Temporarily Political

I like to keep homebrew separate from my personal life. It's why I never sign my projects with my actual name, and it's why I only bring in the goings-on of my life when it extremely impacts my ability to do homebrew.

Sadly, right now is one of those times. Let me explain:

I'm fortunate enough to be married to a wonderful woman, my best friend in the entire world. She and I met at a board game club over nine years ago, hit it off, and have been together ever sense. We stand by each other, make each other laugh in good times and bad, and love each other so deeply that it's profoundly hard to explain with a mind more accustomed to writing "MELEE WEAPON ATTACK, +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., etc etc."

More than anything, it's our passion (each in our own way) to help others. I work in education, and she works in environmental protection. We plan to have a family some day, to raise kids, play games with them, and help them explore and find wonder in the world. We both find very real, very true value in creating more love than we take.

The problem is this: We are both American, but she is not a citizen.

And this is a time when it is very, very hard to not be a citizen.

The reasons behind her non-citizenship are legitimately too complicated for me to explain here, involving a marital dispute and bureaucratic idiocy. One would think naturalization through marriage would be a non-issue, as well, but it is not. Among many other issues, a mutual friend of ours, attempting naturalization through marriage, was compelled against his will to have a prostate exam (link is gross, of course) if he wanted to become a citizen of our country. This is on top of multiple interviews, having his green card constantly in jeopardy, and just a general not-knowing if having his paperwork in the system makes him even more of a target for the powers that be.

He started his struggle for naturalization years ago, and his citizenship is still up in the air. He, too, may be forced out of the country and away from his wife, if things continue as they are.

For people like my friend and myself, the fate of our loved ones is very literally at stake, here. If there was a more personal fight that could be fought, I struggle to imagine it.

My long-running point? Here it is:

Any donations to this blog for the month of February will be passed on to the ACLU, in full.

If you would like, you can follow the link above and simply donate directly to the ACLU yourself. Either would be appreciated, and even a small amount will help people like my wife and I, and indeed all the various immigrant groups that have been targeted, and whichever unfortunates will be targeted next.

Thank you for your time, and thank you for reading my blog. Homebrewing material for you all means very much to me, and there's nothing I enjoy more than reading stories from strangers half a world away who get joy from the work that I do.

Whether or not you choose to (or even can) give, I appreciate you all. All of us are stronger together, and we all have a part to play in making the world a better place.

Stay safe, stay strong, and happy homebrewing.