I like everything.

Well, that’s not quite fair. I’m interested in everything. There are plenty of things I dislike, but I still want to know about them. When I started AlisonAllOver.com, I was motivated by the overwhelming urge to share information I felt needed to be shared. Information I felt had been overlooked, somehow. In some instances, it’s less “information” than “opinion,” but the motive is the same.

I think a lot about how my life-mentors would see or present things. There are countless people I look up to, especially in my immediate vicinity. My parents are all incredible people with widely varying views on things. My mother and father are the two people I go to first for deep conversations, and the two people most likely to give me differing thoughts. My high school art teacher was a hippie, with a strong moral compass and a laid-back attitude. My college journalism instructor is probably the most well-read, well-informed, experienced individual I have ever met; the woman is an absolute font of information and a perfect example of what it looks like to present unbiased facts.

All of these people (and a few more) are a part of every post I write. In fact, they’re a part of most of my thought processes. They’re all a part of my own moral compass, each of them a couple degrees off from the next, all of them pointing in a slightly different direction, but all of them showing me where to find what’s “right.” I’d like to live up to these high examples of humanity, because I think they’re pretty damn great.

If you’re reading my posts, here’s what I want you to know about me:

• I tried to find the facts, but if I was wrong about something, I’d like to know.
• I might not know how I feel about this, but I feel something, very strongly.
• I want you to feel something, too.
• I am trying to remember that each one of us has baggage to carry, and that I can’t know what yours feels like.
• I’d like to point out that we are all sharing this chunk of dirt, and it’s gonna get ugly if we don’t all remember that.