19 minute read
Student involvement in the 2020 election
from Volume 80 Issue 2
Youth In Politics:
Student Voices in the Election
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With the upcoming presidential election, students are becoming increasingly involved in politics. Although many of them cannot vote, the election is still being shaped by youth opinion.
Story by Sydney Waldron | Design Editor Carmon Baker | Online Editor
Social studies teacher Andrew Meyer students more involved and aware walks into one of his classes. Looking through a wide range of activities. out at his students, he sees two types: According to Meyer, at the end of each those who are relatively uninformed and semester, he has his students write a letter those who are very invested in politics. to a Congressman or representative to Meyer will teach U.S. government classes give students a personal connection to the second semester and tends to approach the government. two types of students differently. “Just because when we can’t vote, that “It’s a very wide spectrum,” Meyer said. “I doesn’t mean that we can’t participate,” have students that come in and be like, ‘I Meyer said. “We can participate in a have no idea, and it doesn’t mean anything variety of different manners and a variety to me.’ On the opposite side, I do have a of different mediums.” bunch of students that come in and they’re very gung ho and have, whether from their parents or from things that they’ve done “ clubs or they’ve gotten involved in, they THIS ELECTION HAS have a lot of very invested viewpoints that they’ve already begun developing.” GARNERED SUCH A GREATER According to Meyer, he believes that it is very easy for students to ignore political SIGNIFICANCE TO SO MANY issues and current events. However, he still thinks that it is important for students to MORE PEOPLE THAN ANY develop some political awareness. “It’s okay to not have an idea of what’s ONE BEFORE going on because technically, most of the time, if you’re not 18, you feel as though you HISTORY TEACHER ANDREW MEYER don’t have a voice because you don’t have a way to vote,” Meyer said. “The part where “ ‘it doesn’t mean anything to me,’ is where I start growing concerned. Everything in Overall, Meyer has seen more students government impacts your daily life. And that are aware and involved in recent so it’s important to make that realization. years, specifically in the 2020 presidential Not to say that you have to be 100% invested election. in politics at a high schooler’s age, but you “I’ve heard more and more students need to start thinking about what’s going talking about the election, talking about on.” In his classes, Meyer tries to get his STA Election Alternative Coverage by Caroline Hinkbein|Sports Editor what’s going on,” Meyer said. “This election has garnered such a greater significance to so many more people than any one before. And I think that’s a good thing. I think that’s going to lend itself to more and more people becoming involved in later elections, even after this one has subsided.” Rather than something specific that the presidential candidates are doing, Meyer partially attributes an increase in youth involvement to celebrities who raise political awareness, rather than something specific that the presidential candidates are doing. “I think we’re seeing targeting a lot of younger people in a variety of different mediums,” Meyer said. “If you turn on any football game on Sundays, you’re gonna see that they have different commercials from different players on different teams, saying, ‘Go vote, learn, figure out what you need to do, be informed and do it.’ With the pop stars or celebrities the pro-athletes, really trying to reach out and grab and show the importance of why being informed is important in life.” Due to this increased awareness, Meyer has seen more students getting involved in political issues on campus. He believes that current events have influenced events such as walkouts, climate strikes and the March on Windmoor, which are students’ ways of having their political voices heard. “There’s been more students wanting to bring change in whatever way they can,” Meyer said. “And so I think we’re gonna see that more and more: to-scale versions of
what’s going out in the public on campus. And I think that’s great. I think everybody should have their opportunity to voice their opinions and participate in whatever way they can.” For senior Abby Farmer, this election is different from others because she turns 18 this year, and this presidential election will affect the first four years of her adult life. She feels that these four years are not only essential to her, but also to the climate. “In my mind this issue is the most urgent issue on the ballot because it affects every other issue and everyone in the world,” Farmer said. “Climate Change is going to be irreversible in 10 years so this election is integral for this issue as the future president will take up 4 of those 10 years.” Climate change is an issue of importance to many younger voters. According to a CBS News study, 70% of people between the ages of 18-29 think that climate change is a major issue as of 2019.Farmer was inspired by her own research to make personal choices to help stop some of the effects of climate change. “I have been to numerous climate marches and strikes,” Farmer said. “I recycle where possible, try and buy used items that are sustainable, and recently have begun to phase into vegetarianism.” Along with making personal choices to help benefit the environment, Farmer would like to see change in government policies. She believes that Biden has a better approach and plan than Trump. “Biden has his own plan set out to phase in clean energy among many other principles, whereas Trump’s efforts have been to keep coal, natural gas and oil as the main energy sources,” Farmer said. “Biden also has said that he intends to join other countries in the