sjh008's blog

Kim Kardashian was married just two months ago to Kris Humphries. Their wedding cost millions of dollars and was highly publicized. After two months of marriage, Kim Kardashian is calling it quits. This story was all over news because of how many people are into celebrity drama. I’ve heard that Kim Kardashian actually made money off of the wedding because of how highly publicized it was. I feel as if the wedding was a complete sham and the purpose was to make money and make more fame. I feel as if this whole divorce thing is also a publicity stunt. Why make a mockery out of marriage? Especially when so many people fight for it (gays).

If your parents dress you up as a ghost for Halloween, this might be a sure fire way for them to say they want you out of the house. Jared DeFife Ph.D. wrote an article on the Psychology Today website telling exactly what different kinds of costumes can say about a person. These informational, yet comical conclusions can tell a lot about the person behind the mask.

For instance, DeFife explains “Nothing says I’m struggling with teenage hormonal changes and sexuality issues than a werewolf.” A werewolf can be described as a creature with bad body odor and hair growing everywhere that gets really moody at certain times of the month. A very popular Halloween costume has always been a vampire. Watch out because some of these vampires can actually be psychologically disturbed. DeFife says “while vampires seem smooth and sexy, they are actually all dead inside and when they look into the mirror, they see nothing. They are insecure about their appearance so they wouldn’t be caught dead in the daylight and since they stay away from garlic, they are also insecure about how their breath smells.“

So next time you go Halloween costume shopping, be aware of your mental state. You don’t want to pick out a costume that will make you seem like a complete psychopath or do you?

A couple from Iowa died today after a car crash. The couple have been married for 72 years. The couple were going for a drive when Gordon Yeager failed to yield as a car came crashing into them. The couple was rushed to the hospital where they later died holding hands. The other people that were involved in the crash are alive and stable. Gordon died at 3:38 p.m. holding hands with his wife Norma. Even though Gordon was not breathing, the heart monitor was still showing his heart was beating because he was holding Norma’s hand. Norma died seventy minutes later at 4:48 p.m.

This is news to me because it takes place in Iowa and it is a sentimental story. The story reminds me of the movie, “The Notebook”. It is a true story of love and also hits home.

On Monday, the CEO of the company Netflix decided to cancel the idea for adding Qwikster into the mix.  Qwikster was going to be another company, owned by Netflix, for people that ordered movies through the mail.  They chose the name Qwikster because it ensured quick delivery to subscribers.  The CEO, Reed Hastings, decided to cancel his plans because of the angered subscribers.  Since the decision to create the second company, he has lost over 1,000,000 customers.  The customers say that they will not reconsider subscribing again unless Netflix lower their costs.  The main reason why people cancelled their subscriptions when Qwikster was made was because of the need to have to separate accounts and separate billing accounts.  Subscribers said they enjoyed Netflix because of the simplicity of the company.  One person made a comment on how a movie should be made about this called, “How to Lose a Business in 10 Days”.

This is news to me because I am a Netflix subscriber.  However, I only use the service for instant movies or television shows.  I hardly ever use my subscription, only when I want to watch old movies.  Hastings is somewhat of an idiot, thinking that adding Qwikster and then jacking up the prices was a good idea.  This article is informational and the lead conveys what the article is about.  The article also gives the reader the ability to have their own opinion on the subject.

Many students looking to major in psychology choose Morningside because of how good the psychology department is.  Unlike other colleges, Morningside College has specific majors for people interested in psychology.  These majors include Counseling, General, Biopsychology, and Industrial Organizational Psychology.  In order to graduate with a major in psychology at Morningside, students have to take required classes.  Some classes they are required to take can be very valuable, but the opinions of how much students enjoy them depend on the student.

One class that psychology majors are required to take before graduating is Professional Seminar.  This class is supposed to teach students how to write properly, carry out ethical research, and how to be an overall professional.  This is only a two-credit course and requires a lot of work.  One of the reasons Professional Seminar is only a two-credit class is because the class only meets once a week.  There are two different sections that meet on different days.  The assignments for the class are posted on a site, called moodle.  Each week the professor posts assignments that are to be completed for the next week.  The course load for the class is huge.  The class requires five books and a program that the students are to install on their computers.

