Op/Ed

Gabrielle Kreidie

Guest Writer

We are here, the day of the Presidential Election. After over a year of non stop media obsession, months of countless candidates during an unforgettable primary season, and weeks of surprise after surprise for the two top party candidates, we are days away. Days away from electing the 45th President of the United States of America and our country couldn’t be more tense.

The surprises started after a flawed debate performance from the Republican nominee when a few days later, a sexist video representing Donald Trump’s past comments on women began circulating. It seemed like from that day forward, Mr. Trump had no path forward to the highest office in the U.S.. That changed with the Wikileaks investigating into the emails of Clinton’s long term aide John Podesta, released in a segments for the last few weeks ago. These new batches being released daily, show more and more deeply concerning communications, bribes, and possible flawed decisions from an already imperfect Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and her defective circle of top aides filled with billions of secrets and inconsistencies. These leaks simply continued the dishonest and skewed thoughts millions of Americans have for a person they think embody everything that is wrong with the political world today, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Though these Wikileaks findings were digging close into the heart of a majority of Americans views on Secretary of State Clinton, there were no deep poll numbers or bumps in her campaign. That was until Friday October 28th, which could have been the large turning point for the election. October 28th, 2016, could very well be one of those dates that everyone will remember where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news. The words through my mind and I’m sure many more, was “not more Clinton emails!”.

After months of the nonstop scandalous depictions of Mrs. Clinton’s emails, the FBI and Justice Department were unable to find reasonable evidence to serve Hillary with criminal charges. FBI Director James Comey found that Hillary’s decision was “extremely careless” but gave no indication of charging the Democratic nominee. We all thought that that would be the end of the emails… but then Anthony Weiner happened.

The disgraced, sex scandal complete former Congressman and candidate for NYC mayor, was discovered to have messaged lude comments to an underage girl. The FBI began investigating Mr. Weiner immediately after the accusations were brought to their attention. As soon as the story came out, Huma Abedin–Mr. Weiner’s wife and long time aide to Hillary Clinton– announced her plans to divorce her shamed husband. During the investigation into the messages, the FBI came across the device that was shared between Weiner and Abedin. This device stored emails related to Hillary Clinton that had not been originally looked at in the first investigation. The FBI obtained a warrant and now are searching those emails. Up until Saturday November 5th, it seemed like the investigation would go on for weeks but finally a follow up of the words heard in July came out and Hillary was cleared. From that point forward, Hillary Clinton has had the easier fly to the White House.

So here we stand. Two weeks ago, it seemed like Hillary Clinton was on her way to the office she has obsessively chased for decades and could still very much get there with 320+ Electoral Votes. But you can never trust or call victory to a Clinton to early. With the ever present lack of trustworthiness and lies that follow the Clinton’s and their team everywhere they turn, there is a possibility that this election may not be hers. National polls are closer than ever. State polls are so inconsistent within each other that now pollsters are saying that states that were once seen as Clinton (Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin) bets could go either way. With hours until the election arrives, and with Clinton and Trump just about tying with dishonesty and unpopularity nationwide, the election is seeming more and more like a tossup. Today is the day. These have turned out to be the most stressful days for the American people and surprises could be lurking around every corner throughout the day. Nothing can happen, everything can happen, anything can happen. The not knowing and the inconsistencies of a Trump presidency are growing by the hour. And we are voting today, we are voting TODAY.

Chiara Nemati

Opinion Editor

As we head into Election Day, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump pull out all the stops to sway their voters to go out and vote.

Hillary Clinton held a rally tonight at Independence Hall. Chelsea Clinton, Bill Clinton, and the Obamas were present to share their final remarks on this election.

The wait to get in was a long and cold one. I arrived around 5:30 and did not pass through security until about 7:40. Even in the line excitement spread all over. No one could wait to hear the Clinton’s and Obama’s. 

Chelsea and Bill focused on Hillary as a mother figure and all that she has done on in her past, while the Obamas made the message clear. No one is more qualified to run this country, we will break barriers and continue our path forward. Through these strong words, the air at Independence Hall was filled with hope. The Obamas were able to stress the importance of this election, Donald Trump’s downfalls, and Hillary’s character and passion all into one captivating speech.

