A country is not defined by their borders. Borders are arbitrary lines drawn and redrawn over centuries of wars, government agreements and pacts with the indigenous people. There is really nothing intrinsically different about a swatch of land near the border on one side of America versus a swatch of land on the side of Canada. A country is defined by its the ideas and philosophy. And those the ideas and philosophy are created by the people who inhabit a country.

On November 8th, 2016, I do not feel I am a part of this country. Yes, I was born here and have lived here all of my life, but it is obvious that right now I do not relate to a huge part of America.

We just elected a man who represents everything I hate. Donald Trump is man arrogant, selfish, stupid, ignorant, hatemonger; a man who was given everything to start with, destroyed every ‘little man’ around him to elevate his brand, became a damn reality star by firing people on air, acted anyway he felt like, said anything he wanted to say, and has never suffered any sort of price for any of this in his life. He has been forgiven, enabled, and even profited for his constant malfeasance while others are scorned for life. Now this man is president. HE, not John Gotti, is the true ‘Teflon Don’.

This is different than another election where the candidate you wanted lost. That sort of feels like when your favorite sports team loses; frustrated but life goes on. If John McCain, Mitt Romney, or Marco Rubio won the presidency, I would feel sad but I understand why some people may vote for them. Those are men that are respectable and reasonable choices to be president due to their public service and their track record in politics. This is different. I just do not fundamentally understand why anyone, and I mean anyone, would logically deliniate that our new president-elect is a reasonable choice to become the leader of the free world.

The fact even one person in this country would vote for him made me feel alienated from my homeland. The fact he won the presidential nominee from a major party made me feel disgusted with this nation. The fact he won the presidency means I simply do not understand anything about the people who inhabit America. I am a stranger in a strange land.

Because of this utter confusion, I feel I am not qualified to comment about this nation anymore. For the time being, I will not write on anything ‘National’ anymore.

With this in mind, I am restructuring my website:

• Monday: Personal (with a skosh of local as well)

• Tuesday: Sports (it’s what I actually know)

• Wednesday: Global (I still like science, innovation, and the world around me)

• Thursday: Wild Card (this will be more pop culture stuff with a few beer reviews mixed in. I love movies and beer, but there is only so much I can write about)

• Friday: Top 10 (I just like those)

Maybe someone I will be reacquainted with the country I live in and feel like I belong again. But until then, I will pay my taxes, obey the law, appreciate the city I live in, and feel like an outsider within the artificial lines drawn between Canada and Mexico.