Minerva. Minerva was the goddess of wisdom, so the name is a nice nod to Ravenclaw. But there's also the wonderful Minerva McGonagall, so it's a nod to Gryffindor as well! I happen to love the name so I've discussed it with friends and we've decided it's wearable, especially with a good middle name and/or cute nicknames. There's the popular Sofia/Sophia. or the less popular but also lovely Sonia. Alfred and Aldo mean wise/wisdom/wise leader. Shanahan is an Irish surname (popular now) that means "wise one" and Sage means "wise and knowing." So many options for Ravenclaw!!!

Slytherin: I don't think there are many names that mean "snake," (and any names that I could think of as being connected to snakes also happen to be connected to Adam and Eve and our fallen world, so...) but Behind the Name does say that Phinehas might mean "serpent's mouth." It also mentions Drake. Names that mean "ambitious" are also kind of hard to find. There are specific Slytherins that can inspire names, though:

Severus Snape, Horace Slughorn, and Regulus Black.

Snape was a bully, so I don't see him as quite the hero that everyone else does. But I do still think he was brave and ultimately good. That said, I wouldn't name a kid Severus. I don't even like that Harry used the name Severus, though I understand it. I would play that same letter-arranging game as before. Eve appears in the name Severus, making it perfect. There's also Rue (double literary meaning for Hunger Games!) If we use his first and last name we've got even more options. Vera, Sean, Sera, and if we add a letter or two there's Pearl, Seamus, Everly. You get it.

Horace Slughorn: Okay, my very favorite ways, using some letters from both the first and last names, are Arlo and Hugo. Two of my favorite names in general, but if you're fond of Slytherins, this is a good route. (Double points for Hugo, Ron and Hermione's son!) There's Grace (especially great because it shares the consecutive "race" with Horace), Clare, Argo, Sera, Lora, Lorne, Hans, Olsen, Nora, Olga, Helga (double points), and more. And if we add a y there's Henry, which is popular now.

And everyone loves a good story of redemption, so Regulus Black: Clare, Gus, Cal, and of course, Reggie.

And Hufflepuff! Hufflepuff is proving harder than the others so far, but here are some ideas. Hufflepuffs are known for their hard work. So how about Amelia, which means "work." There's also Emmeline, Ida, and Idette. Hufflepuffs also love truth, loyalty, fair play, kindness and tolerance. For truth and loyalty there's Emmett and Dillon and Truman. Or there's Alethea or Verity (v names are huge right now). Tolerance is itself a name. For kindness there's Benen or Agatha (a nod to Agatha Christie, too!). And since Hufflepuffs make the best friends, there's Alden, Bellamy, Edwin, and Amity.

Wow this post is not ending.

Alright so a few more ideas.

Forest/Forrest. Possibly my favorite chapter in the entire series is The Forest Again.

Another favorite is King's Cross. So I'm going to steal Kate's (from Sancta Nomina) idea and propose Ryan. (And actually, with all the Christian symbols and themes... a lot of those and other Christian names can be used.)

There's also Roxy. Roxy means "dawn," calling to mind the moment when Harry finally beats Voldemort. (Of course, Dawn works, but I think Roxy is more current.)

Any of the "defender or lover of mankind" names (Alasdair, Alessandra, and more).

My favorites of all of these are Genevieve nn Ginny, Alice, Molly, Finn, Rowan, Leonie, Everett, Prewitt, Minerva, Shanahan, Everly, Hugo, Arlo, Reggie, Bellamy, Forest, and Roxy. (Those aren’t necessarily names I’d use, because they don’t all fit my tastes and style. But they’re names I think work really well to connect to Harry Potter.)

Stay tuned for Part 2, where we get to find names from favorite characters!!
__
Charlotte

Rethinking Saints' Names

I hesitated to write this because most of my readers (hey Liz) aren’t parents and aren’t soon-to-be parents and aren’t Catholic so… ya’ll might think I’m crazy to enjoy talking about names so much. But I got over it. I like talking about names.

