Young Writers Society

Welcome to Squills, the official news bulletin of the Young Writers Society!

What will you find here? Tons of interesting news about YWS, including but not limited to: articles about writing, art, and the world of humanities; interviews with YWS members; shameless plugs; link round-ups; and opinionated columns.

And where will all of this come from? Take a look at our fantastic creative staff!





Of course, our content can’t come only from our staff. We also depend on you to help keep Squills successful. You’re all a part of a writing community, after all. If you’re interested in submitting to Squills, pop on over to the Reader’s Corner to find out how you can get involved by contributing an article or participating in other Squills activities. You can also subscribe to the Squills Fan Club , or PM SquillsBot to receive a notification each time a new issue is published!

Well, that’s all I have for now. So, what are you waiting for? Enjoy!

1. Green Room Gallery (Valentine Gallery)
2. January 2016 Review Day
3. FM Interview
4. Noteworthy Novels
5. Festooned: New Stars
6. 2016 - Books to Anticipate
7. Quibbles
8. Newsflash
9. Politics Coverage
10. New Arrivals
11. The Weekly Roundup
12. Subscribers

GREEN ROOM VALENTINE GALLERYwritten by BlueAfrica < PM: >

Welcome to a special Valentine’s Day edition of the Green Room Gallery! This week’s gallery features romantic works for your viewing pleasure. Check them out and give them some love!

Ascent Chapter 5 by @Storygirl95
Rated 16+.

A soccer date gets hijacked when a second man enters the scene with the idea of taking Jenna to a movie. Date or disaster? Read to find out!

Please Remember Me by @~Volant~

Prince Deravin and Princess Serena were betrothed before birth and incredibly close until the prince’s disappearance. Now Serena has found him again, but he doesn’t remember her, their history, or who he is.

Hey lady , thee and thy (first 1/2) by @Himanshitripathi

This is Himanshitripathi’s first poem, so head over and review the heck out of it!

New Year part 2 by @maverymadams

Haley likes her friend James, and he likes her too...or so she thinks, until he says he can’t date. Everyone knows that means they never really liked you to begin with, right? But there might be more to the story...

One Step At A Time (Near To You - Chapter 2) by @janarose
Rated 16+ for language and mature content.

Beau looks even better than T.J. remembered. After four years, the two ex-lovers are about to catch up.

Petrichor- Ingage’s Haircut by @Joelsweet

To rescue Rynceres, Ingage must sacrifice his long hair. But Rynceres loves his hair, and without it, Ingage won’t be pure enough to continue his job as town healer.

Chapter 3, The Name Game by @BlackhawkUnder

Wolfria gets a confession of love...but not from the man she’s supposed to marry! What will happen next?

The Girl Pt. 1 by @cheaperpoetry

An ode to a special girl.

No hurry, Cupid! by @Sunbeam

Don’t hurry, Cupid! Sometimes, relationships can be more trouble than they’re worth.

Sex in the battle field by @MichaelaBobbin
Rated 18+ for mature content.

If you’re looking for something more explicit this Valentine’s Day, this is the story for you. Exactly what the title says, along with some romantic mush and a tragic plotline!

Interested in something other than romance this Valentine’s Day? Check out the Green Room for more works in need of reviews!

THE JANUARY 2016 REVIEW DAY REVIEWwritten by BlueAfrica < PM: >

Until the evening of January 30th, the Green Room was as packed as I’ve ever seen it. When I first wrote Green Room Gallery for that week’s issue of Squills, there were 174 works with zero reviews and a whopping 315 works with one review. Although the Green Room was never emptied, Sub Zero and the Sanguine Warriors--our two review teams for last month’s Review Day--managed to make a hefty dent in those numbers. By the time the January 2016 Review Day had officially ended, there were only 96 works with zero reviews--nearly half the number of unreviewed works there were before--and 221 works with one review.

Based on my math--which, admittedly, may be flawed--and the numbers I have--which, sadly, are only the respective numbers of works in the Green Room before and after Review Day--that means that at least 250 reviews were done on works in the Green Room alone. Unfortunately, as the official results for the January Review Day have not yet been posted, I don’t know how many reviews were actually written, particularly for works outside the Green Room.

