About Sister Toldjah
I have had a few people email to ask me who I am and what my “credentials” are to make political commentary, hence this post. Some of this I have written elsewhere at places I frequent, but I’m going to put it all together here. Let me start off by saying that I am a native North Carolinian – I love this state and would recommend it to anyone who wanted to visit or live here. We’ve got everything you need: beautiful mountains, serene beaches, and tons of gorgeous countryside in between. It goes without saying that this state has many small towns which are suited for those who would choose to live far away from the hustle and bustle of big city life. But we’ve got a few nice big cities for those so inclined. I prefer a mixture of both. I really like the country, but don’t want to be too far away from civilization, either 
Ok, enough of the NC tourism guide stuff 
Being a native North Carolinian, you’d think that by nature I’d have always been a conservative. Well, I haven’t been. I was a liberal from age 17 to right around the time I was 22. I got most of my info from the news outlets, rather than reading anymore in depth into the issues than that, which I think is one of the reasons I would have found myself voting for Mike Dukakis in 1988 – but I was 2 months shy of being able to vote that election year. Hadn’t quite hit my 18th birthday. Not to turn this into a liberal bias piece, but at that time when every single ‘mainstream’ source out there was liberally biased, how could I not have been a liberal? I complain a lot about liberal bias in the media for that very reason: because I know how influential it can be to those who don’t research the issues much outside of what they hear in the media. Mind you, I’m not saying that liberals aren’t grounded in their beliefs, just saying that some do form their political beliefs based on what they see in the mainstream media and I was one of those people.
The first vote I cast for president was for Bill Clinton in 1992. I even worked with the Democratic party in ’92 to help get him elected. Just a few days before his defeat of President G.H.W. Bush, Clinton swung into town and I worked that event, helping to get it set up. It was a cold November evening, and because I’d been there to help set up all day, I had a front row spot as he entered and exited the event, which was held outdoors at an uptown park. I couldn’t have been more excited – Clinton did that to people. He had a lot of charm, being a southerner, and he was “every man” to everyone, which is a big reason why he got elected. My parents were furious with me for voting for him! In any event, I made the switch to being a Republican back around 1994-1995. The change had been happening for several months – no one pushed me into it, it was a choice I gladly made. No one thing or person can be credited with helping me change – it was just a lot of things. There was a guy in college who really helped me see the light, though, who deserves some credit. Simply put, I just realized over time that I had more in common with Republicans than Democrats.
I spent about 5 years in college after graduating high school – 3 at a local community college where I took business classes aimlessly while trying to figure out what I wanted to do, and another 2 at a community college in a neighboring city, which had a Radio/TV broadcasting 2 year degree program I became intertested in pursuing. When I graduated from college, I looked forward to beginning my career as a DJ but the first job I landed in radio was not at a music station, but talk radio and it was conservative at that. I produced the show for our morning host who was on for 2 hours (I think at one point that was changed to 3 hours) and learned a lot from him as well – especially how to dissect the media. He was a conservative but not a hard core conservative and was willing to look at both sides of an issue. At that point, I was still in the process of transforming from a liberal to a conservative, and listening to him and reading up more on the issues completed the transformation. Eventually I hosted an afternoon talk show there for an hour, and then moved to the three hour morning slot when the guy I had been producing for went to another station. I really miss those days sometimes!
I’ve never looked back nor regretted my change from liberal to conservative, even when my party has sometimes not acted conservative – but that mostly seems to be happening on fiscal matters. I sometimes think back to my vote for Bill Clinton back in 1992 and wonder “how could I have done that?” but I try not to beat myself up over it and instead paint a positive side to it in that shows that I learn from my mistakes
Let’s see — what else? Ok, I was born in January. I have a pretty kitty cat named Muffin who everyone here would fall in love with if they saw her. I have a strong belief in God and my faith in Him has only gotten stronger since 9-11. I was in NYC on 9-11 when it happened (was my first trip there) and needless to say, it was a life changing event for many people and you can include yours truly in that. I would love to one day become a paid professional writer in the political world as I seem to eat, sleep, and breathe politics. Can you tell? It’s awesome to get paid to do what you love to do and this is what I love to do. But even if I never get paid for it, I’d still do it. That’s how it is for those of us who are very passionate about politics.
So that’s a lil about me … you can wake up now!
Added 7/17/06: Here are a few things you didn’t know about your blog hostess
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I have also been honored to guestblog at the following blogs: