Editing President Issa Sabmud

Growing up in the 80s, Sabmud had big dreams of following in the footsteps of his father Notta Sabmud and venturing into politics. Notta was never elected and he became disillusioned with the corruption within politics following the pandemic. He instead went into teaching and found a new love in engaging learners to help them circumnavigate this brave new world. He warned his students (and his son Issa) about the horrors of the world and the corruption of politics. 

With his dashing good looks and charisma, Issa sought to be a leader for the people - sympathetic to their plight and unmoved by corruption. Elected in the early 2010s (and re-elected several times after), Sabmud initially accomplished a lot of positive political objectives such as creating greenspace and affordable housing within the city, facilitating trade and zones equally, and sponsoring the arts. 

However, controversy arose as the city fell into disrepair and Sabmud began to rest on his laurels. A video that Sabmud made as a teenager was drudged up by one of the leaders of a corporate conglomerate that sought to operate in the newly opened northern land outside of the GTA. Sabmud initially opposed this expansion by these corporations harnessing mass pieces of the artefact for profit. After the infamous Djibouti tribal dance video of 2018 was used to blackmail Sabmud, he relented and allowed this to happen. He finally broke down and told his supporters - given all the context and how old Sabmud was, he was actually applauded for being transparent and honest (as a politician should) while his opponents ridiculed him. However, it was too late - the contracts were signed, the expansion was granted, and the artefact was on its way to being depleted.

==== Letter from President Sabmud ====

Dear Diary,

Oh god, what have I become? I cannot even stand to look at myself in the mirror. I was elected with the full trust of the people and now what have I become? Although I look like an adonis on the outside (women say I have BDE, I don’t even know what that means and all I know is that their husbands roll their eyes when they say it) I am a small, weak man on the inside. Like the old song by Stealers Wheel (“clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, here I am stuck in the middle”) I have been bought out and corrupted by a company whose mascot is a clown (McDonald’s) and another one who used to be the biggest joke in the room (formerly bankrupt Enron). I even have my heavies bursting into schools and shaking down teachers for teaching STEM? What has my life become?

We worked on replicating a vaccine, to help people, now I have been behind a plan to keep people docile, advertised to and living in unsafe and cramped living conditions. To hurt people. How have I strayed so far from the light?

As I kiss my artefact piece that hangs around my neck next to my chain with the Mother Mary on it, I realize that at least - no matter what - my family and I will be safe. I don’t know if that will be the case for others - unless they start shipping the lower class population to the McFactories.

Until we meet again,

President Issa Sabmud