#introduction (click replies for full intro!)
I’m carodjah, I like to talk politics, I support #transrights and #lgbtqia as a whole, oppose billionaires, have many cats (Chumbo below #Caturday ) and until recently was a caretaker for my grandfather.
also stream four days a week, with a lovely community of good people who’ve unfortunately been hate-raided twice now bc we speak out against bigots.
hope this place is kind!
as a follow-up #introduction to my introduction, i'd like to introduce y'all to an extremely good friend i took care of for many years alongside grandpa.
meet Lucy, who was my ride or die partner to the end. #DogsOfMastodon
Lucy-dog left this world June 2021, after years of dealing with blindness and a tumor. i did everything i could to make sure she had a happy, comfortable life until the very end.
and this home still feels kinda empty without her.
it also feels empty without grandpa, who passed away this year, June 2022. i'd been his and Lucy's caretaker for 9 years after moving back home.
grandpa was more or less a lifelong liberal (which i know some view as a horrible/bad word but please respect him).
he grew up in the dirt thirites. he'd left a church when he was young bc the KKK was involved. he worked long and hard to buy his own farm, while also taking care of his parents who favored his brother over him, and his brother tried to sabotage him in every way possible in our rural town, including getting banks to deny him loans.
when i became politically aware/active as a teen, i just presumed he was a republican, because old.
but he voted for Obama, supported Sanders, supported me in getting medicaid expansion passed in my state, believed healthcare should be free and universal, billionaires shouldn't exist, and--as a farmer--that modern big/corpo farming and overuse of chemicals/irrigation is bad.
living here in the middle of nowhere, he was the only person i could talk to offline that shared my beliefs.
and i stood up for him.
before the pandemic and mobility issues, he would go into town to drink coffee twice a day with other old farts.
they were all hardcore republicans, and they'd gang up on him, make fun of him, etc for being a democrat.
one day in particular comes to mind...
the loudest guy, who owns a propane company outside town, got deep red and screamed at me that ALL migrants--which, he made sure to state explicitly, included children--should be shot on sight at the border.
i called him out as the monster he was, one who claimed to be christian, nothing more than a violent and hateful bigot who's a bigger threat to people than any migrant.
the gas station attendant told *me* to calm down and be civil.
but it made grandpa proud that i not only stood up when he was getting picked on by the other guys; i also was willing to tell them exactly what they are.
grandpa wasn't perfect. but he was a good guy. he was paranoid bc of the lifelong trauma he carried due to his brother, but ultimately accepted that his grandson, daughter, and son-in-law actually cared about his legacy and protecting what he worked for.
with both him and Lucy-dog now gone, it's been very weird to be here in this house alone--a house where i spent 9 years pretty much never leaving my tiny bedroom but now have the whole house to myself.
it's taken months to feel like i actually live here now, rather than just being here for someone else.
took months just to decide and get the nerve to decorate my living room wall/wall behind me when i stream. #guitar #gaming #FinalFantasy #NieR #FFXIV #ProtectTransKids
I also made the decision to purchase a drum set.
I was a drummer from 5th-12th grade, but didn't have a set until I entered high school. played in a band in school as well.
had to sell it for rent in '08. bought one with settlement money from a head injury in '11, sold that one in '12 for rent again.
decided it was time to have that part of me back. did a big reveal on stream for it. #drumming #musician #Persona5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fjtF0KlDA4&feature=youtu.be
for the final part of this over-extended #introduction, i'd like to introduce you to Goat-Goat.
yes, that is her name. i took care of her as a baby, bc her mother and brother both passed right after she was born. and Goat-Goat is what she responded to, so that's who she is.
she's got a small army of other pygmy goats who roam freely on our farm. and she, too, supports #TransRights.
so, now you know most of what you need to know about me, mastodon. to sum:
-i have a goat army that will protect #LGBTQIA comrades
-they march to the literal beat of my drums
-after 9 years as a caretaker, i'm now taking care of myself
-i'd be thrilled to see you in one of my streams
-i live in the middle of nowhere
-oh and forgot to mention but i have #ADHD, #Anxiety, am #Bipolar, and am probably way too open about my life for the internet
nice to meet you!
@d4ytr1pp3r agreed. a few worrying things recently in town:
1. a Qanon sign in the front yard of the first house on main street
2. full page spread in local newspaper by editor support election conspiracy theories
3. front page of same paper claiming the educational unit for our region is trying to "trans" the kids
and our state GOP leadership--which was already pretty far right--just got overthrown and replaced at their last convention by a group even further to the right
@d4ytr1pp3r oooooooooof, my condolences on being in Arizona.
hopefully with enough work, we can get tides to turn everywhere.
carodjah!✨at the disco✨
BlackSheepBeth
milo| 
D4ytr1pp3r