I’m going for a road trip on my own, to my new home. I cross the desert into Texas. My sense of self is shifting, as I leave my hometown and find a new environment many miles away. My sense of place is being shaken (at will, but that doesn’t make it less scary.)

I find that outside of my existential fear of change, there is great anxiety in the logistics of being a woman in unfamiliar places, on the road, at rest stops and in the world.

Fear in a woman’s world is real. It is palpable and it can have a crippling effect on the ways we orient ourselves, how we conduct our business and where we go, especially in locations we are foreign.

I am encouraged by friends to be adventurous but to just be aware.

This is a woman’s trouble: to be aware of a world that requires fear before action or confidence, before dreaming, before leaving the house, before picking an outfit and certainly before drinking.

So I think: If I have fear, as a cisgender, heterosexual, able-bodied, white woman, who else is afraid?

I spoke to a gay friend of mine a few days ago, after the Orlando massacre, and he told me he has found himself unusually aware of his surroundings because he is afraid. The language he used was notably similar to what people have said to me about this upcoming road trip: awareness is key to safety. It’s worth pointing out that every time I’ve traveled, with girlfriends or solo, I am reminded each time, by all kinds of people, to be aware.

Be aware of my body, what time it is, where I am, where my money is, how I’m dressed, and more. I realize that basic awareness and common sense is vital to all people’s existence and modes of living. I also recognize a pattern of language that appears to be saved for certain people (read: those of us who are conditioned to be afraid for our own safety because we are visible targets for violence or assault or discrimination).

If awareness is meant to keep us safe, then it could explain why it’s popular to say she was drunk or wearing slutty clothes and this is why she was the target of  rape and sexual assault.

If just be aware means “don’t find yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time”, then I want to ask, who finds themselves in a wrong place, at a wrong time?

Women
Women of color
Queer and Transgender people
Disabled people
(and more, or any intersection of these)

Why are we telling those listed above to be aware instead of those who act out, perpetuate and condone violence, domination and abuse? Because I am aware, my gay friends are aware, my transgender friends are aware, my friends of color are aware.

Home is a safe place to me (and for this I am fortunate). As I leave this safe place and venture into places unknown, I am aware of myself, what I am wearing, where I will be, what to avoid, on and on and on.

When fear rules logistics, availability, location and more, it means those of us who have been conditioned to know and learn fear, feel unwelcome where we have every right to be. It is a privilege to feel safe everywhere and for those who enjoy this privilege, it is time to be aware that safety should be a right, a universal truth instead of a peace of mind, body and spirit shared only by a few lucky folks.

Possessing a sense of self without limitation is powerful. Embodying a sense of place without domination or oppression is revolutionary.

It is time to employ the idea and live the truth that being aware means we can live together, without violence, assault or abuse, and that whoever may desire to sleep in an open field, to travel west or walk freely at night is unabridged in their ability to do so with the knowledge that to just be aware is a beloved task the community upholds in the honor of all its travelers and residents.

Savanna is a recent graduate of Oregon State University in Social Science. She created the blog Sex, Politics & Social Justice as an in-process learning project to gain political insight through the lens of intersectional feminism. She is moving to Austin, Texas where she hopes to expand her experience in the world and continue writing.

The post Just Be Aware: The Politics of Traveling Alone appeared first on Newfound.

The band’s authenticity and pride in where they came from makes them relatable and keeps their fans connected. No matter where the band goes they never forget their hometown of Columbus, Ohio, where they got their start.

“Wish we could turn back time, to the good ol’ days,
When our momma sang us to sleep but now we’re stressed out.”

In the lyrics of the hit song “Stressed Out,” Joseph addresses his longing for going back in time to when life was easier, a time we oh-so-often refer to as the “good ol’ days.” The music video for “Stressed Out” takes place on the street where Dun grew up and Joseph is seen singing the chorus in Dun’s old house.

The theme throughout the albums of Twenty One Pilots is their sense of place. Their home is not just in Columbus, but in the music that has molded these two creators to form their own identities. Twenty One Pilots have combined both their homes in music and homes in the literal sense to create authentic art.

Seeing Tyler Joseph sing the lyrics listed above in the home of Josh Dun forces reality into their art and opens up their homes lives to their thousands of fans.

“My name’s Blurry Face and I care what you think”

Blurryface (Fueled By Ramen, 2015), the latest album of Twenty One pilots, personifies the feeling of insecurity. Joseph quite literally makes his insecurities into the character Blurryface and becomes him in his music videos.

In the music video, Joseph paints his neck and hands black to signify his insecurities. His neck symbolizes his insecurities in his voice, and his hands symbolize insecurity in his creations.

This is powerful to me. As a writer I feel insecure about everything I create, which often leads to putting aside projects in fear that no one will like them and that no one will recognize them. Fear and creativity can coexist; they must learn to live together, they cannot be separate but must be equal.

Twenty One Pilots expresses these two emotions and humanizes them with the character Blurryface. The courage of Joseph to display his raw emotions as an artist inspires me to keep creating.

When I listen to Twenty One Pilots’ music I feel emotion, and to feel emotion is to be a human. I love Twenty One Pilots because they make me feel human.

Taeler Kallmerten, Staff Writer, Twenty One Pilots Fangirl

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