What I can tell you is that Team Sub Zero won the day, with a final count around 200 reviews on their own! The Sanguine Warriors’ final count is less clear, but they battled bravely and helped bring the works in the Green Room from 500 to just over 300.

Congratulations to all Review Day participants! Be sure to help keep the reviewing going by joining R.E.D. or Team Tortoise .

FEATURED MEMBER INTERVIEW WITH FELISTIAwritten by Elysium < PM: >

Hello everyone! Elysium your community reporter here with our Featured Member @felistia. I interviewed her over the week and here it is!



felistia: I was taken completely by surprise when I found out I was the Featured Member. I was hoping to be featured, but never expected for it to actually happen. I am extremely happy to be featured.



f: My favourite thing to do on YWS is to review people's work. I really like reading and I see a lot of talented writers on this site. It is a fun place to read and review when I have free time.



f: My favourite things to write are novels and poetry. Fantasy, action\adventure, mystery\suspense and realistic writing is my strong point.




f: I would say to spend a lot of time on the site reviewing and in general helping people with their writing. Try to be the top of the reviewing leader boards all the time and set up a reviewing thread.

Thank you felistia! Well, that's all for today! Thanks for reading!

Noteworthy Novelswritten by Pretzelstick < PM: >

Surprise!! I decided to do two article for Squills this week. And my second article selection is the beloved section of Noteworthy Novels. I though that this was a good time to honor the authors who won the Best Novel Award for 2015. Up to the spotlight today is the lovely author @Noelle with her novel The Patterson Files: Burned
Let's put the spotlight on her and get on with the awesome interview that was conducted!




Noelle: My inspiration seems to come in minimal details. Usually for novels it's a single character or a single scene that pops into my head. For this novel it was a mission that the main character Bryn has to go on. I still have a copy of this scene I wrote down a few years ago. The character names and situation outcomes are different, but the general idea is still there. The rest of the novel was built around that.



N: Bryn Patterson is the daughter of spies. She grew up training alongside her parents and family, as well as close friends. There was danger at every turn. Now she has the skills to survive in one of the most dangerous countries in her world. If only she could remember her life before Vido's.

Bryn found herself at Vido's School for Agency and Communications near the end of her first year. A huge chunk of her life was missing. She had no memories from the age of four on; twelve years gone. Now she's been training with the people who are promising her a better life, a privileged life. Vido's Agents are the best of the best. Unstoppable. Their job is to protect the country at all costs. And they do.

On a day when it seems her life is over, Bryn receives a journal written by her parents. There are stories about her life before Vido's that trigger glimpses of memories. Her world turns upside down and she must decide whom to trust. Her best friends could possibly turn out to be her worst enemies. And her search for the truth may never end.



N: The full title is really "The Patterson Files: Burned." I'm planning on making it a series because there's no way Bryn's story can fit into one novel. Burned is actually an espionage term used to refer to a situation when an agent is compromised. I feel like it fit well with what's going to happen in the grand scheme of the novel. To those who are already following my novel, chew on that one for a bit why don't you?



N: Take it one scene (or event if you want to think of it that way) at a time. I've always been a novel writer, but I had been stuck in the "chapter 3 and bust" phase until I finished my novel Across Worlds last year. What I learned is that if you look at the big picture too much you can easily burn yourself out. Think of the scenes that will lead up to what's going to happen. There are always so many little details involved that make a novel work.



N: My favorite would definitely have to be Colton. He's your typical school "bully", knowing he's better than everyone there, except for Bryn of course, and rubbing it in their faces. There is so much he's conflicted about though. I like being able to throw subtle hints in there while looking at him from Bryn's perspective.

I really do enjoy writing all my characters. But Sasha is one that just annoys me so much. Her personality is so ridiculous and she's such a bother to my main characters. She's fun to throw into scenes in order to cause trouble, but everything that comes out of her mouth is just so stupid. The amount of times I wish I could reach through my screen into this world and punch her out is pretty high.



N: The main struggle is the fact that I'm writing this in first person present tense. I'm typically a third person limited gal, novel wise. I feel like with Bryn's memories gone and the kind of pressure that being an agent causes this story works better in first person. The struggle is balancing the story with Bryn's thoughts and feelings. I'm never really sure when is enough and when is too much.

