by Andrew Alonzo | aalonzo@claremont-courier.com

Sheryl Oring brought her “I Wish to Say” postcard writing project to the Claremont Colleges on Wednesday, and dozens of students and faculty came out to express their feelings about President-elect Donald Trump.

After the event on the Scripps College campus the typewritten postcards were mailed to the White House.

Martha Gonzalez, an associate professor of Chicanx-Latinx studies at Scripps, said she wrote, “He’s an idiot and he’s an imbecile. That he’s a racist. That I want him to keep his hands off our bodies, women’s bodies, and to free Palestine.”

Eliyah Stern, a 21-year-old Scripps senior neuroscience major, said her postcard struck a balance between bold language and an effective message.

“The first sentence I started with was, ‘Are you proud of the hatred you’ve inspired?’” Stern said. “I was a little bit torn between wanting to put something with a little more vitriol out there, and wanting to do something that could, theoretically, actually get read considering the addressee. Thinking about the tone was a big thing but [I] kind of tried to compromise between what I truly would wish to say versus what I would want to get read.”

Stern paraphrased her message: “I hope you will look at the country that you are representing and truly try to serve each and every one of us, even if you do not like us.”

Harvey Mudd senior Ruby Peterman, 21, is an engineering major.

“I was kind of just sharing that I’m upset, but a little bit frustrated,” Peterman said. “I did say I wish that he was not elected, but since he is, try not to make too much of a mess of things. I think I said free Palestine, and yeah, mostly just frustrated, annoyed.”