Back in Oneonta

After an exciting weekend spent in New Hampshire witnessing their 100th primary, our class returned home late Wednesday night. It was somewhat surreal to be back on my college's campus after being in the thick of the presidential race for so long and definitely less exciting. Waking up this Thursday morning knowing I had to attend class rather than some type of rally or town hall was a struggle, but knowing what I got to do over the weekend, I was able to get through it.

I may have mentioned this in a previous post, but while I was in New Hampshire I met a journalist name Jack Hitt who writes for the Huffington Post "Highline." My friends and I were interviewed by him when we attended the Chris Christie town hall and subsequently ran in to him at other events in New Hampshire. It turned out that he was doing the same things we were; going to any candidate events that he could and writing about them with his writing partner Kevin Baker. If you get a chance I would highly recommend you read his articles on Highline (you can get there by following the link at the bottom of this post). His articles give off the idea that he is having a conversation with his readers, telling them what he has been seeing and what he thinks of candidates and the primary process in general. And my friends and I happen to be mentioned in Day Two of his journey, which is pretty cool.

As I was in the van on the way back from New Hampshire I also had the pleasure of doing a phone interview with Casey Seiler from the Times Union, a newspaper that is based out of Albany, New York and focuses on people and issues affecting the Capitol Region, the area where I grew up. He wanted to know more about my experience in New Hampshire and about this blog, which I was extremely flattered by. His article was published in the Times Union today, Thursday February 11th both in print and online and can also be found at the bottom of this article. Mr. Seiler was also able to interview one of my classmates who is from the Capitol Region, Hannah Smith, and her experiences from New Hampshire are documented in this article as well.

Going from the nonstop action of a presidential election to the much calmer air around the campus of Oneonta is a transition that I wish I didn't have to make. Spending five days in New Hampshire definitely solidified the idea that I want to be involved in politics or the press in some form when I graduate college and maybe even to a lesser extent while I spend the next 3 years in college. So I just wanted to say thank you for reading this blog. I never thought that I would be getting noticed with it; it started out as an assignment for a class and has begun to blossom into something much more than that. I'll continue to keep you updated on the presidential election, just not to the extent I did during my trip, I am a college student after all. And maybe I even instilled in you the curiosity to learn more about politics or the presidential election process or just getting involved in your community. I hope you continue to follow along with me as this race continues because you never know what could happen next.


Jack Hitt, Huffington Post Highline article: http://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/american-electoral/#day-1

Casey Seiler, Times Union article: http://www.timesunion.com/tuplus-local/article/A-lesson-in-presidential-politics-6822330.php#photo-9385368