I'm a reader and follower of her novel, and also just a writer like her, and I honestly learned so much from her replies. Thank you so much Noelle for sharing these details with us, it was very informative. I think all of you should go and check out her novel; you'll be mind blown. And that's all I've got folks, hope that you enjoyed reading this article, and if so you can give it a like!

Until Next Time,
~P.S.

Festooned: New Starswritten by Pretzelstick < PM: >

Welcome to another week of Squills! Today we are doing another second installment of Festooned: New Stars and it has been enjoyed by our readers so far through the feedback of the likes. Today we have a very active guest, that I am sure most of you know about: CHRISSY321

Chrissy loves to read books, she has scored as the top-reader of January in PawPrints! Not only did she got another star, but she also got a All-Star Pawprints reader. She's another one of those band kids, and again you can easily guess what she plays if you take a look at her avvie. She is also actively in #TeamTortoise, so I'm still encouraging her along, and on her way to her fifth star! Congratulations!!! (all go over to her wall and tell her that personally <3)





Name: CHRISSY321
Location: USA
Recently acquired star: fourth yellow star

I'm going to hand over the microphone to her while she answers the question that we all wanted to know about.



CHRISSY321: Well, there are a lot of things to know about me! I am a crazy fun, zany person who just loves to be herself.

I just really love this site because that is just one big part of me! I just love to read and write, and I am so happy that I found this site to help me share my works and be able to get feedback because I used to go to my peers, and they would not 'review' it like everyone here. They would just say it was good, and other bland responses like that. Here you get everything down, and you get full hearted responses because you are getting advice from other writers, writes like you and I, and we as writers really help make this world a better place

Another great attribute to me would be my kindness towards others. I just love to be kind to others and make friends! I have always believed that being kind to others is the right thing to do, and that you should be treated the way you would want others to treat you.

One more thing about me in general is that I am a big girly girl! I am such a diva when it comes to my outfits and accessories! I love my bling and skirts and dresses, and all of those other things. I love how being able to dress shows who I am!

This is just a few major things that I think are good descriptors of who I am. Just remember that any time anyone on here would need any advice, a listening person, or just a friend, I am here to help one and all, because being a kind, fun, girly girl is just who I am! <3

And that's a wrap-up for this week's edition. Thank you all for reading about Chrissy's accomplishments and thank your Chrissy for being open to answering these questions. Until next time!

2016- Books to Anticipatewritten by Gravity < PM: >

There’s lots to anticipate in 2016. Lots of movies, music and more! However, that’s not what I want to talk about. Let’s explore what to anticipate in 2016… book wise.

J.K. Rowling

J.K. Rowling announced last year that her book, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is going to be turned into a film, but that’s not even the best part. It is actually going to be a trilogy, the first installment will be released in November. Not only that, but a play is being written (not by Rowling, but sponsored by her) called Harry Potter and the Cursed Child which follows Harry’s life as he works at the Ministry of Magic and raises his kids.

Cassandra Clare

Next we have another famous author, Cassandra Clare who is the author of the Mortal Instruments series as well as her Clockwork Angel books. Her latest series, The Dark Artifices is going to be releasing its first installment in March! The book will be called Lady Midnight and all her fans are looking forward to it!



Rick Yancey

We’ve all heard of The Fifth Wave, a book by Rick Yancey. The movie is coming out very soon and Yancey has announced that the third book in the series, The Last Star, is going to be release in May 2016.



Kiera Cass

The Selection by Kiera Cass is one of my all time favorite series. I love the books and she has sold millions of copies worldwide. She has announced the final book in the series and book number five, The Crown, will be released in May 2016. In addition to The Selection books, Cass has also written a series of short stories and novellas to go along with the series. Also, more exciting news on this front! A few years ago the CW had rights to turn The Selection into a TV show but it fell flat with the Pilot episode being cut in the middle of filming. It was announced last year that Warner Brothers had the movie rights and the screenplay is being written by Katie Lovejoy.



Victoria Aveyard

The Red Queen was a great book that many loved and readers have been waiting for book 2. Aveyard’s next book, The Glass Sword actually came out just a few days ago, February 9, 2016.



