The Distance

Similarly to 2016, the fate of our presidential election will largely come down to how the Midwest performs. Unlike in 2016, absentee and mail-in ballots play a bigger role in the fate of the nation than ever before. Since the arrival of COVID-19, but even before, this election has promised to hold much uncertainty and influence for the years to come. Many liberals believe that the results will greatly affect racial issues in America, the country’s international standing, climate change, immigration, marriage equality, women’s rights and many other contested issues that have found themselves at the forefront of the national stage.

When hearing from Carls about the precarious nature of this election, it is clear that nothing is certain. Sophie Perfetto ’23 said on Wednesday, November 4, “Last night was incredibly stressful. I knew there was a good chance that the election wouldn’t be called last night, but I had no idea how nail-bitingly close it would be.”

Despite the cancellation of all Carleton Off-Campus Studies programs for Fall and Winter 2020, Carleton was able to offer a study abroad program to students through the Danish Institute for Study Abroad (DIS) in Copenhagen, Denmark. Fifty-five Carleton students took advantage of the opportunity to study in Denmark this term, and the program will be extended to Winter Term as an alternative to returning back to campus after the break.

Since he had never been abroad before, for Luis Alvarez ’22, the opportunity to study in a country that boasts vastly fewer cases of COVID-19 was one he could not pass up. At the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, Denmark was quick to enact a lockdown and enforce social distancing and mask requirements. Having done this early on, and with the adherence of its citizens, Denmark was able to contain the spread of COVID-19 effectively. In just mid-April, Denmark began to partially re-open. 

Course modes remain relatively unchanged for winter, impacting off-campus students

The distribution of Carleton courses between online and in-person modes will remain roughly the same in the winter as it was during Fall Term, according to The Carletonian’s analysis of course listings on the Hub. During the pandemic, Carleton is offering courses in four different modes—online, face-to-face, hybrid and mixed mode. Hybrid courses have both online components and mandatory in-person components, while mixed mode courses have an in-person component for those on campus but can also be taken by off-campus students.

About 65% of courses will be entirely online this winter, compared to 60% during Fall Term. Of the remaining courses, roughly 16% will be hybrid, 9% will be mixed mode and 10% will be face-to-face. During Fall Term, those numbers were 17%, 12% and 11%, respectively. The relative lack of change suggests that most departments and professors are taking a similar approach to the fall.

Let’s start off with a collective sigh. 

Election Day is over. This round of voting is over. I’m closing tabs on my computer and deleting notes on my phone with titles like “GOTV plan” and “CarlDems/Sunrise To-Do.” I’m ripping off sticky notes that say VOTE from my dorm room door. And I’m celebrating, just a little bit, because a lot of the work did get done. We kept Minnesota blue, by a big margin. We re-elected Senator Tina Smith and State Representative Todd Lippert and Congresswoman Angie Craig, if just barely. And when I say “we,” I mean Carls. Our precinct’s turnout was high, almost as high as in 2018, even with 500 fewer students on campus. Those votes mattered. Thank you.

This Tuesday, I again witnessed this country’s willingness to toy with the rights and livelihoods of the most vulnerable as I sat on the couch watching the screen switch from red to blue like an ambulance light. 

The United States had its perfect candidate (and I don’t mean that as a compliment). A centrist, white, Christian man who believes police brutality can be solved by teaching officers to shoot people in the foot instead of the heart, a man who has been intimidated away from banning fracking by conservatives.

Like many others across America, I exercised my right as a citizen to vote. Also like many, I did not do this on Election Day, but rather participated as an early voter. I walked to City Hall, with what I thought was everything I needed. My student ID, and another government-issued ID. Turns out, registering to vote also requires a ‘proof of address.’ Thankfully the workers at the polls were able to figure out a way around this, and I was able to vote. This only happened because Minnesota is a state that allows same-day voter registration. 

A lot of people in this country don’t fully appreciate how great and cool our democracy is. Many people feel like voting does nothing because they’ve voted a few times and nothing about their material or financial condition has changed. That is wrong because the odds that the candidates will have the exact same effect on the country is pretty much zero because it follows a continuous distribution of lives ruined. 

If you want something, just vote for it. You’re not a billionaire because you didn’t vote. Let’s talk about the issues: people want many things, a beautiful partner, a fancy car, rare Pokémon cards or other stuff, but they don’t vote for it. Votes are like magical beans, you have to vote to get what you want, and you have to water the beans with more votes to get what you want.

“You’re asking me to comment on a hypothetical, and I cannot characterize the facts in a hypothetical situation,” newly-confirmed Justice Amy Coney Barrett reportedly said to a waiter at a Washington, D.C. restaurant. 

“Ma’am,” the waiter responded, “if you would like more information, our soup du jour is minestrone. You may choose from three salad options, all of which are made and tossed in-house. Which would you like tonight?”

Incumbent President and Deutsche Bank all-time favorite Donald John Trump won the majority of ballots cast in Rice County for the 2020 general presidential election. DJT beat democratic challenger Joseph Robinette Biden by 69 votes. Both candidates received thousands of votes in Rice County, and the chances of the difference being exactly 69 votes are astronomically low. Many of our staff members have found this very funny, so much so that they insisted that I write something about it. I assume this has to do with the fact that Exit 69 is the exit you take to get to Carleton. It may also be funny because it represents two Carletonian staff members congratulating each other for finding a sex joke funny.

By now, the tamaracks have turned a bright orange and the yellow-rumped warblers have flown south. With a 5:00 pm sunset and snow in the forecast, the Arboretum is on the brink of winter. As snakes and frogs prepare for hibernation in rodent burrows and old stumps, turtles are preparing for a long winter beneath the ice.

Five species of turtle find a home in the Arboretum. Named for their bright orange undersides and streaks of yellow, the painted turtle (Chrysemys picta) is the most common turtle in the Arboretum. Snapping turtles (Chelydra serpentina), spiny softshells (Apalone spinifera) and other common species can also be found in Lyman Lakes and on the Cannon. All of these species survive underwater each winter through a miraculous array of adaptations.