Response to Grad Students
The 2016 Presidential election was highly controversial for several reasons.
For this post I decided to go with option #2, where I read and responded to three of the graduate student's blog posts.
Find the link to them here.
#1) "Election Issues 2017" by Al DiFazio.
Al's post opens up with the statement that this election has become a question of character. Who are the candidates? I agree with this notion, and I also think that these two candidates were a couple of the worst options we've had for president in recent history. I say this because Donald Trump isn't your standard 'politician' and his rough-around-the-edges personality rubs many people the wrong way. As for Hilary Clinton, she's created serious trust issues between herself and American citizens. Al says that the most important problems that presidential candidates are faced with are jobs, the economy, education, the environment, immigration, tax policy, foreign policy, terrorism, and guns & violence, in which I would agree. He highlights the fact that Trump is opposed to same sex marriage and other social issues while Hillary is in favor of them. All in all, I think that both of these past candidates are privileged and in power, connecting to our Johnson reading.
#2) "I'm sorry I cannot answer that..." by Marissa Minutelli.
Marissa's post opens up with criticism of social media, where she thought people were exaggerating Trump's negatives on Facebook, Twitter, etc. She then goes to say that after doing her own research, she found information that led her to believe Trump is actually a bad guy. Nonetheless, I think the majority of what is posted on social media is fabricated. Although there's much room for business opportunity within it, I think it's negatively affecting the mental health and social relations for many young people in America. Next, I appreciate Marissa's first-hand experience with students in Providence. The fact these children are mostly in poverty and come from diverse backgrounds relates to our Land of Limitations reading. However, I disagree with the Tweet selection she added to her post. I think she failed to realize that this Tweet isn't from Donald Trump himself, but rather a fake account posing to be Trump, therefore making her rebuttal invalid.
#3) "Teacher: The Silenced Leader Who Needs to Scream" by Jamie Miller.
I enjoyed the perspective of Jamie's post as he or she is a 7th grade ELA teacher. I can imagine this age being difficult to have some of the similar conversations we are having in this class, simply because these students are young kids. I thought the connections he or she made to the Delpit and Johnson readings were extremely valid, as well.

I agree with your statement that jobs, the economy, education, the environment, immigration, tax policy, foreign policy, terrorism, and guns & violence are the biggest problems America is facing today.
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