User:Linda Olive

My name is Linda Olive. I have been editing Wikipedia for the past 2 years, but I did not create an account until 2010. I plan to edit Wikipedia every now and then when I have some free time.

I am 42 years old. I am half-black, half-white. My religion is Judaism, and when it comes to ethnicity, I see myself as more Jewish than black. Most of the people I know are Jews (all different colors). I was brought up middle-class in New Orleans.

My husband Scott is 26, all white, also Jewish. He was brought up middle class too in New Jersey. We live happily in an apartment in Boca Raton, Florida, and except for children, we feel we have everything we need.

My husband has done some Wikipedia editing too, though not as much as me. He has a user account, but I promised him not to publicly reveal it.

Both of us are legally disabled. We live on disability. I worked as a licensed practical nurse before. He worked as a nurse assistant. We met each other at a nursing home where we both worked night shift and fell instantly in love. We have been happily married for 3 years now, and I am currently pregnant with our first child.

I cannot work because of a back injury. I hurt myself very badly and I cannot sit in one place for a long time, stand for a long time, or lift a lot of weight. I have gotten a lot better, and I may go back to work doing something part-time after the baby is born. But I want to be a full-time mom as much as possible.

My husband is disabled because of a seizure disorder. He takes medicine that prevents the seizures, and he can legally drive, but the medicine makes him tired, and he cannot work full-time. We both make a little money on the side by selling homemade jewelry at a flea market.

We love to travel. We have been all over the world together.

My favorite place I have ever been to is Israel. I lived in Israel for 2 years, and I have been there 5 times ever since, twice with Scott. We have also been to Spain, Italy, Kenya, India, Thailand, Mexico, Costa Rica, Colombia, and many places in the United States. I traveled many other places when I was single.

My political views
My political views are very left-winged.

I voted for Barack Obama for president and I still support him to this day. Despite all the bad we hear about him in the news, I am still on his side.

I believe the Republicans are evil, dangerous, and deceptive, and are a disgrace, and all Americans should work hard to vote them all out.

Bush was the worst president of all time. He was the most awful and destructive one ever. He is a disgrace to the country.

I am vehemently against all the wars of the 2000s, especially the Iraq War.

Bush had two major mishandlings as president. The first was 9/11. I believe he probably could have prevented it and he surely mishandled the aftermath. I feel very sorry for the victims and those who lost loved ones, but I cannot stand the emphasis that has been put on 9/11.

I also believe Bush mishandled the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I lived in New Orleans at the time, and was forced to move because my home was destroyed and was not rebuilt. One reason I chose Florida as a place to live was so I could help vote as a Democrat. To read my Katrina story, click here.

I believe that Bush is responsible for all the major problems in this country now, and Obama did not cause them, he only inherited them.

I do not believe Bush should ever have been president. I do not believe the will of the people of Florida was to vote for him. It bothers me to this day that the fact that his brother was governor of Florida was not seen as a conflict of interest.

Fox News is routinely breaking the law by not telling the truth and by libel and character defamation and should be shut down and forced to pay its victims millions of dollars.

The Tea Party movement is threatening to society. I am scared of the Tea Party like I would be of the Nazi movement in Hitler's days.

I strongly oppose Arizona Senate Bill 1070, and I support the impeachment of governor Jan Brewer and anyone else who helped get it passed. It is detrimental to society. It makes anyone, particularly people of color, guilty until proven innocent and is unconstitutional. Many colored people, Hispanics, and Spanish-only speaking people were born and live in the United States.

I am a strong supporter of health care reform. I support everything about it except for the fine for individuals not carrying health insurance. I had really wanted a public option. Too bad we did not have enough support for that.

I am pro-choice and believe in a woman's right to an abortion. I would never get one myself. I am desperate to have children. But others can still get them.

Most members of my family share these views with me.

Personal
I am an environmentalist. I believe in recycling everything possible, minimizing fuel use, and using public transportation. My husband and I own a car, but we use it only when we really need to. The time I most used public transportation in my life was when I lived in Israel for 2 years in the 1980s.

My husband and I are both vegetarians. I do drink milk and eat dairy. I cannot do without my pizza.

I believe it is important to be friendly to other people, say hello to strangers who do not look dangerous or threatening, and to respond to friendliness when you don't feel threatened. I like being viewed as the one who can be anyone's friend. I spend most of my time socializing with other people, whoever I can find around who seems interesting. I cannot stand when I say hello to someone and they do not respond (unless they are deaf, do not know English, or do not hear).

I am Jewish, and I practice as Orthodox, except I do not dress like someone Orthodox (I love wearing sundresses! In fact, that is all I wear when it is hot in sunny Florida! But I dress more warmly when it is cold). I observe the Shabbat, eat only kosher, and go every month to the mikvah. My husband and I attend a Modern Orthodox synagogue.

My mother is Jewish from birth. My father is a immigrant from Africa and a convert to Judaism in the Conservative movement. Not all Orthodox people I know accept him as Jewish, but I believe he is. He has lived as nothing but a Jew since his conversion.

I know English and French fluently. I almost know Spanish now too. I grew up around a lot of French-speakers, but where I live now, there are a lot of Spanish-speakers, and I would love to be their friends. My husband knows some Russian and Polish. He is of Russian and Polish origin. He is descended from Holocaust survivors.