Letter from Obama thanks 7-year-old political blogger
EDISON PARK | Second-grader's posts backed Dem candidate
Stanislaw "Stas" Gunkel won't be able to vote until 2019, but that didn't stop him from joining the ranks of political bloggers weighing in on the presidential election.
The 7-year-old Edison Park boy blogged to support the Obama campaign, writing about alternative energy, the Iraq war and Sarah Palin's qualifications as potential vice president.
(Al Podgorski/Sun-Times)
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"It was not, like, really hot," Stas said of talk of the presidential race during recess at Beaubien Elementary School, where he's in second grade. "We talked about it, and I read some Scholastic magazines."
Stas started blogging at planetstas.blogspot.com as a kindergartner, inspired by his parents, Ann Hetzel Gunkel and David Gunkel. Both work in academia and have personal Web sites and blogs.
"He saw me doing it, and I thought: 'Why not?' " Hetzel Gunkel said. "It just kind of evolved."
Stas writes, spell-checks and posts the entries himself. He even has his own business card. His mom helps with the blog's art and occasionally types the entries for him.
A 7:30 p.m. bedtime kept him from blogging live about the results on election night. His latest blog post details a letter Stas got from Obama five days before election night, thanking him for the support and telling him to "strive to make a difference everywhere you go."