My hope tonight is that those who can vote will make the decision to go out to their polling place. That just like all of the tens of thousands of people who showed up to Clinton’s rally will have the patience and willpower to go out and vote. Because as each of the speakers stressed tonight…this is an important election and every and any vote counts.

While I can not vote, I enjoy any moment I can spare learning about our country and the people who have an influence in changing the policies that affect me. So I also urge all of you who can vote to go out and vote.

Lauren Nicolella

Staff Writer

This November, I will be running my third half-marathon thanks to Students Run Philly Style.

Running long distances has become such a large part of my life, and I am not shy when it comes to talking about the program and my experiences. The practices take up a lot of time, I dedicate four days a week  to making my body stronger and getting my mindset in the right place.

I joined Students Run in seventh grade, and I was even more awkward than I am now. I constantly reflect on that year, thinking of how my coaches flooded me with compliments of how much I had improved in my first full season of running.

I had my doubts, but I had a whole team by my side and they helped clear those troubles up. My coaches and the other students on that team are some of the most important people involved in my life, and I am forever grateful.

But of course in all good things, there is a downside to them. I genuinely enjoy to run, but after a full busy day of school I do not feel motivated at all to get my shoes on and head out with the team. I have been trying to push myself to become more positive when I reach situations like that.

October was an especially difficult month, being the month that all of the teachers decided to give four benchmarks at once. I started to worry about how I was going to handle them all because I got home so late.

Depending on the milage, the time I would get home varied. If it was a simple three miles, I would get home before the sun went down. Six miles? Forget it. I was already so tired and worn out, I didn’t want to push my body further to do something I already wasn’t looking forward to doing all day.

When I come across these negative situations during or after practice, I try to stand back for a moment and reflect on all of the good things I have done. I appreciate all of the people I have met through Students Run, and all of the older students who are so willing to cheer and motivate me to make myself do things that I never thought would have been possible.

If you decide to join Students Run, you better be dedicated and ready to go because it really is not a joke. For me, nine months of training will finally pay off on November 19th.

Saamir Baker

Staff Writer

It was an average day at SLA, or so I thought…

“Why do you look so suspicious? Do you have anything on you?”

I had been standing by the pool, minding my own business, when suddenly I was being grilled by a police officer.

“I don’t have anything.”

“You look very suspicious though. What’s your name?’

“Saamir.”

“Where did you get that book bag from, Saamir?” He pointed to my military-style backpack.

“My brother is in the Army.”

“What post?”

“I forget, but he’s stationed in California.”

“He’s lucky. I got stationed in Arizona.”

“That sounds like it sucks…”

“Back to you, it looks like you’re hiding something.”

“I swear, I’m not hiding anything “ I laughed nervously. What was he trying to do, anyway?

“Well, then why were you so afraid of me?”

His question hit me like a truck. Why was I so afraid of this police officer?

I cursed why Officer Byrd let this random man through the front door, police officer or not. I couldn’t lie and say because he was a stranger, regular strangers didn’t make me become fear-stricken. It was  because the recent police brutality in the news, the heat of the discussion, and the “Black Lives Matter” movement that made me become so fearful.

Something about the uniform, his badge, and just how successful he was about his questioning was scared me. Even though this police officer was a black man as well, I became afraid regardless of the understanding we could have for each other. His color faded to me because of the uniform.

Little did I know, I would see this police officer again. That Thursday, we were called in for a junior grade group meeting. We all crowded into the drama studio for an SLA alumni career fair. I couldn’t believe the Officer who harassed me was an SLA alum this entire time! Officer Wallace, AKA Doug Wallace, graduated from SLA in 2012.

Though his career choice isn’t one that interests me personally,  I took something valuable from that grade group meeting. Wallace talked about his experiences on the force and in the army before that. He explained the hardest part of his job, about being able to relate to the community and having tension be risen from all of the events happening between minorities and police. He talked about wanting to make a difference in the community and in general.

I saw that there is still a person behind the badge, and I realized that seeing that person is  something I should do more. Though I still wish people realized I was a person beyond my own skin tone, I was no better than them by automatically being afraid of a police officer. It’s amazing to see just how small events can be patched together to teach a wider lesson.