Kate over at Sancta Nomina often writes about patron saints and different ways to honor saints through baby names. Yesterday she wrote a great post about Caroline and Charlotte being potential ways to honor John Paul II (his given name was Karol) and I thought it was funny because I recently started reading Lives of the Saints. I’m not far into it at all, but just looking at the index made me stop and think. Some of the names are long and unfamiliar today, and you might need to get creative to honor them. I commented saying so, and Kate asked what some of my ideas were. I hadn’t thought about it too much (just a few names) but I thought it’d be fun to think about it some more. Yay for blogs.

Most of these are stretches, for sure. Coming up with names by scrambling letters or leaning heavily on certain sounds, etc. These aren’t actual forms of the names or anything like that – but I think if you name a kid with the intention of using a saint, that’s enough. (Funnily enough, Kate wrote about a possible connection between Theresa and Patricia, and I said I thought the names were too different to use as honor names to me. But this feels different – trying to come up with a way to honor a Saint named Porphyry doesn’t feel the same as naming a baby after your great aunt Therese. Of course, it’s different for everyone.)

Here are some ideas:

Saint Flavian

I actually think Flavian is semi-wearable today. People seem to be getting bolder with names, and Flavia wouldn’t be crazy. Flavian and Flavia would also work well as middle names. It’s not my style, though, and it reminds me of The Hunger Games (Flavius was one of the makeup team members, if I remember correctly). I think it’s really cool to name a baby after literary characters, but Flavius wasn’t my favorite and I associate the name with the Capitol. Okay now that I’ve geeked out a substantial amount…

Fiona – Fiona’s letters are almost all found in Flavian, and there are similar sounds in there.

Flora – More of a stretch than Fiona, for sure. That said, Flora adds another layer to the name. It means flower, and there are so many holy connections – Mary is often symbolized by flowers: roses, lilies, etc. With sounds lent from Flavian and meaning for Mary, Flora could be a really meaningful name with two patrons.

Vienna – The stretchiest of all Flavian stretches. Place names seem to be popular now, and the first syllable of “Vienna” sounds an awful lot like the last syllable of “Flavian,” unless I’m pronouncing it wrong (very, very possible).

Finn – I know Finn is sometimes used for girls now, but I much prefer it for boys. To me it sounds like a natural nickname for Flavian, and since a lot of people choose to forego formal names and put shortened names on birth certificates instead, I think Finn is a great way to honor St. Flavian. It’d totally work if you used a formal like Finnian or Finnegan, too.

Other ideas: Names that can be nicknamed Effie, Fifi, Alfie

Saint Apollinaris

Apollo – The obvious choice for parents of boys who want to honor this saint. Apollo is a hip and cool name, super wearable today, though it’s too out there for my own taste.

Polly – Another clear choice to honor Apollinaris. Also possible for another double: Molly Maris. According to this, Polly is also a form of Mary and Molly is super similar in sound, and Maris is often associated with Our Lady. Polly Maris is nice too - either way, you can honor both Saint Apollinaris and the Virgin Mary. (Also, I'm digging the "aris" found in both.) 

Oliver/Olive nn Ollie – Similar to Finn for Flavian, Ollie seems like a natural nickname for Apollinaris.

Paul/Paula/Pauline have some similar sounds and so might work.   

Short names that are spelled with letters mostly found in Apollinaris: Lara, Sara, Silas/Linus, Nora, Arlo, Risa, Orin

Saint Aelred

I liked this one too much, probably. It reminded me of this super fun post I wrote of non-obvious ways to name your baby after a character. In that, I found this when looking at Alfred: Derived from the Old English Ælfred, a compounding of the elements ælf (elf) and ræd (counsel). 

Aelred and Alfred aren't exactly the same, of course, but they're similar, and according to Behind the Name, Aelred is a variant of ÆÐELRÆD, which, like Alfred, includes  ræd. (Again, meaning "counsel.") So that's fun (and... does this mean all of the suggestions for "Albus" in that post could work for Aelred??? :D ) So: 

Alfred - A bit different, but very similar meaning, and a few letters in common.

Albert - Doesn't have quite the same meaning, but again, stretching is okay here, and a lot of the letters and sounds are shared. 

Aldo - With Arlo gaining steam (I love it), Aldo might be next. 

Darla - With Harvey and Alfie and Calvin being used again, it's not out of the realm of possibilities that Darla comes back, and it has a lot of the same letters as Aelred, making it a good possible honor name. 

Rae - A huge stretch, but if paired with another meaningful name to make it especially clear that baby is being named for the saint? Dorothea Rae is a possibility - Dorothea means "gift of God" and paired with Rae as a short (short!) nn from Saint Aelred, that's a really holy name. Ella is similar in that it shares some sounds/letters but might need to be paired with another name to really solidify the meaning.

I haven't given too much thought to the rest, but at first glance, these are names I can see being used to honor saints with really unfamiliar names: 

Saint Romuald

Romy - Romy would be my favorite way to name a girl after Saint Romuald. 

Rudy - Likewise, Rudy would be my favorite way to name a boy after Saint Romuald.

There's also Ronald, Rue, Aldo, Arlo, and Maud/e. 

Saint Porphyry

Rory - To me, Rory seems like the most obvious choice (I prefer Rory for a girl, though I know it's used for boys as well). 

Fiero - Though I'd never use it, I've seen this name floated around by others. 

Poppy - I've heard that this name is coming back, and it seems like a sensible way to name a baby girl with Saint Porphyry in mind. 

Names that can be shortened as nicknames to Pip or Rye.

Saint Soter 

Rose - Rose is made entirely of letters found in "Soter" and so I think, combined with intention to name a baby after the saint, works as an honor name. 

Otis - Many of the same letters, plus similar sound. Since Soter was a Pope, maybe combining Otis with Peter would add extra clarity to the significance of the name. Otis Peter/Peter Otis. 

Names that can be shortened to Ret. 

Saint Etheldreda

Of course, there's Ethel. But other names that might work if Ethel isn't your style: 

Esmeralda - It's got similar sounds, a lot of letters in common, and it looks very similar. 

Adele/Edele/Edel - All letters found in the original name. (If I was naming a girl after Saint Etheldreda I'd likely go with Adele.)

Della - I've come to really like the name Della. I found it when my friend was expecting and wanted a name that was rare, but wouldn't be completely unfamiliar. With all the Ellas and Stellas, Della is familiar but not heard often. It's got similar look and feel and letters as Etheldreda. Also, "del/l" means "the," "of," or "of the" in a few languages, which lends itself to a lot of great possibilities. But dell also means valley, which seems like a possible way to honor Mary and Jesus, especially if paired with other specific names. (I've heard of "lily of the valley" as a symbol of Mary, as a symbol of Jesus, and as a symbol of the coming of spring, symbolizing the coming of Jesus.) Della paired with a Christ-name, Mary/Marie/Maria/Maris, Rose, or a Lily-name (that'd be hard though) would be loaded with a ton of significance. Della Maria would be my favorite, but there's also Della Rose, Della Cristina, or, if you don't mind the repeating sounds, Della Liliana. (Or any other combo you might think of.) Della has potential to honor Saint Etheldreda, Mary, and Jesus all at once.    

Others: Andrea, Rae, Ella, Lea, Drella, Dare (I've seen it used as a middle), etc.

I think another great way to really make it clear that a baby is being named for a saint is to pair it with meaningful middles - names that mean "gift" or "gift of God" or "like God" or even "happy," since happiness stems from God. Gabriel means "God is my strength." So something like Alfred Gabriel (for Saint Aelred) or Abigail Fiona (for Saint Flavian, and Abigail means "my father is joyful) would honor the saint clearly - I mean, the saints do point us to God.

That's all I've got (for now ;). If you know more about names and languages (and root words and meanings and all that) I imagine there are even more possibilities to honor these saints. Such fun.     

Any ideas? 

__

Charlotte 

The Right to Life and Family

This isn't a post on abortion, though I fall on the unpopular side of that debate. It's a post about how people want to have children, but can't. Or how people want to have children, but are too afraid. It's about how we, as a country, prioritize everything material and disposable over everything sacred and eternal. It's about a few of the ways we're tragically misguided. Specifically, it's about how gun violence, police brutality, and poverty are robbing people of their inherent right to life and family.
  

I've mentioned before that the idea of having kids in this country scares me because of the gun violence. I won't let the fear stop me from having kids, but it's infuriating. Parents have enough to worry about without mass shootings. I don't know if stripping everyone of their guns is the answer, but I do know that it's unacceptable to leave things as they are. People are more important than arsenals. It sickens me that there are people who refuse to just have a conversation about gun laws meanwhile lives are being taken every single day. It always hurts more when the victims are kids, but a 40 year old who is killed in a shooting is just as precious. He's someone's kid.

