What I find worse than Trump becoming president

By Miranda Weippert | Reporter

Waking up Wednesday morning to see the numerous things being said on my social media newsfeeds about elections and the winning candidate wasn’t anything surprising.

As a journalist it’s my job to tell the truth and to tell all sides to every story.

However, the only side I see on social media is the side who is against Trump.

Election time is always a difficult time. Either the Republicans are unhappy or the Democrats are unhappy – no one is ever satisfied.

I’ve always viewed elections as picking one of the lesser evils. What makes this election so different from other elections is that both candidates were equally evil.

Today I saw people admitting to being ashamed of being part of this country – I saw people saying how disappointed they are in America.

Division is happening – we are divided – in every community – even at Bethel University.

I feel that I’m damned if I do and damned if I don’t. I’m damned if I admit to supporting Trump and I’m damned if I don’t stick up for my own beliefs and opinions.

Bethel’s students of color, women, and the LGBTQ+ community are all expressing feelings of fear, because America has just elected Donald Trump for president.

But we need to remeber that this isn’t ALL of Bethel’s community. Some of the community supported Trump. This goes for all communities – NOT every one was against Trump and WE need to respect that.

I understand many people are hurting. I understand many people are mourning. And that’s OK.

What I find worse than Trump becoming president is the way people have been acting.

What I find worse than Trump becoming president are the words that have been coming out of people’s mouths.

What I find worse than Trump becoming president is seeing people say they are ashamed to be apart of this country.

What’s done is done. Donald Trump is the President of the United States – it’s not the end of the world.

WHAT NOW?

What do we do now to move forward?

That is the real question we – as a nation – should be asking ourselves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Local buisness raises food donations for the community

Totally Tan has their 16th annual food drive coming up Nov 12 and 13, 2016.

By Miranda Weippert | Features Reporter

Totally Tan is a tanning salon that was established in 1999. They are an organization located only in Minnesota and privately owned by Don and Patti Nelson.

Totally Tan started their annual food drive in November 2000. The donations go to communities surrounding the multiple salons. It’s not only benefiting the community, but also benefiting the customer.  Anyone that brings in a nonperishable food item can tan for free.

Totally Tan continues to contribute thousands of pounds of food to the community every year with their annual food drive event. What the Totally Tan refers to as ‘free tan for a can weekend’.

All of the non-perishable food donations that are raised are given to local food shelves surrounding the salons, which means they are donating food to multiple food shelves.

“I’ve worked with Totally Tan for 10 years now and my favorite part of food drive is seeing how much food we can collect in just two days,” Maple Grove salon manager Whittney Sukut says. “Seeing everyone pitch in for a good cause is always nice.

The United States Department of Agriculture defines a meal as 1.2 pounds.

In 2015, Totally Tan raised 5,630 pounds of food donations, adding up to 4,692 meals.

“It’s so important to have our food drive because the food that is donated helps so many people in our community” Regional Manager Teresa Collins said. “Everyone needs to do their part to help one another!”

Totally Tan does their food drive every year in November just before the holidays. That way – thousands of local families can eat the way they should be eating around this time of year. This year they hope to beat last years donations.

“We are always hoping to beat the previous years donations!” Collins said.

The food drive event will be hosted Saturday Nov. 12 and Sunday Nov. 13 from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Find out more information on Totally Tan’s services, locations, business hours and more here.