Marissa Meyer

Author of The Lunar Chronicles, we all know Meyers for writing creative, dystopian books like Cinder and Scarlett plus the other books in the series. Meyers is currently writing another book that is due to come out in November called Heartless. Not only that but Meyer has just released Stars Above, a collection of short stories based on The Lunar Chronicles.





Richelle Mead

Richelle Mead is known for her stunning Vampire Academy books which were amazing, and not as cheesy as the title makes it sound. Mead is also known for her spin off series, Bloodlines, which were just as amazing. You should go check them out. The new book, The Glittering Court, looks completely different but very interesting. It’s about a girl named Adelaide who poses as a servant to escape an arranged marriage and then goes on to train to be a matchmaker. Not many have heard of her so you should definitely check out her book series.




Rick Riordan

I don’t think I’ve ever met somebody who hasn’t heard of the Percy Jackson series and Riordan has a whopping number of 3 books out this year. The first Percy Jackson installment, Percy Jackson and the Olympians is about a young boy named Percy who discovers he is a demigod and has to go on a mission to save his mom. The books were based off of Riordan’s son who had ADHD. Riordan wrote the books to show his son that even with a mental disorder, he could conquer the world. The books’ popularity rivaled even J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series and the two are often compared. Riordan is due to release Demigods & Magicians, a collection of Percy Jackson and Kane Chronicles crossover short stories. This is due in April. Next is The Hidden Oracle, the first in his brand new series, The Trials of Apollo which is set to come out in May. Finally there’s The Hammer of Thor, book two in the Magnus Chase series, which is scheduled to be released in October 2016.

These are all the big book releases from the famous authors due to come out this year. Write down your favorite books and you can even be the first to get them by pre-ordering on barnesandnoble.com.







Sources:

QUIBBLES
Grammar Gaffes
written by Lavvie < PM: >

English can be confusing. For some reason, someone thought it would be a good idea to make words so similar that people get hopelessly confused. These are called homophones. Today, I’m going to help you right those wordy wrongs, by addressing some of the most common faux pas.

Your vs. You’re
Simply put, your is a possessive noun, used to denote ownership, and you’re is the contraction of the words “you” and “are”. For example:

Your dog ate my dinner table.
You’re a horrible pet owner.

Affect vs. Effect
Usually, affect is a verb and effect is a noun. For example:

Staying up late affects @Pompadour in strange ways.
The @Yams effect describes the eating of too many sweet potatoes, resulting in being tinged slightly orange.

However, these words can get confusing when you use them in other contexts. For example, effect can also function as a verb when it’s used in relation to to bring about. You could write to effect change and it would be correct. In a similar manner, you could also write to affect change and it would still be correct because it means to have an effect on change. For example:

R.E.D. is effecting change on YWS by way of reviews.
Any member on YWS can affect change through involvement.

Too vs. Two vs. To
Two is a number (2) and the easiest homophone to distinguish between the other two (heh). To usually implies a meaning of going toward or going in a certain direction. Too is a word used to exceed normal limits. For example:


@Lareine has two ears.
@AdrianMoon is going to review.
@Pamplemousse has too much citrus.

Then vs. Than
The difference between these two words is actually rather significant. Then is often employed as an adverb to describe instances of time:


@Sagitta had a glass of milk and then a piece of bread.

Than is used to compare things. This word doesn’t have synonyms, unlike then (which can be replaced by words like subsequently), which helps to differentiate the two.


Audrey Hepburn is better than Marilyn Monroe.


Lose vs. Loose
Probably my biggest pet peeve is when these two words are incorrectly used. Lose is a verb that means to not keep or to not maintain and loose is an adjective that describes something that is not tight.


She is wearing loose clothing.
Don’t lose your mind!

Its vs. It’s
This situation is just like your vs. you’re, because its is denotes ownership while it’s is a contraction of the words “it” and “is”. For example:


The cat lost its treat.
It’s catnip.

They’re vs. Their vs. There
These words are some of the most commonly confused ones. There should be employed when referring to a place or with “to be” verbs. For example:


@AlexSushiDog is there.
There are cool people on YWS.

