Exciting news!

I will be taking a break from posting regular content on the blog. 2021 is a hectic year as I pursue an adventure that is new in a sense (because this is the year of making it into reality) but at the same time, is half a decade in the making.

I am running for public office, for the City of Edmonton’s municipal elections, as a city councilor candidate for the district I live in, which is ward sipiwiyiniwak in West Edmonton, the current Ward 5 that with additional neighbourhoods from Ward 1 captured as well. The pronouncination is like this: silent yi, as in see-pee-wee-nee-wak. The campaign website is here! https://www.gisellegeneral.ca/

So is this website going to be the campaign page? No. It’s just that there may be longer breaks between posts. I might post a blog or two in case I decide to procrastinate (haha!) but it will be less frequently than what I do now.

Where’s the campaign information? Right now? It’s not ready. Once it’s ready, they will be posted here. However, on my personal Twitter account https://twitter.com/gisellegeneral I am posting personal perspectives on the campaign trail so far. Once the campaign accounts (both website and social media) are set up, I will post more content about policy and platforms.

How are you feeling? So far, overall okay. There are stressful, isolating, overwhelming moments yes, but so far, most things are figure-outable if you know what I mean. Part of my goal is to demystify the campaign process for the average Edmontonian, to showcase what it takes. I want to show the trials and tribulations of being a first-time candidate, in order to inspire participation from my fellow average Edmontonians, to inspire my fellow Filipinos to care a bit more about municipal politics, and smash some glass ceilings along the way and bring forward perspectives that seem to be typically overlooked when it comes to polity. It would be nice to be the first Filipino-Canadian city councilor in Edmonton, or at least someone considered a very strong candidate who aimed to reach that goal as hard as possible. I am running against the incumbent again, which is consider an additional, usually insurmountable obstacle, but as Barney Stinson says in the show How I Met Your Mother, “Challenge Accepted!”

I hope that the articles I posted here in the past are helpful or entertaining. And if you live in Edmonton, I hope to see you on the campaign trail – mostly electronically because you know, it’s still a pandemic.