“His policies don’t – as for me, an 18- year-old female from Connecticut in college, doesn’t resonate within me as a demographic, but as part of America as a whole — me, as an individual, as part of America as a country, it means something.”
(Arielle Berger, 18, freshman advertising major at Syracuse University from Fairfield, Conn.)
“Actually it was kind of new because you’re in the dorm room or an apartment and you’re actually talking about politics and the election when normally you’d be talking about sports or something in the dorm. On our free time, we ended up talking about it.”
(Fredric Allen, 20, sophomore rhetorical studies major at Syracuse University from Paterson, N.J.)
“I think it’s one of the most exciting days that could ever be! I didn’t mean to get emotional about it… Having participated in a couple of marches in Washington a long time ago, I am surprised and thrilled that this is happening today.”
(Margo Koten, a retired nursing school director who said she is over 75 years old. She is from Washington, D.C., and lives in Syracuse, N.Y.
“From what I gather, most people are excited about the change. They think he might be sympathetic to third-world countries since he spent some time living in Indonesia, which is also a third-world country, so he might have a very sympathetic ear to their plight.”
(Miguel Balbuena, 52, a native of Lima, Perú, who volunteers with the outreach program at the University Methodist Church in Syracuse, N.Y.)
“Oh yeah, man, you better know that people are watching this thing in Jamaica. Today is like holiday in Jamaica. Believe me. Aw, come on man, it’s like, Labor Day. Yesterday, today, it’s all about Africans, Africa and Obama. I’ve been privileged to hear a lot of music but I know that these music stars, reggae stars are writing some songs and, yeah. Think about Bob Marley and all of this stuff.”
(Joseph Smythe, 59, of Kingston, Jamaica, director of the outreach program at the University Methodist Church in Syracuse, N.Y.)
(Ricardo Ramírez is a graduate student in magazine, newspaper and online journalism)
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