This has been deep thoughts with Ben Catus

For optimal experience, listen to this whilst reading this story, as well as imagining the narration in a royal British accent.

When I had been commissioned to write a feature story pertaining to my experience of attempting to give away free, canned soft-drinks, I had not anticipated my quest to be an arduous one. What I mean to say is that giving away something for free is a lot more difficult that one would think. Of course, Mello Yellow is not considered the utmost desired soft-drink of them all, but one would imagine that it being “free” would make it easier to give away.

The journey started after I had finished my first morning class and had made my way to Lewis Hall to receive my objective material. It seemed to be an opportune time to pick up the material, as I had a class in the same building immediately afterward my excursion. The retrieval was an awkward experience in it of itself. Upon entering the lounge, there were already two people having casual conversation at the table. When I peered into the fridge, I had expected to pick up a twelve-pack of Coca-Cola, as our instructor had repeatedly said “Coke”, but instead, I could only find Mello Yello. Nonetheless, I felt obligated to mention that I was apprehending this box of Mello Yello for a class and not taking it for myself (perhaps, at the time, I was embarrassed to have had to take such an unpopular drink).

As fate would have it, when I arrived in the classroom, offering free Mello Yellow to those waiting for the professor to reply, I would be forced to receive a phone call from my boss (one he made in order to berate me about improper communication we had experienced). Due to the unexpected call, I had no choice but to drop off my twelve pack of Mello Yellow and answer the unpleasant shouting. As a result, I returned doubly disappointed that no one had even opened the box. This was an ominous foreshadowing to my quest at hand.

After a substantially plain class, I was ready to come to lunch. Perhaps, I had hoped to  myself, those attending lunch with me would enjoy an extra beverage that would not require a glass. Yet again, as fate would have it, I was forced to drop off my coke, offering it to anyone present, lest I suffer the consequences of having to wait in line for an extended period of time. Despite my best efforts, I still had to wait in line for an excruciatingly long amount of time to only take three chicken fajitas. Again, I was doubly disappointed as no one had even touched the box of Mello Yello when I had returned. The day had been turning dark disappointingly fast. Alas, they had happened to put cilantro in the salsa, so there was at least some good at that point in the day.

After lunch, I had set out for my third and final class for the day. I was fully determined to rid myself of this box of carbonated beverages that were becoming a thorn in my side. As I had entered Eppley  to prepare for my next class, I came to the stark realization that Nature had left a voice mail. I set the box on some railing, hoping that someone may just as well steal the damned thing.

After listening to Nature’s extensive voice mail, I had returned to where I had set the box to find that it was no longer on the railing. Had it fell? Had it vanished? Had someone owned the balls to steal an entire twelve pack of Mello Yello in broad daylight? A quick glance over the edge answered the first question with a stern “no”. Another glance into the music office answered the second two with an even harder “no”. Someone had simply taken the liberty to move the Mello Yello from the railing to a safe table in the music office. It turned out that the culprit was none other than Professor Tony Hutchins, a bald-headed, goatee’d, motorcycling man who happened to be the nicest man Morningside College has ever seen.

Unknown to me at the time, this was the beacon of hope that I had been searching for all of this dreary day. I had needed to discuss certain scheduling with him for my involvement in Jazz Ensemble, and it just happened to be helpful that he was willing to take one of the cans of Mello Yello for himself. Perhaps, I hoped to myself, people will be more apt to take it, now that the box has been opened. I assumed that it is an undesirable experience for one to attempt opening a twelve-pack box of canned soft drinks. I would not know too much from personal experience, as I tend to avoid twelve-packs of canned soft drinks.

Much to my disappointment, when I had arrived to my final class of the day, the only person who was willing to take a can was the professor. When the class had inquired about the box of Mello Yello, Amber Burg took it upon herself to explain what my mission had been this entire time. Her tone spoke a semi-sincere “good luck” that one would send off to someone who was to an arena filled with lions while they were armed with only a rock and a stick. Despite her intents to encourage, I couldn’t help but feel that I may or may not be stuck with this burden of an undesirable beverage for a longer period of time than what would make me comfortable.

Fortunately, I had managed to rid myself of that rubbish before I even had to come in for work ( and receive a formal apology from my newly tranquil boss). After class, I decided to take a shortcut from Eppley to Dimmitt by taking the back door. As fate would have it, I would encounter a miracle. In the midst of the Eppley lot, there stood a man, seemingly of Hispanic/Latino descent, with a young face, but a hairline that had receded for back enough to not be excused as a high hairline. Little did I know that this man would resolve my long-winded quest to unchain myself from the burden of Mello Yello.

