As I look out my cottage window this chilly winter day, I’m reminded of why I love living in Middle Tennessee.
Seasons here are stunning; long, hot summers that transition to beautiful, crisp, football-filled autumn afternoons, mild restorative winters, bursting into bright, sunny spring days when everything blooms and grows green and strong.
It’s a mix of small towns, bigger cities, and rural countrysides.
I live in one of those rural areas, on the outskirts of one of the bigger cities, on 8 acres of the sweetest little slice of paradise you can imagine.
Tennessee 2018 - Gayle Jordan
WEBSITE
Facebook Twitter
Donate
Life on Freethought Farm is grounding. It’s simple, but not easy. It’s peaceful but hard work. It’s the glory of nature and the heartbreak as well.
I’m an attorney, and when I’ve had a long day of mediation, helping people resolve their differences through communication and compromise, I can hardly wait to hit that gravel driveway and see my delightful menagerie waiting for me. Out of my dress shoes and clothes, and into jeans and boots for the second half of the workday. There are cattle, goats, donkeys, and chickens to feed, eggs to gather, and fences to mend.
Then there’s the garden — tomatoes, peppers, squash and beans, which, with nurture and sunshine, will provide the freshest and best meals you can ever have.
My farm is the joy of my life. But what makes it so joyful is that it is the life I’ve chosen for myself. Shoveling stalls and throwing hay is not for everyone.
I recognize how incredibly fortunate I am. I am by no means financially wealthy, and there are lean months when the days seem to stretch further than the dollars, but I have an embarrassment of riches. I am so grateful to live in a country where I can enjoy this happy, albeit, unconventional lifestyle.
That is not the case for many of my fellow Tennesseans.
I see people who are in need of basic health care, working people without employer-provided care, who are suffering from treatable diseases like diabetes or cancer.
I see teachers who have not received a substantive pay raise in years, who buy classroom supplies from their own finances.
I see roads and bridges whose disrepair is not just inconvenient, but downright dangerous.
I see our Republican supermajority broadcast over and over again our “Budget Surplus” while our counties and municipalities have unfunded road, education, and health initiatives.
So here I find myself. I have 4 beautiful, healthy adult children, all products of Tennessee public schools, who are living happy, productive lives.
I have my friends network for stimulation and fulfillment. I have a honey who loves and respects me. I have a career that affords all of what I need and some of what I want.
Why would I want to run for office? Why expose myself to the difficulty of fundraising and persuasion; particularly as a liberal woman in an historically, very red district?
With great respect to Milck, I can’t keep quiet. Generations before have fought for me to have what I have. I have a duty, but it’s more than even that.
I care about the people in my district. The farmers, the business owners, the students, the teachers, and the landowners who make up our population.
Our state government should be doing everything in its power to support these families; by facilitating a quality public education for our children, by participating in the Affordable Care Act, by improving roads and bridges, by passing measures to have broadband brought to our rural areas, and by preventing our rural hospitals from closing.
Should be. They are not. Our legislators seem far removed from the issues that affect us: their constituents. These are roads we drive on. These are schools our children and grandchildren attend. These are our friends and neighbors who don’t have the healthcare and treatment they need. These are our communities that are left without a hospital.
I care about that. I believe the people in my district care about that. We want answers. We want solutions. We want investment in our communities, in our children, and in our roads.
I want to fight for that, and I’m ready for the fight. I’m Gayle Jordan and I’m running for state Senate in TN’s 14th.
Tennessee 2018 - Gayle Jordan
WEBSITE
Facebook Twitter
Donate