I guess I just have to wonder: to the people who refuse to talk about stricter gun laws, many of whom are parents - are you willing to let your kid be sacrificed? Because that's what it takes. Maybe it's not your kid today, but 10,000 kids are shot each year in the US, and many of them - about 8 a day - are killed. And that's just children. That doesn't count the 27 year old adult who is still someone's baby.

When I have kids I'm going to read stories to them, true and fictional. They'll read about Harry Potter and how he was Christlike by sacrificing his life for his friends. They'll read about Frodo and Sam accepting their seemingly inevitable death in a quest to end evil. They'll know the true stories of saints and martyrs across time who died for others, or who were killed for their beliefs. As a parent, I'll have to reconcile teaching my kids these virtues and hoping that a situation that puts them in such danger never arises.

I will not, however, willingly sacrifice my kids to the gun lobby, nor will I sacrifice other people's kids by refusing to talk about gun laws.

I believe we can all agree that we have a right to life. We also have a right to family - to create or foster life. Those are natural rights afforded to every single person. Natural! There is nothing "natural" about the right to tote a man-made weapon created solely for the purpose of inflicting harm on others. 

With every shooting, with every bogus NRA lobbying session, we're chipping away at someone's right to have a family. The world will never be completely safe, nor should it be. But there's a difference between natural danger and risk and a deathtrap. (Even I, while writing this, felt like "deathtrap" was an exaggeration, but there are bulletproof blankets and mats specifically made for schoolchildren to wear, so it's really not.)

The vast majority of my friends are still unmarried or without children. (Though some have started families.) Whenever the topic of kids comes up, someone at some point mentions the fear of it all. It's too much. Parenthood will always be scary, it will always be hard. But it shouldn't be scary for these reasons. No one should have reason to say, "I'd like to have kids but how can I? People are being killed every day and nowhere is safe. How can I have kids in a world like that?"

Bottom line: Even if we're just talking about child deaths, thousands are killed. Kids are killed in their homes because of lax storage laws. They're being shot at school. Just typing that sentence - children are being shot to death in their schools - feels wrong, and yet, we're doing nothing about it. In this country, toddlers are killed by guns more often than police officers are.

Maybe you're getting mad at me for politicizing the deaths of so many innocent people. But I'm angry at everyone who refuses to politicize it. It's a national problem and we need national solutions. It's not that I give a damn about politics, it's that I have seven little brothers and sisters; it's that one day I want to get married and have a bunch of kids and take them to football games without them getting shot.

It is about life and about families. 

Which brings us to the issue of police brutality. Because while gun violence is a threat against everyone with a pulse, black parents in this country are bearing a burden like no other. They have to worry about the same things white parents worry about and then they have to worry about things no person should have to worry about: will my child be hurt by police?

Yesterday a video went viral. It shows an officer violently throwing a black girl to the ground, hitting her, dragging her across the room. Her offense? She was being "verbally disruptive." Short of saying, "I have a weapon and am about to kill you," there was no justification for that kind of violence.

(I think I've done a good job being civil so far but I'm going to put that aside for a second. Why the fuck do we think it's okay to arrest a schoolchild for being verbally disruptive? How is that normal? Even if the cop never became brutal, there's no reason the girl should have been arrested. You misbehave in school, you go to the principal's office, not the penitentiary. But we'll talk about the school to prison pipeline, the profits of prisons, and all that jazz in another post.)

Now, I know that cops will abuse anyone, not just black people. Cops tased and strangled my handcuffed, barefoot brother (why was he getting arrested? for back-talking to a cop.). But I don't worry about them killing my brothers. Are white people ever killed by cops? Yes. But not the way black people are. (I've written about this before.) A police officer's job is dangerous, yes. Many of them are honorable, yes. But when so many of them are killing so many people (and a specific race of people, at that), we need to ask ourselves what's wrong with the institution as a whole. It's clear there's a problem, and if you deny it, you're either ignorant, defensive of your privilege, or complicit.

