In the October GOP debate, I think that the candidates that did well in the last debate, maintained their good-standing. Furthermore, the ones that did not speak up too much or vigorously try to get their opinions heard did the same thing in this debate.

One of the most explosive moments of the debate was when Ted Cruz claimed that the difficult questions asked to the Republican candidates was why “the American people do not trust the media.” He talked about how the moderators asked questions digging on the slip-ups they had in the past rather than the substantive questions that the people actually care about. I feel like I got to see more from Cruz during this debate than before.

There was even a moment where the crowd booed the moderator when they asked a question about a supposed false rumor regarding Ben Carson’s involvement with a supplement company that can cure cancer. I did not expect the moderators to be so attacked by the candidates and the audience at this debate.

Moreover, Trump also felt that the moderators were over-steping their boundaries when one of them asked him if his ideology on immigration was based on a comic-book-like storyline. He clearly expressed his frustration when he claimed that the moderator was being rude.

Last week I was fortunate enough to interview the quiet San Francisco State student, Jamie Woo. Woo is currently an 18-year-old freshman studying photojournalism, but her real passion lies with art and music. Jamie is originally from San Jose but before that she was born in Korea then moved to Chicago Illinois and now resides in the Village on-campus housing at her university.

She lived in very different parts of the world; beginning with a normal town in Korea and continuing onto a mostly hispanic and black neighborhood of Chicago, Woo has lived an interesting life. She is having fun in San Francisco so far, but she still makes time every other weekend to take the BART back to San Jose to visit her parents. When asked where she would want to live in a perfect world, Woo said, “Oregon, because I like all the trees.”

At only seven years old, Woo left Korea and has not been back since. She still speaks the language but claims to have a noticeable American accent. Moreover, she thanks her parents for imbedding her culture  into her everyday life in the U.S. through traditional Korean food and language. Woo is excited to visit Korea again this upcoming summer.

Once I was told that her parents did not speak a lick of english, I asked her how she wanted to deal with the cultural divide of being a Korean-American when she had kids, and she said that she wants a perfect balance. It was difficult for Woo to being thrown into the American society with all of our unspoken rules and expectations, so she wants her children to be born her and to be fluent in both languages of their culture. She remembers the times when her white friends would call her Korean food “weird,” but she does not want her children to be embarrassed of their true identity.

Woo, although shy at first, admitted to her favorite subject being communications. While she despises debates and confrontational situations, she enjoys being able to have weeks to put together a speech and perform it in front of her classmates. Her last speech was based on her most embarrassing moment. After a few hushed giggles, Woo described that moment being when her red pen, that she habitually chewed on in her fifth grade classroom, exploded all over her face.

Being a child of Korean parents and having mostly asian friends, Woo illustrated the pressure that she and her peers felt when it came to education. Furrowing her brow and silently pausing to collect her thoughts, she admitted to being able to already name two people that had committed suicide in Palo Alto due to their inability to cope with academic stress. Almost every single one of her friends from San Jose left high school to attend either a private university or a UC.

After spending an immense amount of time in her life feeling “out of place” academically or looked down upon because she did not choose to go to a prestigious university, she has finally made peace with her life. She even plans to possibly attend an art initiation at some point in her future.