President Donald Trump signed a new executive order yesterday to “temporarily ban visitors from six Middle East and African countries while the administration creates an extreme vetting program, taking pains to remove the pitfalls of the original order and the perception that it’s a ‘Muslim ban.’” In that original order, created Jan. 27, Trump shocked millions of Americans when he signed an executive order halting people from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Many people took to protesting at airports immediately after, including here at Sea-Tac Airport the weekend after the order was signed. 

Growing up, Valentine’s Day was one of my favorite holidays, mainly because I loved eating candy and picking out cards for everyone in my class. I remember having a heart attack every time I’d give my crush a somewhat risky card. There was one time in 4th grade I gave this guy a Lizzie McGuire card that said, “You’re delish.” I’m not even joking, that’s what it said. I’m only now realizing how creepy it is for a 10-year-old to refer to another kid as “delish.” 

A little after 7 p.m. last Friday, I was in Mount Vernon, the next town over from Burlington, going out to dinner with my cousins before coming back to Seattle for school.

“Wait, you go to UW?” were the exact words an Uber driver uttered to me in disbelief as he took his eyes off the road for a second to glance back at me. I internally rolled my eyes as I explained to him that, yes, I was a student at the UW.