As I passed by, he kept on eyeing me. Unsure of his intent, I quickly shouted over to him, “Do you want some Mello Yello?” to which he promptly responded, “Yeah, I was actually just going to ask you if I could have one.” As we had conversed, he had mentioned to me how thirsty he was due to working all day. I let him know that I was doing my best to get rid of this wretched box. He informed me that there were more workers around, so it would be no harm if I had just left the box there. Inside, I was rejoicing, finally! My quest had been completed! I had received my reward of tossing this poorly marketed brand of drink. For now, I can only hope that I never have the displeasure of having to rid myself of Mello Yello ever again.

The End.

Stories are narratives that can have a great effect on who we are and what we become.

To me, a story is painting a picture with words. Each little character is a mark, that when placed with other characters, form a subject, and when those subjects are placed together on the same canvas, they form a picture. Of course, a picture can have as many or as few subjects as necessary.

A story is comprised of events, situations, characters, settings, and (most importantly) movement. These different pieces of the story are key to immersing the reader and/or viewer into an entirely different world. This construction of words and terms are what helps connect our society from one to another.

At the bare minimum, this is the effect that it had on me…

When I was younger, my parents would take me to church so that I could be a good boy. For a while, I would be separated from them, which was a rarity for any 4-year-old attending home-school, and go to Sunday school. There, I would learn many different Bible stories about David, Moses, Elijah, and Jesus. Each of these stories had some sort of lesson to be learned, mostly on how to make sure that you go to Heaven and not… Come to think of it, they never really mentioned anything other than Heaven….

Anyway, these stories helped instill a long withstanding moral code that I had followed for much of my prepubescent life. I had always done my best to make sure that I didn’t anger God with any sin that I had; All these stories of miscellaneous people goofing up usually led to the wrath of God made me fearful of failure. It was during my middle school years that I began to realize that my sins were not much of a factor on whether or not I would meet God’s wrath.

Regardless, to this day, I still have a need in me to not be a terrible person (I avoid saying “be a good person” because my definition may not fit other people’s definition). Whether it be Bible stories or superhero movies, I was told not to be a good person for my own needs (because that makes you not a good person), but to be a good person for the rest of the world. Making the world a better place is the truest and best reward, as these stories have told me.

Of course, that’s just why I need stories…

Not sure if this’ll still be graded, but I saw this article, and figured that it was worth a shot.

Article: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/trending-now/woman-whose-school-photo-became–60-year-old-girl–meme-talks-to-trending-now-201847056.html?vp=1

As someone who frequents the pages of Reddit, I figured that this would be a good article to share. It gives tale to the story of a woman who found a hilarious old school photo, showed it to her husband, who then showed it to the world, getting internet famous in the process. It’s actually a lot less climactic than it sounds.

The meme is titled “60-Year-Old Kid” and often entails typically elementary school situations with an added elderly twist. For example: Gets allowance, and social security… It works much better in Advice Animal format. Many of the memes that have shown up are rather clever and I personally would not have been able to come up with them myself.

Honestly, I think this meme mimicked its own joke when it got old on Reddit no sooner than a day after it became a thing (source: I’m a redditor). Yesterday, this meme was all over the /r/AdviceAnimals subreddit. Now, the page looks like it did before this meme became a thing. Another form of life imitating art.

But in all reality, I don’t think that it’s because it’s a lame meme. I personally think it’s a very clever idea, and would be okay with it continuing. The problem with it is that it requires a bit more thought than most advice animals, being that it’s not (as far as I know) based off real-life situations like those that you usually see on /r/AdviceAnimals. Additionally, Reddit has a tendency to act as a semi-cynical hivemind that likes to laugh at its own jokes, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole “60-Year-Old Kid got old pretty fast” thing is just Reddit’s way of making another inside joke.

Cactus out.

Yeah, they’re late. Working early mornings and afternoons really demotivates you for any kind of homework you get. So, I’ve got the Story about Construction on Campus, and the Story about other stuff. I hope they please you.

One word could describe Professor Hutchins: Dad. No, I do not mean that this person is my own father; nor am I solely referring to the fact that this man is legitimately teaching one of his own offspring at this school. It is the fact that Professor Tony “P-Hutch” Hutchins is a father figure to many of his own students. Also, his sense of humor is what many could refer to as “dad humor”.

