A Year Ago Today

Written by Stacey Khizder

It was a year ago today, when our realities flipped upside down after a sleepless, swollen-eyed night.

I remember the day perfectly. Last year, I was in my Junior year of college and most of us had exams and assignments due the next day (what type of professor assigns an exam immediately after the most crucial election of our time?!). It wasn't until about 8 P.M. when the mood on campus changed. 

I remember frantically updating 'FiveThirtyEight' every other minute. I remember seeing the fear on my best friend's faces as Donald Trump continued to lead the electoral college. I remember watching the live TYT coverage. I remember walking through campus a little after midnight and hearing people cry through their rooms. I remember campus on November 9th, raining, cold, and empty. 

After the year we've had with a Demogorgon in the White House, from travel bans, climate change denial, threatening women's rights, healthcare chaos, rise of alt-right white American nationalism, and from firing, to hiring, to firing again, I think it's safe to say our reactions on election night were warranted. 

A year ago, I was certain that Hillary Clinton would be the next President of the United States. Now, looking back, of course she lost! And Russia, Comey, and sexism aren't the only reasons why. 

With what is hopefully only one lap around the sun, America has been stuck in the Upside Down with a Strange orange Thing in the White House. Although he's made many troubling headlines over the last year, Donald Trump has not been able to pass some of the most troubling and threatening proposals of his agenda. That's because the Resistance is working.

But unless we want a repeat of this in 2020, we need to do more than resist...