"We are being divided by the people who benefit from keeping us in a constant state of discomfort with the 'Other Side.' We need to stop buying into the false narrative that there are two sides; it's just not true."

I'm a Southern California-based writer on the Lifestyle team who likes to try and rank viral foods and read and recommend awesome books.

"The people in Virginia are nice, but the DMV area is a transplant area, so it’s hard to make friends. The people in Texas have been incredibly kind from the moment I moved there. I made friends super easily, people hold doors open for one another, people have manners, and what I’ve noticed is that you’re always treated with respect until you do something to lose that respect."

"But here it can be frustrating that so many people seem to be doing NOTHING at all. But I do feel like I make an impact, and it's easy to get connected with other people trying to do the same."

"The Texas grid is on par with that of a third-world country, and we have had more power outages in five years than in over half a century in the Midwest. The crime rate in Houston is very high, and there are fewer cops per capita to respond. Even our quiet family-friendly area has its share of car thefts and shootings. And of course, Texas's political bass-ackwardness is known around the world. If we didn't have kids here, we would definitely live elsewhere."

Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.