This may be because Professor Hutchins might not get your attention any other way. Being approximately 5’8″, bald, and of considerable weight, Hutchins’ appearance does not scream “attention-grabbing”. He often acknowledges his less-than-perfect looks as a way of self-deprecating comedy to add to the numerous “lame” puns, which he dishes out whenever he can. This often leaves many students to simply groan in exasperation.

But that is not the reason why most students enjoy having “P-Hutch” for a class, at least not the main one. It’s his dedication to his students, in making sure that they learn at the very least one thing from any class with him. His methods, though sometimes uncanny, prove rather effective, especially with the Jazz Ensemble, which he instructs. Though, he is not afraid to go one-on-one with a student to sort out any issues that may be occurring.

This is later than even I expected it to be. I am an irresponsible student, that’s all I can say. Some friends wanted to hang after supper, and I was dumb enough to say yes. Regardless, I’ve gotten it typed out. I will come back with the audio of this and the last broadcast assignment tomorrow, after I have at least rested. Also, I must get up at 6 for work, so at least 4 hours of sleep would be helpful. My apologies for all the late work.

In today’s media scene, one might ask whether or not hard copies are still relevant. With Netflix for movies and TV shows and iTunes for music and games, it’s easy to get a media fix without leaving the house. But does that mean everyone is doing it that way?

It may vary from person to person. Take Mel Kiser, for example. Mel is a freshman at Morningside College. She’s an average girl who loves to cheer and loves music even more.  “… Like, a 10, on a scale of one to ten.” For the most part, Kiser uses iTunes to get music, but sometimes, other sources work just as well. “I like to listen to music on YouTube a lot too.” In spite of this easy access to music, Kiser remains faithful to hard copies of music. “If I like ‘em, or if they’re like older artists, then I’ll try to get their cd’s online.”

But music isn’t the only thing that Kiser has a passion for. “I love movies too- I like action movies, so… every action movie comes out, I try to watch it.” Not just movies, but TV shows too. “I actually buy all the seasons of TV series on DVD…” Unlike music, though, she prefers hard copies over digital files. “I do not, because they’re usually crappy quality, so I’d rather just buy it so I can have it at all time.”

Are you on the same pages as Mel Kiser? Feel free to tell us at our E-mail. Or if your prefer hard copies, we still accept snail mail.

In the meantime, experience another way to get songs…

Learning music just became a little bit cheaper. The Academy of Fine Music, in North Sioux City, opened up this past September. “My mom wanted to make it more affordable, because a lot of kids are in a lot. If its over-priced people just aren’t gonna do it. And so she just wanted to make it affordable and allow for everyone to learn music…” explains Jenna Likness.

The Academy of Fine Music is a low price music studio that allows children aged K-12 to learn piano, voice, violin, or guitar. It’s a modest business, sharing a building with two other local businesses. Owned and operated by Brenda Likness, she also receives some administrative help from her daughter, Jenna.

But that’s not the only thing that makes the Academy unique. Most of the teachers there are Morningside students. “She submitted a brochure to the music department and they knew a few students and those students knew a few students and it just grew from those few students.” Though, there are a couple of Dakota Valley students working for the Academy.

Despite most of the teachers being students themselves, the results of the lessons have been quite productive.  “My mom’s gotten E-mails from parents saying, ‘my child’s learned so much in these couple weeks than they’ve learned in a different place and we’re just really happy with what they’ve learned and they just like coming every week.”

Perhaps it’s the method of teaching that makes the Academy of Fine Music so effective.  “They’re one-on-one, thirty minutes, just you and the teacher, which allows you to learn a lot more [than] when it’s a big class.” Likness also went on to explain how different books are given to students so that they may learn a larger variety of styles of their instrument.

Soon enough, the Academy of Fine Music might have to move to its own building. “It’s already growing out of space right now.” When asked about whether her mom would get a new place, Jenna answered, “I’m sure she’d like to open up her own, that way she wouldn’t have to worry about noise from the dance studio.” Maybe they’ll get enough money to have their own building.

Speaking of construction…

With a growing student body and academics, Morningside campus is expanding and constructing new buildings. For the most part, the construction has been fairly easy. “So far, smooth sailing… No mistakes there. Everything’s happenin’ so fast that they ain’t keepin’ up with us. We’re waitin’ on red iron. Particular pieces, ‘cause you can’t build without ‘em.” I managed to get ahold of Marc Curl, the General Formen of the project.