If you refuse to talk about police brutality in a completely honest way that acknowledges the systemic racism, you're ignoring the rights of others. Because again:

We all have a right to life. We also have a right to family - to create or foster life. Those are natural rights afforded to every single person. Natural! There is nothing "natural" about a state-created and state-sanctioned force of highly armed officers being allowed to kill whomever they feel doesn't deserve to live.

Black mothers are cradling their dead sons. Black parents are trying to teach their kids to be strong and independent, but to navigate a world that is against them. And don't try telling me this world - at least, this country - is not against them. If you saw a man throwing a teenage girl around at the mall, you'd intervene. If you saw a father slam his daughter to the ground and beat her, you'd intervene. If a teacher beat up his student for being disruptive, you'd be furious. (And I'm willing to bet that had this been a white girl, no one would be making excuses for the cop.) But we've given cops a free pass to torment black people. I say "we" because laws are largely written by and for white people. There are laws against teachers hitting their students, but we put cops in black schools and let them hit students.

I have black friends and black cousins who don't want kids for one reason only: they don't want to have kids just so they end up being killed by police or vigilantes. 

If you can't see how that's anti-life or anti-family, then you're not looking hard enough.

It's totally about politics and it's totally about racism and it's completely, totally about life and about families.

Which brings us to poverty. I'll keep this short, I just wanted to mention a few things: we've got an ungodly amount of children living in poverty. They're hungry, and we're not feeding them. Parents can't afford to send their kids to college, where even the public universities are increasing their tuition every year. And students who do go to school are met with such high debt that they can't gain independence after graduation. Social mobility is a myth. While the idea of a voluntary military sounds great, it's often poor kids joining because it's their only chance of getting a paycheck, health benefits, and even an education, if they don't die in one of our many wars.

And we try to solve these problems by cutting taxes on the rich.

And we demonize anyone who questions capitalism.

Really, we all have a moral obligation to question our economic policies. Maybe communism and socialism have failed elsewhere (though we could argue that it was because they were fascist, but hey, another post). Maybe capitalism is the "foundation of our economy" in America. But that's not reason enough to NOT resist it. Slavery was once the foundation of our economy in America, and if you support that, there's a 97% chance you're swine. I don't have all of the answers, but I know that there are people not getting married because they can't afford it. I know there are people working 80 hours a week so that they can survive. I know there are people putting off having a family (or never having kids at all!) because they can't afford it.

Is that an acceptable price to pay for capitalism? And for no reason other than capitalism is all we know? I don't think so. The kind of sick distribution of wealth we have is only achieved through the oppression of others. The only way one man can make billions of dollars a year is by the suffering of others - sweatshops, long hours for little pay, a minimum wage far below the living wage, and other unfair labor practices. I think it's alright to be rich. I just think there's a limit to how much money you can make while remaining moral.

And so one last time:

We all have a right to life. We also have a right to family - to create or foster life. Those are natural rights afforded to every single person. Natural! There is nothing "natural" about an economic system that doesn't pay people fairly for work. 

We need to rethink a system that leaves people tired and sick. It sounds corny, but really, in this kind of economic environment (and oh my God don't get me started on the gross degeneration we allow our environment to suffer in the name of profits), it's not easy to find love, nonetheless to nurture relationships. A system that leaves people unable or afraid of having kids isn't a good system. And this isn't just about politics or economics, it's about life and about families.

I guess my point is that I'm sick and tired of people putting kids on the line. You're a gun owner and love your automatic weapons, so it's okay that someone's kid might be shot. That's the price you're willing to pay just so that you don't need to have a conversation about gun laws. You're a white person and your kids go to private school, so you're okay with armed police officers being stationed in poor public schools even if it means someone else's kid might be brutalized. You're middle class, so you're okay with anti-poor policies even if it means some other man's kid goes to bed hungry or can't go to college or joins the army out of desperation.

I've known for a while now that power lies in the hands of a few. But this is never clearer to me than when I'm with my other friends, many of whom are women, talking about starting families. Our kids - the ones we're often scared to even dream of, are the ones that get sacrificed to America's unholy gods: guns, false traditions, and money. Not every rich person is bad, not every gun owner is dangerous, not every cop is corrupt. But the ones that refuse to change? The ones that refuse to even entertain the notion of progress or of debate - they are treading on the rights of others.