FEEL THE "BERN"
By Mollie and Hannah
Unexpectedly, while we were in Birmingham, AL, we encountered a Bernie Sanders campaign rally in the historical park that we had planned to visit that day: Kelly Ingram Park. Our teachers thought this would be a good experience. They did not promote Bernie; they just said it was a neat opportunity and that we should learn to be educated citizens, understand the issues, learn about different candidates, and draw our own conclusions from that information.
Seeing Bernie Sanders was a “rally” cool experience. Most of the TMS students had never seen a political rally before. Some of us snuck our way to the front row to see Bernie up close and get a high five, but other students didn't. When Bernie came on the stage there was jumping, clapping, hooting and hollering. Some of us thought that our eardrums were going to explode. Because we are students from Telluride, one thing we all noticed was how diverse the crowd was. There were long-haired people, blue-haired people, people dressed in T-shirts and shorts, business workers in suits, college students, and people of different colors, ethnicities, and ages. When we looked around, we saw people taking photos and videos, others just listening, and some nodding in agreement with Bernie's messages. There were also reporters.
Bernie spoke about many current problems including hunger, raising the minimum wage, homelessness, and drug abuse. He complained that currently, all Americans do not have access to health care, that college is not affordable, that teachers' salaries are too low, and that global warming is going unchecked. All of the points that Bernie brought up are worth fixing. He said “we," as in the American citizens, could solve these problems. However, we noticed that he never stated clearly how he would do this, how he would “take on” these issues. Still, from the crowd's chanting and cheering, it seemed like many people thought he was a god and could fix anything. We thought he made really good points, but we don’t think he could solve all the world's problems in just four years. The experience made us want to learn more about the candidates and issues.
Seeing Bernie Sanders was a “rally” cool experience. Most of the TMS students had never seen a political rally before. Some of us snuck our way to the front row to see Bernie up close and get a high five, but other students didn't. When Bernie came on the stage there was jumping, clapping, hooting and hollering. Some of us thought that our eardrums were going to explode. Because we are students from Telluride, one thing we all noticed was how diverse the crowd was. There were long-haired people, blue-haired people, people dressed in T-shirts and shorts, business workers in suits, college students, and people of different colors, ethnicities, and ages. When we looked around, we saw people taking photos and videos, others just listening, and some nodding in agreement with Bernie's messages. There were also reporters.
Bernie spoke about many current problems including hunger, raising the minimum wage, homelessness, and drug abuse. He complained that currently, all Americans do not have access to health care, that college is not affordable, that teachers' salaries are too low, and that global warming is going unchecked. All of the points that Bernie brought up are worth fixing. He said “we," as in the American citizens, could solve these problems. However, we noticed that he never stated clearly how he would do this, how he would “take on” these issues. Still, from the crowd's chanting and cheering, it seemed like many people thought he was a god and could fix anything. We thought he made really good points, but we don’t think he could solve all the world's problems in just four years. The experience made us want to learn more about the candidates and issues.