What do you want President Obama to remember as he starts his second term?
NPR recently put that question to its listeners and online followers and received dozens of submissions, including many from residents of Berkeley, San Francisco and other cities in California. The messages were in the form of a letter that began "Dear President," and they covered topics ranging from the environment to the economy to gay marriage.
"I hope you change our current higher education system," Berkeley resident Zora Moniz wrote. "As a student applying to college and searching for my calling, the amount of money it costs to apply to a university and the debt it can give you is, at the very least, intimidating. I hope for a change that will give me the opportunity to become whoever and whatever I want to be, without monetary restrictions."
Pat Ravasio from Marin County said that the president should focus on addressing climate change in his second term.
"Using even a small portion of our military budgets to pursue new energy technologies and carbon sequestration technologies, we will be able to ramp up the transition away from fossil fuels more expeditiously than otherwise possible," Ravasio wrote.