Meet - Joshua Nolan - Our Newest Writer For Independent Thought

Here’s a little introduction to our newest contributor, before he releases his first post.

Hi, my name is Joshua Nolan and I could not be more excited to write for Independent Thought.

Reading, analyzing, and subscribing to journalism has been a by-product of my entire adult life. I come from Northwest Pennsylvania, and have lived around Ohio, California, Alaska, and Northern Kentucky since I moved from my hometown at the age of 15.

I’ve experienced multiple shifts in my understanding of the world. I first jumped into my career as an Arabic Linguist for the Army, which completely upended my conservative upbringing.

I learned to live with and rely on people of all different genders, ethnic backgrounds, and outlooks on life. Since then, I’ve been driven by a passion for culture, imperialism, international relations, history, and anthropology.

Currently, I work as a high school social studies teacher, where I’m beginning to see that intersectionality of the subjects above is about to be critical to understanding what’s happening in the United States and abroad.

I have observed a shift in the political spectrum since the optimism of the DNC under Obama in 2008. It’s important to me to analyze the shifts in the protections for human rights, women’s equality, queer representation, paradigm-shifting protest, and cross-cultural literacy that led us to this point.

Jump to the present, and while much of our collective overstimulation from our various crises has resulted in very little meaningful progress, we’re in the midst of a few more, to say the least.

I want to contribute to the growing patchwork of independent journalism to lift up the voices of the oppressed, and to appeal to reason for those that are unsure of how to feel about critical historical junctures.

I’m encouraged by recent discourse over rising progressive movements around the world, but terrified that fascism will take hold on power before class consciousness and unity can find its footing.

We’re running out of time to ensure society doesn’t collapse, but we can be fast learners if we need to be. I hope I’ll shine a light on the pathway to the books.