Their, like its and your denotes the possessive of them.


Please do not bother their German Shepherd.

Lastly, they’re is the contraction of they and are.


They’re going to watch @LadySpark perform Shakespeare.

NEWSFLASH
written by Lavvie < PM: >

You’ve hunkered down with a bag of chocolate covered peanuts and some good ol’ Netflix because it’s the end of the week and you need to get ready for the third week of February. But wait! You just realized you have no idea what happened in the world lately! Check out the amazing discoveries and tragic tales that graced the headlines this past week.



Antonin Scalia, known as one of the most conservative US Supereme Court justices, died in his sleep early Saturday morning at the age of 79. He was in West Texas for a hunting trip. Scalia was first appointed to the US Supreme Court in 1989 by then President Ronald Reagan. Coming from New Jersey and the first Italian American to serve on the highest court, Scalia is known as one of the biggest proponents of originalism – a legal philosophy that argues that the American Constitution retains a fixed meaning and its articles do not change with the times. The justice has remained a largely outspoken opponent of gay rights and abortion and was somewhat of a celebrity among Republicans. Despite fundamental differences, Obama praised the justice for being “an extraordinary judicial thinker” with “an incisive wit”. Know for his sense of humour, Scalia can be remembered for his comments on Obama’s healthcare reform efforts, describing them as “jiiggery-pokery” and “pure applesauce”. President Obama has stated his intent to declare a new Supreme Court Justice before the end of his presidency – just eleven months to go.




An iceberg the size of Rome rendered a penguins’ colony landlocked after it became grounded, forcing the Antarctic birds to trek over 60 kilometres to the sea for food. The Adelie penguins used to live right next to the sea before the iceberg blocked their path to food in 2010. The journey around the titanic block of ice proved to be strenuous and devastated the penguin population of Cape Denison. In the past six years, Adele penguin numbers have shrunk from 160,000 to just a mere 10,000. Scientists from the University of New South Wales in Australia predict that colony will be completely extinct in twenty years if the iceberg does not dislodge or the sea ice doesn’t break up. The colony has been going strong for about 100 years.



What an astronomical discovery for scientists this week! For the first time since Albert Einstein’s predictions a hundred years ago, gravitational waves have been observed. In 1915, Einstein developed the theory of relativity which could only be confirmed this past Thursday, opening up a whole new perspective on the universe. These ripples in spacetime were first noticed last September by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) which is sponsored by the California Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Astrophysicists remark that gravitational waves occur when two black holes collide and they hold information about the nature of gravity. The black holes observed in this stellar event have been estimated to be about 29 to 36 times the sun’s mass and the event is reported to have taken place approximately 1.3 billion years ago in spacetime. When the holes collide, a portion of their combined mass is transferred into energy – according to Einstein’s E=mc^2 formula – and produce a final burst of gravitational waves. The final waves were the ones detected by LIGO.



On Valentine’s Day, Katie Moore was overjoyed to find her boyfriend proposing to her... on the cover of the Observer magazine! James Greig first met the beautiful blonde at a party. A few years later, when Katie was working in New York City, he asked if they wanted to go out for dinner when he was visiting Manhattan. James went home to London the next day, but the two stayed in touch and, six weeks later, the British beau was back in the Big Apple for three days. They first confessed their love for each other in a Brooklyn nightclub at four in the morning. At the end of 2014, Katie moved to London to be with James. This Valentine’s Day, the couple were staying a hotel in the countryside when room service arrived with the special magazine and some champagne – before 9 am! Of course, Katie said yes.



Mexico, whose population is estimated at being 81% Catholic, is playing host the the Argentinian pope, Francis. Many Mexicans support the pope as the feel, as a fellow Latin American, he can better understand their struggles, hopes, and dreams. As part of his trip, Pope Francis will be visiting the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadelupe, which is located in Mexico City and welcomes millions of pilgrims each year. The Pope will also meet the Mexican president which is symbolic, considering that in 1917 the country’s constitution made a move to limit the Catholic Church’s role in public life. Many citizens hope that Pope Francis will be able to help President Pena Nieto address many of the issues currently plaguing Mexico, from the rising drug violence to the human rights abuses. Since the president rose to power four years ago, 12 priests have been murdered and 2 have gone missing. Before his visit, Pope Francis condemned the current situation in Mexico, saying, “The Mexico of violence, the Mexico of corruption, the Mexico of drug trafficking, the Mexico of drug cartels, is not the Mexico our mother wants.”



