My Response to Challenging the Elephants in the Room on Middle Pause

Let’s see if it’s okay to challenge all the elephants.

This photo was made by the author using Canva.

I love Marilyn Flowers and have followed her on Medium for quite a while. I opened a recent email mentioning that I was tagged in the Middle Pause newsletter with the above title. I was sad when I read Marilyn’s gush over the Democratic National Convention.

Middle Pause’s policy on publishing political posts has slackened, but not enough to share this article. Marilyn was very kind in her response to my submission and apologized for making her statements about the DNC in an MP post. She said her comment should have been edited out of the post, and it has been removed. She and fellow editor Bebe were very supportive of my writing skills and gracious about not accepting my post.

The fire that Marilyn ignited in me to write this post was not extinguished when it didn’t suit the Middle Pause publication. I followed her advice and tried to find another publication to send it to. In researching the subject of politics, it became clear that self-publishing was the best option.

I’ve shied away from writing much about politics because, like many platforms, Medium leans to the left. I worried about losing followers and subscribers who I enjoy. I can like someone, even if I…