By Muhammad Elarbi
San Diego, CA
It was the opening weekend of the 2017 NFL preseason, and I found myself in the MetLife Stadium press box to cover the New York Jets and Tennessee Titans. One would assume that someone who has a seat in the press box would be knowledgeable about what is going on. But this time, that wasn’t the case.
Saturday marked my first time at a football game. Before I entered the stadium, I didn’t even know which state the teams called home. I was clueless.
By Yamilet Velez
Los Angeles, CA
In the low-income neighborhoods that surround the worst factories in the United States, smoke fills workers’ lungs, clogs the environment, and paints the skies grey. As dystopian as that sounds, harsh factory conditions are a reality in many communities of color.
My own parents moved into East Los Angeles, near the Tesoro Oil Refinery, not because it had the cleanest air, but simply because they couldn’t afford homes in the “rich areas” of Los Angeles, California. That was their only option, and unbeknownst to them, it was a dangerous one.
By Danielle Quezada
San Bernardino, CA
In the final ten seconds of the Princeton-Notre Dame basketball game, time seemed to stand still. Princeton was in possession of the ball, and optimism filled Tigers fans. With five seconds remaining, Princeton’s Devin Cannady tried for a three-pointer to win the game. As the ball arced toward the net, the crowd rose with excitement — but the ball bounced from the rim onto the backboard and into the hands of Notre Dame. Seconds later, the team and the crowd wore dejected faces and bowed heads. The scoreboard read: 59-58, Notre Dame.
By Claudia Kania
Burbank, IL
The nationwide debate over private prisons came to the Princeton campus this year, with students speaking out against corporations contracted by the federal government to house inmates.
For-profit prisons came to center stage in February, after the Justice Department under President Trump’s administration opted out of the previous administration’s plan to gradually discontinue the practice.
By Libbing Barrera and Christopher Quintero
Spring, NY and El Paso, TX
President Trump is the target of many negative reviews from New Jersey residents. On a Friday evening in Princeton, New Jersey, local people were questioned about their perception of Trump’s policies and his time as president.
Janet Shaw, a 66 year-old woman from Plainsboro, New Jersey shook her head and sighed that there were “simply no words” to explain her contempt for Trump. She felt quite strongly about people that voted for him and was shocked to hear there were Princetonians that supported him. Shaw claims the media portrays him accurately — as a “horrible human being” — and doesn’t think he could do anything to improve his image. Continue reading
By Annie Dong
New York City, NY
Last year, as President Trump campaigned on an anti-immigration platform, Princeton Mayor Liz Lempert was knocking on doors in one of Princeton’s immigrant communities as she campaigned for her second term. She approached a Muslim couple to ask for their support. The woman, wearing a headscarf, lingered in the doorway.
“They were terrified,” Lempert said in an interview.
By Joselin Rosales
Wapato, WA
The Jets kicked off their 2017 preseason with a 7-3 win over the Titans on Saturday night at MetLife Stadium, showing some promise but also many of the issues that plagued the team last year.
New York ranked 26th in total offense last season, and Saturday night’s game was more of the same. The Jets scored a touchdown on their opening drive, but both teams struggled offensively.
By Tanya Solorzano
Bell Gardens, CA
Princeton student Arlene Gamio had to worry about more than just passing classes and getting homesick: As someone with a non-binary gender identity, Gamio had to grapple with living in a dormitory restricted to a gender with which they did not identify.
That arrangement made the already-difficult task of coming to terms with gender identity even more difficult, they (Gamio’s preferred pronoun) said.
By Gabby Santana
New York City, NY
In the 1980’s my grandmother emigrated from the Dominican Republic to the South Bronx, carrying her belongings, her wedding photographs, and jewelry passed down through several generations, all packed into three suitcases. She took any job she could, working as a waitress, a home attendant, and a babysitter. It wasn’t much, but she built a comfortable household. The South Bronx was a place where you could build a life for yourself.
By Wilson Cruz and Tamara Sanchez
Los Angeles, CA and Waukegan, IL
When New Jersey resident Santford Overton was asked what he disliked most about President Donald Trump, he had a hard time choosing one thing.
“Everything about him is a fraud,” said Overton, 68, a retired school teacher.
The Princeton Summer Journal 