fight against climate change, in which we failed to do when we withdrew from the Paris Climate Accord in 2016 under President Trump.” To help to try and swing the election to the left Farmer has joined an organization that mails letters of information to important swing states. I was super excited about writing letters across the country to try and get others to vote”, Farmer said. Senior Jacki Flowers-Carrothers has different priorities in mind. Her personal connection with immgriation has led to her strong pro-immgiration views. FlowersCarrothers was adopted from Guatemala and feels a strong connection to immigrants coming to American who she believes are just coming in search of a better life. Flower-Carrothers was frustrated with Trump’s administration policies on immigration, especially the enforcement of child separation at the border. The policy was originally written by the Obama administration, but heavily enforced by Trump because of his zero tolerance policy. Under a “zero tolerance policy” the Trump administration considers all illegal border crossings for criminal prosecution. By doing this, children have to be separated from their parents, because it’s illegal for children to be held in detention facilities for adults. “Reading articles and seeing all those people made me incredibly sad and partly angry because it’s like seeing it in the mirror,” Flower-Carrothers said. “That could have been me if I wasn’t adopted.” Flower-Carrothers’ passion for this issue has affected her vote. She feels that Biden will help overturn some of the policies that the Trump administration enforced. “I definitely think Biden’s stance on Immigration is better than Trump’s,” Flower-Carrothers said. “I know he is planning on overturning some of Trump’s policies like separating children from their families and limiting the number of immigrants coming into this country, which
I think is a good idea. Flower-Carrothers supports a more moderate approach to immigration. “I am not sure about open borders,”
Flower-Carrothers said. “I think that we should definitely let more immigrants in.” Although junior Emily Franklin will not be old enough to vote in the 2020 election, she still supports the
Republican party and would vote for
Donald Trump. However, she does not agree with everything that the Trump administration has done in terms of immigration. “I think our immigration laws are a little strict in terms of becoming a citizen,” Franklin said. “When Trump just started kicking people out of
America, I think that was a little bold of him, but there’s nothing I can really do about that.” However, Franklin does still have concerns with immigration and her stances are more conservative than
Flower-Carrothers’. According to
Franklin, her primary concern with immigration issues is the state of the economy in the United States. “Even if [immigrants are] totally harmless, I think it really affects the economy if we just have a lot of people
swarming in and just living here for free,” Franklin said. “I think people need to be working and supporting the country. I definitely think we should not just be allowing people to come and live here.” According to Franklin, her classmates see her views as “unique,” as they are typically more conservative. “I really base [my opinions] around the Catholic beliefs, and some people consider Catholicism to be homophobic or a little anti-liberal,” Franklin said. “So a lot of the grade kind of thinks of me as like that, but it’s not really true.” While Farmer participates in the mail campaign, Franklin is less involved in this election. When she is old enough to vote, she plans on voting in major elections, such for the presidency, Senate and House of Representatives. Until then, she believes that it is important to stay informed but does not actively participate. “I don’t devote a lot of time to it,” Franklin said. “But I do keep up on social media. And I will be watching the debates if it doesn’t, like, conflict. It’s not a priority of mine, you know, I mean, so yeah, I’ll try to keep up with it if I can, but it’s really not super According to Franklin, although she uses social media to keep up with certain issues, she is not open about her own political views and does not share them on social media to avoid controversy, saying “I like to keep them to myself.” However, she still believes that social media will play an important part in this election and encourages others to speak out. “I think everyone has freedom of speech, so they can share what they want, they can push out their own beliefs as much as they want,” Franklin said. “Really, I think it’s good actually, to put it out there and stand up for what you believe in.” In fact, Franklin believes that in this election, social media should be used as a means of replacing other methods of spreading political opinions. “I don’t believe in the protests,” Franklin said. “I know it’s worked in history. And that’s what people are comparing it to. But due to our advances in social media, and how to spread the word around, I feel like
Senior Abby Farmer poses for a photo at St. Teresa’s Academy Oct. 7. “I just feel very strongly about this election,” Farmer said, “As I get older I feel like it actually affects me this year and going forward in the future as I begin my adult life.” photo by Katie Massman protesting should not be something that we’re doing. [Protestors have] been burning flags. And I feel like violence is not the best way to approach it.” “ In my mind this issue is the most urgent issue on the ballot because it affects every other issue and everyone in the world
Senior Abby farmer