The acclaimed human rights lawyer, Amal Clooney, who is known for trying war criminals, met Friday with the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, to discuss the European migrant crisis. Amal was accompanied by her husband, actor George Clooney, who is in Germany promoting his latest film, Hail, Caesar. Also at the private meaning was David Miliband, former foreign secretary to the UK and current head of the International Rescue Committee. The four reportedly discussed possible solutions to the crisis and Miliband praised Merkel for “showing very strong leadership” throughout the ordeal. The Clooneys also planned to visit a refugee asylum in Berlin “to talk about...what things we can do to help”, according to the actor. In just 2015 alone, Germany has welcome over 1 million refugees, despite growing opposition within the country to the chancellor’s open-door policy.

POLITICS COVERAGEwritten by Gravity < PM: >

Hey guys!

As you all probably know, the U.S. Presidential Election is beginning with caucuses and primaries and whatnot so I decided to cover it for Squills. I solemnly swear to be as non-biased as possible. Enjoy!

Before you continue reading you first need to understand what stage the election is in right now. Right now we’re going through the caucuses and the most major voting has passed, the New Hampshire primaries and the Iowa caucus. However, there's still more time, anybody could get ahead.

First off, you need to understand what the caucuses and primaries are for.

How Caucuses Work

Essentially, A caucus is just a fancy way of saying people are voting for which candidate they want nominated for their party. There are two main parties, the Democratic and Republican parties. Each party can have as many people run initially as they want and usually 2-4 candidates from each are the ones the public favors. The purpose of the caucus is to narrow it down to two candidates, one Democrat and one Republican. The public votes and based on the district and their votes, delegates are assigned to the candidates. For example, say John Doe is running and he gets 30% of votes and in that state he just happens to get enough districts voting for him that he wins 10 delegates. Well Jane Doe won 40% of the caucus and has 15. This means that Jane Doe wins that state. Whoever has the most delegates in the end wins the nomination and becomes his/her party nominee.

Primaries

The primary election is almost the same thing as the caucus; it has the same purpose. To determine the nominees. So, what’s the difference you may ask? Here it is.

The difference between the caucus and the primaries is well… there really isn’t one. Silly, I know. The only main difference is the state can choose which they want to hold and the caucus is very casual. The primary goes through just like any other election, it’s a blind vote and vote behind a screen at a computer blah blah blah. The caucus voting is often determined by raising hands or submitting paper ballots.

Republican candidates are numerous, the most controversial being Donald Trump who is not only getting the most attention of the media but is also getting lots of votes. The question is, Trump has a tendency to be very blunt and not politically correct. Ordinarily, this honesty would be good in a candidate but many argue some of the things he has been saying have been downright offensive, saying things like he wants to keep all Muslims out of the country and that Latino illegal immigrants are mostly if not all rapists and drug dealers. On the other hand, some argue Trump would be great for the economy because he’s a huge real estate business mogul. There’s scandal surrounding that two, apparently some of the businesses that supported Trump and helped him start his own empire are collapsing because of their investments in his business ventures.

On the other hand you’ve got Ben Carson, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, the other popular candidates in the polls right now. If you want their info, I will link all the campaign sites for the current contenders down below!

Now for the Democratic party candidates. You have Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Hillary Clinton is the wife of former President, Bill Clinton who had his own agenda when he was in office and even had an affair. Not only that, but he lied about it under oath. The scandal surrounding Clinton and her husband is hurting her campaign, pushing Sanders to lead by just a hair in the polls. Voters are worried she won’t be transparent in office because of her previous email scandal. On the other hand, other voters argue she could be what this country needs because of her support towards women and LGBT rights as well as support for small businesses.

