PAGE 2 // THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2010 NEWS THE pendulum i! ; r '' = : * » f I ; I ■ ♦ i • ;' f ! I ; ^ 1 VI u w 31SUS Restoring sanity in the nation’s capitol Photos and Sto»y by Lindsay Fendt Photo Edita- East Coast, West Coast, old, young. Democrat, Republican. Americans of all sorts flooded The National Mall in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, cdl with the same message: please be sensible. “We need change. We can't keep going the way we are going,” said Dave Zeilenger, who came to the rally with his wife from Kansas City, Mo. to support the political message. Approximately 215,000 people came for Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear. According to Stewart, the goal of the rally was to show the government the American people’s desire for a less polarized system. “The political situation is a mess,” said Elon sophomore Scott Richardson, who attended the rally. A number of other Elon students attended the event, including several students who covered the rally for their multimedia journalism class. “I expected a chance for my students to see what it is like covering a large, complex event,” said Amanda Sturgill, professor of the class. Among the students attending the event was sophomore Sarah Dodge, who said she felt that this rally was a unique opportunity for college students to get involved politically. “For me, it was a way of getting heard without holding a pro-choice sign above my head,” Dodge said. On the main stage, the events were centered around comedy, but on the periphery, there were plenty of political messages, including tolerance of others. Attendees hoisted signs ranging from “Snooky Palin 2012” to “Do you believe in sanity clause?” like their shows on Comedy Central, all of Stewart and Colbert’s comedy had underlying tones of political satire. “While what they were saying was funny and light-hearted, they did a great job of getting their point across,” Dodge said. “The extremism in the media has gone too fcir.” m z § n MWii Elon IMecfia Open House satuday. n«. 6, tx >j,.\ b« tMmOf scm mcmmmaim |«i«