Starting last week, Adobe, the nifty company that makes Photoshop and all kinds of other great photo editing software, has begun sponsoring a Whyville digital photography contest. Take a photo of your pet and send it in -- to find out more, read City Hall's article.
Get down, get funky, get politically active! What do you think of the Senator platforms running in the City Hall Poll Booth? What are the good ideas, what makes you want to vote for certain people over others?
Platforms began to be accepted at City Hall on Sunday, March 21. You're welcome to continue to post your platforms, though it may be tough to get enough votes to catch up to the top three. Give it a shot, or join the campaign to get someone you believe in into office!
If you're posting a platform, please make sure you check out the links in this article. Think about it this way: The more you learn from the past, the better your chances of winning in the future!!! :-)
As explained last week, here's how the Senate Race goes: First, plan out your platform -- that is, work out your explanation of what you hope to accomplish if you're voted Senator. Think about what's important to you and your fellow citizens. Is there anything that *should* be important, but people don't talk about? What do you wish real-life senators did for people? What do you think they do that is good?
Wrap that all up into something you can post in the City Hall petitions. Remember, petitions that just say "Please vote for me! I think I'd make a good Senator 'cause I'm nice!" aren't real likely to be taken seriously. Have a few good ideas in there, too. :)
A few more things to keep in mind when writing your platforms -- and when reading other people's platforms!
- Remember the Whyville Way. Be polite, be creative, ask questions of yourself and your fellow candidates. Be tough, be fair, be friendly.
- Spelling and grammar helps -- sometimes it shows you at least put enough effort into your platform that you respect the folks reading it. But if somebody has bad grammar, that doesn't mean their ideas are necessarily bad!! Give ideas a critical eye, but give people the benefit of the doubt.
- Make your ideas realistic. People like to wish upon a star, but they also like to believe the changes you propose can actually happen.
- Getting together your own campaign or cheering squad is great stuff. Just encourage your fans to support you without getting mean toward your competition. Nastiness is not the Whyville Way!
Above all, think deep and have fun! :-)
- Platforms can be posted no earlier than Sunday, March 21. On April 3, we'll see who the top 3 platforms are -- the ones that have won the most votes and made it all the way to the Polls section. They will be posted in the Times' April 10th and April 17th issues.
In the week of April 19, the official Senate Race Debate will be held (probably in the middle of the week) at the Greek Theatre. The top three candidates will get together and answer questions from City Workers and citizens, for about an hour. Afterward, City Workers will hold a few informal polls, then give the stage up to the candidates who can stay to talk to the citizens. The election begins as soon as the debate is over!
The results of the voting will come out at the end of the month, on April 30th. The Senator-to-be will arrange a time with City Hall for the following week, when the official Inauguration will take place. That's when they will take their oath of office, joining OrEoBaBy as Whyville Senator!!!
Senators get together every few weeks to discuss issues of the time with City Hall & other City Workers, as well as Whyville citizens. When we have more Senators, they will vote on resolutions and plans of action that City Workers will try to make happen. Senators will also work with citizens to improve Whyville in the best ways they know how!
In other news, City Workers touched up several games and tools that had been acting a little buggy. In particular you'll notice that the Ion Engine Games now give you the proper salaries, the Whyville Times Crossword Puzzle now pays the proper amount of clams (or more!) for correct answers submitted the first time, and Coach Jay Stallings came to Whyville this Saturday to talk with citizens about chess and the joy of teaching. Hopefully some plucky citizen who talked with Jay will write up their experience and send it to the Times!!
What's in the future? Well, Club Why members can look forward to a cool little game opening up in the Beta Testing Room at Club Why pretty shortly. The Newbie Center is close to completion, with just a little essential polishing left to do. And a few City Workers are talking about challenging all citizens to a match at the JPL-sponsored Ion Engine Game!
That's all the news (and rumor) fit to print this week.
--Times Editor--