According to Curl, the crew is working very hard on the project. “Usually, if it’s an 8 hour day, we do what we need to do in 8 hours.” That’s including weekends. “Just to get ahead of winter, you know?” With winter approaching, the crew is buckling down on getting things done. “… when winter comes, we usually turn on the hours because it’s going to get cold…”

This is all in an effort to get it done by deadline. According to Curl, that would be, “… a year from now. There’s a lot of steps to get to that point.” Despite the heavy load up ahead, Curl and his team are optimistic about this project. “So, we got a lot of work here… It’s an awesome project to be part of.”

This has been “Ramblings” with Ben Catus.

Interviews to whet your apetite.

Mel Kiser Jenna Likness Interview with Marc Curl

Article in Question: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/moose-eating-shark-rescued-in-newfoundland-harbour-1.2434102

Now this is a story that caught my attention. The gist of the story: A man is driving down the road when he sees what he thinks is a beached whale. Upon closer inspection, he sees that it’s a shark on shore with a giant chunk of moose in its mouth. The man, with the help of another passerby, pulls the chunk out and gets the shark in deep enough water to swim again. Witnesses applauded upon the sharks departure.

It’s funny, because scientists later mentioned how it might have been better to have left the chunk in the sharks mouth, to reduce risk of getting bitten by it, as well as the fact that the shark may have been going weeks without food, and wasn’t actually choking on the chunk of moose, but had just gotten that far to shore to get it. Regardless, what these guys did was PRETTY manly. I can only imagine how their buddies would try to top this story over a few drinks (Yeah, I know, I took that from the article).

Personally, I would like to see a movie made out of this. Maybe a mash-up of Jaws and Free Willy. I don’t know. Regardless, this is something that can easily be a conversation piece.

Cactus out.

Article in Question: http://www.digitalspy.com/celebrity/news/a508189/matt-damon-i-get-mistaken-for-mark-wahlberg-all-the-time.html

So apparently this is a thing. People legitimately confuse Matt Damon and Mark Wahlberg. This has come to the point where the two have had to confer about it to figure out how to resolve such a situation. It has come to the point where they actually pretend to be each other and sometimes even fake signatures.

Now I know this is a short article and anything in this that makes it longer than the article itself is expected to be fluff, but do you honestly think that the two look so alike that people confuse them? Wouldn’t it likely be possible that, upon hearing their voices, that they’d be able to tell the difference.

Maybe I’m just an audio guy, but Damon speaks in a distinctively lower voice in the register that Wahlberg very rarely uses. Not to mention the Bostonian accent that Wahlberg sometimes sports. Maybe I’m just being to analytical/cynical (cynalyitical?) about it.

Article in question: http://news.rutgers.edu/research-news/addicts-may-be-seeking-relief-emotional-lows-more-euphoric-highs/20131106#.UnuwyPmkqUY It explains how addicts might be abusing drugs simply to avoid lows rather than to attain highs.

This article somewhat surprised me. Not for the information that it had, but for the fact that the data attained in the tests was treated as some unusual discovery. I don’t want to seem cynical and/or sardonic, but I thought that it was pretty obvious that addicts get stuck in addictions because of the lows that they get once the high wears off.

When I was in school, they made it clear in simple that hard drugs are bad for you. “What comes up must come down.” So the better the high from a drug, the worse the low you get from withdrawal.  Based off of testimonies that I heard from recovering drug addicts, it seemed fairly evident that the addiction became less about getting high and more about not being low.

Though, I will credit these scientists for providing factual scientific data about such a thesis. They experimented with mice and listened to the sounds that the mice made, based off of their emotional state (it’s explained more in-depth in the article). It just sort of bothers me how they treat the information as if it’s something profound and/or surprising.

Maybe I’m not taking into account the fact that they may have not been exposed to this sort of information before. Again, regardless of how they treat the information, they did a good job attaining it.

Article in Question: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=psychological-power-satan&WT.mc_id=SA_Facebook

As someone who is fascinated by ideas of Christian mythology as well as psychology, I couldn’t resist reading when I found this article. I was a little bit of a lost, at first, as to where Satan was involved in all of this, but then the article tied it up all together at the end.

The article basically elaborates how studies show that the belief that people can be pure evil correlates with harsher punishments. The idea that someone is unredeemable makes one feel that penalties need to be harsher. At least, that’s what the studies seem to indicate.

Personally, I believe in pure evil, but I don’t believe that it can manifest in human form. I believe that it can distort the way that people see the world and cause them to do evil things, but they may not have entirely evil intentions and/or they are not entirely in control of their actions.  I highly recommend the article if you enjoy psychology.