Finally you’ve got Bernie Sanders. Sanders won in the New Hampshire primaries by a landslide, making him the most popular Democratic candidate currently. Some voters are hesitant about him because he’s technically a Democratic Socialist. However nobody, (including myself) is exactly sure what a Democratic Socialist is. The word “socialist” sounds ugly because we think of Karl Marx, Hitler and China’s communism. However, Sanders being a Democratic Socialist just means they would like to see less money going towards powerful people like politicians and more money for common people on the workplace. For more information on Democratic Socialism, click here.

On the other hand with Sanders, he has little to no scandal surrounding him and his policy for Universal Health Care appeals to many. (He wants to raise taxes but make it so everybody can have health care). Not only that but he has expressed lots of support for LGBT, women’s rights and small businesses, just like Clinton.

Here's the next question: Where is the election at now?

Right now, the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primaries have passed. For the Iowa caucus, Trump lost, shocking everybody in the Republican party. The Republican winner was Ted Cruz who won with 27.6% of the votes and 8 delegates. Donald Trump was next with 24.3% and 7 delegates and Marco Rubio not far behind with 23.1% of the votes and 7 delegates. Lastly, Ben Carson with 9.3% and 3 delegates.

The Democratic side was even closer! Hillary Clinton won with 49.9% of the votes and 23 delegates but the win was narrow. Less than 1% behind was Bernie Sanders with 49.6% of the votes and 21 delegates!

In the New Hampshire primaries, Trump took the lead with 35.3% of the votes and 10 delegates, Kasich (no idea who this is) got 4 delegates and 15.8% with Cruz at 11.7% and 3 delegates, Jeb Bush at 11.0% and 3 delegates and finally, Rubio at 10.6% and 3 delegates. Republicans are pretty spread out on this one and one major concern for the election is a Republican candidate won't be President this term because the Republican party supporters can't unite behind one candidate.

Sanders won by a landslide for the New Hampshire primary with 60.4% of the votes and 15 delegates. Clinton got 38.0% of the votes with 9 delegates. Sanders had a great comeback but they have been neck and neck, trading 1st and 2nd in the polls since both candidates announced they were running.

Overall, Trump is in the lead with 17 delegates for the Republican party and Sanders with 36 delegates, beating Hillary Clinton who is not far behind with 32.

We have a pool of very different candidates for this Presidential Election. The country is divided and even people from other countries are expressing their opinions. It all boils down to this; America’s politics are corrupt and revolve around one thing; money. We need a President who is going to try to make everything less corrupt, be a good diplomat to other countries so we can improve foreign relations and make sure we have equal rights. Not only that, but we need a President who knows the ins and outs of the economy, who can ideally lower taxes or at least make sure not as many taxes are being wasted. Is this possible? Maybe not, especially since the President doesn’t have as much influence as people like to thing. Without a good relationship with Congress, our President can’t do much of anything.

I know this article has been extremely long, but here are some links if you want more information on Candidates and how American government works.

Republican Candidate Websites



Democratic Candidate Websites



Information on American Government

NEW ARRIVALS
written by BlueAfrica < PM: >

THIS WEEK'S ROUNDUP – 2/14written by megsug < PM: >

We’re opening our arms to new members again, we’re required to love each other, and we’re learning about the mods’ secret lives. See what the forums brought this week’s Round Up.


@TimmyJake and @Rydia have rebooted the Buddy System . New members should check it out as a great way to make at least one good friend while old members can volunteer as mentors who just help new members get used to the site and feel welcome. There’s a new aspect to the Buddy System as well.







Be a part of this reboot and help YWS thrive!


@TriSARAHtops wants to know what you think about romantic subplots because they’re everywhere, almost as if they were a requirement. She starts the discussion with good questions like:







Those who’ve answered so far have approved of a well done romance but agree that this strange necessity for a romantic connection can lead to tiresome circumstances.


@MialyNire has posted some photographs she’s taken that are awesome. I like them because the angles are interesting as well as what they choose to zoom in on.



Definitely keep track of the pictures they take this month.


…About mods, not the universe. The mods have started a thread for users to ask questions. Do you want to know why the color scheme is the way it is? How much power mods hold? If they like pretzels? Then this is the thread for you, and I haven’t even told you about the second page!

The last question was asked by @Reneia:







The mods are spilling their secrets! Ask a question today!

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