YA for Obama

I promise this won't become a political blog, but seeing as the theme of this blog is Life, Words, and Rock 'n' Roll, and politics are a part of "life" for me, especially around election time, it's gonna pop up every now and then.

I think I've made it pretty clear that I'm voting for Obama, so this won't surprise you:

View my page on YA for Obama

Yep, I've joined YA For Obama, which officially launched yesterday. Quoth Maureen Johnson, the fabulous author who started this social networking site, "YA for Obama is a community of YA writers and readers and friends who have joined together because of our commitment to Future United States President Barack Obama. We think he’s the right person for the job."

Now the last thing I need is another social networking thing to be a part of. Seriously, I can barely keep up with the three blog sites I post at, MySpace, and Facebook. I was considering joining twitter, but I barely have time to write as it is, it seems. But I believe that YA For Obama is more important than of those sites right now, so I joined.

One of the things I love best about it is that it is a place that gives people under the voting age a place to voice their views and I know how much that would have meant to me when I was younger. I was an incredibly politically active teenager. I was a riot grrrl who put out several feminist 'zines (this was pre-blog days, nowadays I would have had a blog, too.) I volunteered at a domestic violence agency. I petitioned to have self defense workshops added to gym class and a women's history class added to the history department curriculum. I did AIDS walks. I donated money I made from babysitting to Planned Parenthood and PETA. And most important, I read extensively on the issues that were important to me and stayed informed. All of these things were important and all of these things are influential whether or not I was of age to cast a ballot. YA For Obama can help young people find even more ways to participate this election year. I can't tell you how irked I was to read one gossip blog's reponse to the site saying basically, "Why are they acting like kids matter. Kids can't vote." Grrr. I think kids matter and so do the others over at YA For Obama.

YA For Obama isn't just for teens though. You can be a member no matter what age you are or what country you live in. You can be a member if you are not an Obama supporter because the site encourages dialogue. There will be lots of cool things happening over there including blogs and participation from authors way more famous than me like like Judy Blume, John Green, Scott Westerfeld, Meg Cabot, Megan McCafferty, Holly Black, Libba Bray . . . and the list goes on. So I hope you'll join me over there and feel free to send me a friend request and say hello!

Visit YA for Obama

PS. Today is the last day you can enter to win a special promo copy of my new favorite band Civet's album Hell Hath No Fury. Check out last week's WWR Weds blog and leave a comment to enter!