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“I’m One in a Million” is a popular phrase contributing to several recycling programs. One of the first recorded mentions of a million in the context of recycling is from the Recycle America program. In 1989, Waste Management Inc. improved their Recycle America program by partnering with the Du Pont Co.—one of the nation’s largest plastic producers—to add plastics to the items they could recycle. The program collected from 90 communities contributing to almost one million households.

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The classic yellow smiley face is comprised of a yellow circle, two black dots for eyes, and a black arc ending in serifs for a mouth. It was designed in 1963 by commercial artist, Harvey Ross Ball. Ball was commissioned by The State Mutual Life Insurance Company to create a happy face to raise the morale of their employees. His version was created in 10 minutes. The design was printed onto more than 50 million buttons. Neither Ball nor the company copyrighted this smiley, so it was continually used by other businesses in their promotions.

The design and concept is quite simple and was definitely used before Ball’s 1963 version. However, his has become the most iconic. Variations have been used for advertising campaigns and in popular culture ever since.

The phrase, “I’m glad you were born!” is another way to express appreciation that a particular person exists and especially on that person’s birthday. This is also a phrase used by Pro-Life groups who are against abortion.

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The Michigan State athletic teams all share the name of Spartan and their mascot and logo resemble the ancient Greek warriors of Sparta. This was not always the case, and the term was first used in 1926 as applied to their baseball team. In 1925, Michigan Agricultural College became Michigan State College. Under their old school name, teams were referred to as the Aggies, short for Agriculturals. Since Michigan State was no longer an agricultural school, they needed to change the name of their sports teams.

A contest took place where students could vote for and choose the new nickname of the teams. They eventually chose to rename the teams, "The Michigan Staters." George Alderton, a journalist at the Lansing Journal who covered the teams, thought the name was too cumbersome and did not approve. He searched through the other student recommendations and spotted the term, "Spartans." Alderton bypassed the contest and chose Spartans as the new nickname that is used today.

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Danny K. Davis is a politician from Chicago, Illinois. He was a member of the Chicago City Council from 1979-1990. In 1991, he ran for Mayor of Chicago, but lost in the primaries to incumbent Chicago Mayor, Richard M. Daley. He was elected to the Cook County Board of Commissioners from 1990-1996. In 1996, he ran for and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives 7th District, which constitutes downtown Chicago and outer neighborhoods. He has since defended his seat 13 times and is still in office. In 2011, he mounted another campaign for mayor of Chicago, but withdrew before the election.

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Wendell Willkie, a Republican, produced memorabilia for every million he raised for his presidential campaign in 1940. He was not liked by the big figures in the Republican party due to his views being in line with his opponent at the time, President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Willkie supported minimum wage, unemployment insurance, a limit on workers’ hours, and did not agree with the isolationist views of the more prominent party members. This sat well with moderate Republicans. He was seen as a “dark horse” becoming prominent with Democrats and Republicans with no prior notice to running. He also supported the civil rights movement and was opposed to racism. Willkie believed in bipartisanship for the betterment of the country. He lost the election in 1940; 449 to 82.

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The 1940 presidential election saw a shocking Republican nomination when Wendell Willkie was chosen to lead the ticket. Willkie was an American lawyer and corporate executive and largely not a political figure. To counteract this lack of political experience, his running mate was Charles McNary, who had been a senator of Oregon for 23 years and was highly experienced. 

Willkie gained momentum late into the process and passed expected winners, William Taft and Thomas Dewey. Both Taft and Dewey were staunchly isolationist and wanted to avoid getting involved in World War II. Republicans at the time wanted to help their allies, which Willkie was in favor of. Willkie lost the election in a landslide, losing to popular incumbent Franklin Roosevelt. Roosevelt was running an unprecedented third term, and his soaring popularity showed up during the election leading to his massive victory.

Photograph of Trump behind a wall with lightning bolts. Blue and red text on white background above photo with small black text on photo of wall.

The border wall separating key points between Mexico and the United States is one of the key campaign promises that helped Donald Trump secure the presidency. At many rallies, the crowd would enthusiastically chant, “build the wall,” to show support for the initiative. Designed to curb the flow of illegal immigration, the idea of the wall was not well-received by much of the American public and the dissent was largely non-partisan, although it has been framed to be a partisan issue in recent years. Many would lose land that had been in families for generations along the border in order to construct a wall and the cost of animals and wildlife being unable to cross the border at intervals would create a large environmental impact. Others believed that the wall would not prevent any drug traffic from coming across the border, but would prevent migrant workers from being able to take seasonal jobs. Whether or not building a wall between the U.S. and Mexico is effective in reducing drug traffic is yet to be seen. Once in office, the Trump administration had issues funding to replace parts of the existing wall and add more walls across the border.

The response to the border wall is mixed, many Democrats arguing the wall is meant to keep certain races out of the United States. In response to the idea of a border wall to keep things out of the United States, people have jokingly asked that a wall be built around Trump to keep his ideas out of the United States.

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President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore’s re-election campaign in 1996 emphasized the importance of education. This caught the attention of teachers. In the midst of a technological boom, Clinton and Gore felt it was vital to expand their efforts of supporting the public education system and teachers to set them up for success. The campaign promised to support teacher’s education, redesign failing systems, ensure tax dollars are going to public schools, support students with disabilities, and bring technology into the classrooms. Even further, they promised to support higher education to provide Americans with the opportunity to take part, and expand work study options.