Lines snaked around the corner and out the door of Rodgers Recreation Center Saturday Nov. 22. There was excited chatter as the queue grew longer and longer to the entrance of the gymnasium. Were the Boston Celtics back in town for one last game on Salve’s courts? Nope.

Tragedies are never pleasant to relive. The story of Matthew Shepard, an openly gay Wyoming man who in 1998 was brutally murdered because of his sexual orientation, is no different. When the dust finally settled, Shepard became a global symbol of unity and solidarity for people of all races, religions and sexual preferences.

In the heat of the recent United States presidential elections, most Americans found themselves holding their breath in anticipation as they waited to discover who would be next in line to serve our country. Obama or McCain? I’ve been asked this question repeatedly throughout the past two months and more specifically in the days leading up to the election.

The charter bus rides along the narrow, twisting road just a few feet away from the steep drop of a rocky Cliffside that lingers over the sparkling Mediterranean Sea. Around the bend hundreds of distant homes chisel into the cliff-side like children’s building blocks, stacked one on top of another.

Two hundred to 124. The numbers represented the number of electoral votes halfway through the election for Barack Obama and John McCain, respectively. McCain carried Texas,Pennsylvania supported Barack. On Nov. 4, the entire country turned its eager eyes to the 2008 election.