“Junior Lucy Wade, who also can’t vote this year, endorses Biden. Wade uses social media as an outlet for her political views; and as a way to help inform voters that can vote this year. “One way that I am involved in this election is social media,” Wade said. “I try and put things on my story that are helpful to people trying to register to vote.” About 54% of teenagers get their news from social media sites like Instagram and Facebook. Wade however, while professing her views on social media does not get her new information from these sites. “I get the Apple News updates on my phone, and sometimes click the full article if it is something I am interested in,” Wade said. “I don’t really get my politics from social media, and if I do, I always fact check it.” According to Meyer, he is conflicted about advances in social media, saying, “it’s a very sharp, double-edged sword.” He has seen social media influence recent elections and create a unique environment in recent years. “Anybody can promote any idea, [which] can lead the average person who’s only getting their news sources from social media to be misled,” Meyer said. “There are varying degrees as to which way that can go wrong. The goal, of course, is to just promote an idea, a viewpoint, so that it can be heard. And that would be great if [social media] stayed with that, but it can be used in such a way to promote misleading thoughts and basically skew the average person’s viewpoint on a certain topic or candidate in an election.” Teenagers are not the only ones who receive news from social media. According to a Pew Research Center, 2/3 of Americans get their news from social media. Ultimately, Meyer is optimistic about the future of the political landscape in the U.S. as current students become more involved with the government. “My hope is that we allow for compromise on both ends of the aisle,” Meyer said. “Is that you guys make the change, and are willing to have the discussions across political ideologies that enable us to move forward. And learn the skills, critical thinking that allow you to look past the nuances, the myth, the misnomers and the misleading information in order to kind of cut to the chase and see what is going to be best for everybody.”
The Politics of Social Media dialogue potentially diverts important creates an echochamber of like-minded
Social media has completely political issues into mere trends rather users, who all come to support the same changed the landscape of the way than concrete action. The phrase side of a political sphere. It prohibits people communicate, particularly “performative activism” describes users from being exposed to views that with politics. Political movements users who participate in the political oppose theirs because logistically the and figureheads have turned to the sphere online, but only as a trend rather algorithms are built to avoid that. mediascape to interact with their than truly activating for systematic Often, this environment is a hot-bed followers, and media outlets flood their dilemmas. for misinformation on political issues. news through these platforms such An example of this occurred In an article by The Atlantic, a study as Facebook and Twitter—where they internationally on June 2, in conducted by data scientists at the know they’ll get the most engagement. “Blackout Tuesday.” The hashtag Massachusetts Institute of Technology But with the global transition to “#BlackoutTuesday” was trending concluded that “a false story reaches cyberspace, and 72% of the public on as millions of users posted a black 1,500 people six times quicker, on social media, unseen factors have arisen square as a gesture of solidarity with average, than a true story does. And from the cracks of this political domain protests against the police killing of while false stories outperform the truth (Pew Research Center). George Floyd in Minneapolis. While on every subject… fake news about Politics are now a part of everyone’s it is important to expose followers to politics regularly does best.” daily lives, whether they consider these issues, The Dart discussed how Fake political news causes a themselves politically active or not. these performative actions dilute the heightened polarization on both sides According to Pew Research Center, importance of true activism and can of the political spectrum, causing users “around half of Americans have engaged prohibit concrete actions. to construct a misinformed view about in some form of political or social- Another downside to using social the opposing party. The Dart believes minded activity on social media in the media as a political platform is the that this will have drastic effects on how past year.” The Dart believes that this individualistic algorithms that cater politics are transferred from the media is due to the accessibility of political to each user. According to the Digital space to reality. information, now taking form in easy, Marketing Institute, “in social media, With an overwhelming amount bite-sized posts rather than lengthy algorithms help maintain order, of information available online, it is news articles. This opens the door for and assists in ranking search results important to fact check information many to have political conversations and advertisements.” For example, and the source. The Dart hopes that that may otherwise have been “meaningful customer engagement is activism online isn’t just performative overlooked and exposes non-political the key to Facebook’s algorithm layout,” and it leads to having discussions with users to these conversations; it makes and providing users with political peers and family members and starting politics prevalent and mainstream. information that will keep them the political conversation outside of an However, creating a mainstream engaged with the platform is key. This Instagram post. RIGHT ON TARGET
Junior Emily Mcnnurray
Senior Lauren Peters
“I think social media has made politics more accessible to people in our generation and to younger people who can’t vote. Being exposed to different ideas can be dangerous at times, but for the most part you are given an unbiased look at things. You’re introduced to some of the bad things in the world before you hit college.”
