President Barack Obama has taken his oath of office, and by this I am very pleased. This was an election that excited the masses, even the stereotypically apathetic masses of my generation. But we cannot simply rest with a great leader in the highest office of our land. We must put strong leaders in local governance as well. This is why I support Barnaby Dinges for mayor of Evanston. Barnaby knows the value of hard work, having working hard throughout his schooling, despite living in foster care, and ultimately running his own business. He has the business smarts and experience to fix Evanston’s financial situation. He will work tirelessly to help Evanston balance the budget, implement new “green” solutions, and ensure that Evanston’s schools stay high-quality and even improve them where possible. Barnaby will work to improve relations with Northwestern to ensure a relationship beneficial to both Northwestern and Evanston. Northwestern students are bright entrepreneurs looking for involvement. We should work together to make sure this involvement is beneficial to Evanston, the town in which we students are spending our formative college years. It is imperative that we come out in droves and vote in this election. The 2008 elections proved many things, and one of those was that every vote matters. Several senate and house races were decided by razor-thin margins, and it is not unlikely that this election will be as well. But Evanston has had historically low turnouts for mayoral elections. In the past election, just over 11,000 people voted, the same number that voted early for the presidential election. We must care about who is sitting in our mayor’s chair. Mayor Morton has done her service to the community, and for this we are grateful, but now we are electing someone new. Mr. Dinges should be that someone. Mr. Dinges will be the people’s mayor, a mayor for all of the people of Evanston. He has the experience and the know-how to fix the financial situation. Though my generation has been called apathetic, unwilling to vote, we were involved in Obama’s election. Now I am excited about Mr. Dinges’ election. Please vote, please care, and know Barnaby Dinges is the right vote for Evanston now. — Emily Garrett, Northwestern School of Education and Social Policy Student