Emily Cunningham

so after i finally caved and got my first tattoo, i said that every time i moved up a little in my career or education, i would mark it with a tattoo. that way, when i finished my career, i would look the version of myself that 13 y.o. me wanted to see so desperately. 5/

and that's what i did. my sophomore year at yale, i got inked for the second time. got my third right after i finished at oxford. and now, in the middle (beginning?) of the GND, i decided to finally start my half sleeve. 6/

but then i remembered that that's kinda what the movement for a green new deal is all about. as much as the GND is about transforming our economy, it's also about examining and breaking down our assumptions that only *certain* people get to decide the future of the U.S. 8/

and as i read more and more critiques of the GND – esp. from the right – i sense that fear over and over again. 9/

they're afraid of a world where economists aren't the only ones allowed to talk about the economy. they're afraid of a world where ppl in power aren't the only ones defining what's possible. and they're DEF afraid of a world where ppl like me don't live at the edges anymore. 10/

and that's fair. it's a scary shift! but that still doesn't make it right or okay. and i didn't really remember that until yesterday. 11/

because just like i'm allowed to get a tattoo AND still write policy, i'm allowed to help shape what our future should look like AND to open up that space for others. and everyone else has that right too! but that's exactly what some critics want to crush. 12/