Black cats: a history of spiritual connections
My black cat and I have always shared a special connection, but I believe it goes deeper than a human and pet connection. I believe that my cat is a familiar, and that our souls are somehow connected.
By Sydney Waldron | Design Editor
It was a surprisingly cold Tuesday afternoon in September 2015. My dad was picking me and my brother up from school and as we walked the familiar path to his car, and as we got closer my dad told us that he had a surprise for us. I was happy, but not too excited since I expected it to be food, but as I climbed into the big, black truck and opened a small, brown box- I saw two yellow green eyes staring up at me. The day I got my black cat; Scout was easily one of the best days of my life. From the first moment our eyes met,I felt a sense of comfort and familiarity. Like we had met in a past life. When I first held her warm 5 pound body in my arms, I could feel the tenderness and love flowing between our two beings. From that day on I felt a special connection to her - like there was an invisible string tying us together. As we spent more and more time together, I started to believe that she was in fact not a cat, but a familiar. According to European folklore, a familiar is an animal with supernatural entities that assists witches. Other theories suggest that a familiar is just an animal with a deep connection to a human. It was just small ordinary things that made me believe my cat was a familiar, like when I felt anxiety when doing an assignment so Scout would prance into my room and plop herself on my lap. At times I find myself speaking to her about my problems and troubles in life, and I will say that there is something in her intelligent, yellow eyes that just makes me think she understands. As the years went by I started noticing that the connection between us began to deepen, and odder things started to happen. One night when I was taking out the trash I tripped on our curb and broke my ankle. I was in so much pain, then suddenly my cat appeared out of nowhere and rubbed against my ankles. This small act helped give me the strength to make it back into my house. Many would scoff at the notion of a spiritual connection between a cat and human, but history and legend would prove them wrong. Cats — especially black cats — have a deep and ancient history of spiritual and human connections. In Egypt, one of the most important gods was Baset. This goddess was seen as a symbol of protection, and was often viewed as a black cat. Many families kept black cats in their home to be protected by Baset. Likewise in Celtic religion, black cats were fairies known as Cat Sith. They also believed that if they left milk out on their doorstep on Halloween, a black cat would come and bless their families. The common legend of black cats being bad luck comes from Puritans associating them with witches. They believed that witches could turn into black cats nine times, which is where the cats have nine lives myth comes from. Most black cat legends include a theory of fate involving the meeting of a familiar and their person. When I reflect back on the way that I got my cat, it’s hard not to believe that there was something divine about the way our paths intersected. A middle-age engineer was driving on the road to work, just an average day for an average man. What he didn’t know about that day or himself is that he would be uniting two soul, mates. As he drove along I-34, he noticed something in the trees, a small black cat. For reasons that will forever remain unknown, something compelled him to pull over his car and save that little 5 pound cat from certain death. He then brought her to his work where she was picked up by a man hoping to bring joy to his daughter and son who had an affinity for cats. I know the idea of supernatural, and fates intertwining often seems unbelievable, but I think those that have experienced it first hand have no doubt of its existence and the role it plays in everyone’s life. There is no doubt in my mind that the spirit that lives inside of my cat’s little body and my soul are intertwined by fate and spirits that I will never fully be able to understand. B