Meleshia Jenson, a senior psychology majors shares a dislike for this class with many psychology majors.  “I hate how much work is involved in this class.  It’s only two credits and I’m working harder than in most of my other classes.  I also hate how the class is taught.  The professor often messes up the moodle site so it’s hard to understand what is due for the next class period.  I feel like I’m doing poorly because of the professor.  I understand why they want us to take the class, but I also think it depends on who teaches the class.”

The class is required because it is supposed to prepare psychology majors for graduate school or the career field.  Morningside wouldn’t want to require students to take a class that is a “waste of time”.  Rick Majeras, another senior psychology major thinks the class is a useful class.  “Professional Seminar prepares students for their Senior Thesis.  You have to prepare a mock outline for a proposal in the class just like you do for your thesis before you graduate.”  Different professors teach Professional Seminar each semester, so it depends on what professor the students get for how the course work will be taught.

Samantha Brigham, a junior at Morningside is currently enrolled in Professional Seminar.  Brigham says, “I hate it.  He doesn’t explain anything enough and I hate the amount of work.  I realize Professional Seminar is supposed to help you, but I think it adds more stress than help.”  This is a feeling that many students have that are currently enrolled in the class.  However, when talking to people that have already taken the class, they say that the things they learned in the class have proven somewhat useful in projects assigned in other classes.  In the end, it doesn’t matter how much a student likes the class because they are required to take it in order to graduate from Morningside College.

Many students looking to major in psychology choose Morningside because of their psychology department.  Unlike other colleges, Morningside College has specific majors for people interested in psychology.  These majors include Counseling, General, Biopsychology, and Industrial Organizational Psychology.  Most students who major in Psychology at Morningside decide to go onto graduate school afterwards.

Morningside College seems to do a very good job of preparing students who want to succeed in graduate school or other types of professional careers.  In order to do this, the psychology department pushes students to excel by challenging them in different courses.  Psychology majors will experience classes that deal with many different areas of psychology.  Even if a student is a counseling major, they will take classes in other fields such as Industrial Organizational or even take a class that requires them to condition a rat to respond to different stimuli.

Psychology majors tend to pick and choose what they want to do.  Since there are many different types of classes offered and different professors teach the classes, they have the freedom to choose.  Some classes are more hands on, like the class Learning Memory and Lab, where the students have their own lab rats.  Other classes are more lecture oriented.  It all depends on what the student wants to take.

One class that psychology majors are required to take before graduating is Professional Seminar.  This class is supposed to teach students how to write properly, carry out ethical research, and be an overall professional.  This is only a two-credit course and requires a lot of work.  Meleshia Jenson, a senior psychology majors shares a dislike for this class with many psychology majors.  “I hate how much work is involved in this class.  It’s only two credits and I’m working harder than in most of my other classes.  I also hate how the class is taught.  The professor often messes up the moodle site so it’s hard to understand what is due for the next class period.  I feel like I’m doing poorly because of the professor.”

In today’s media, the younger generation watch a lot of television.  Most of the shows they watch include entertainment shows.  These shows include things like Jersey Shore, Bad Girls Club, The Real World, and many others.  One of the main audiences that these shows seem to affect are young females.  The article talked about how the shows film a lot of females getting into so called “cat fights.”  These cat fights have been said to make the young female audience more likely to get into fights with their own peers.  The article goes on to talk about how the shows affect them and ways to prevent your female adolescent from becoming a “mean girl.”

This article is considered news to me because I am a young female and I like to watch these shows.  I do not agree that these shows are the core reason why the younger generation is acting out.  I think girls are just growing a backbone.  In earlier media, the woman is always supposed to be polite and “lady-like”.  Just because a girl is opinionated and independent does not mean she is a “mean girl.”  This can end up being a very controversial subject.  If parents are going to blame television shows for their child acting up, maybe they should be monitoring what their kids watch.

In journalism class, our assignment was to pick a sheet of paper that listed an object and go out onto campus and ask complete strangers for the object.  Some had chewing gum, others rubber bands.  My object was a piece of good advice.  This object seemed very simple to retrieve.  As I walked out of the library, I saw a man doing landscaping.  I figured I could ask him, but then I chickened out.  I figured he had better things to do than answer my silly question.  I kept walking and couldn’t stand how windy it was outside so I just went into Lewis Hall.

I walked by an entire class and didn’t ask a single person my question.  I always thought that I was pretty outgoing, but this assignment made it difficult because it required to have an awkward conversation.  I walked up the steps and through the door and saw a girl sitting at the front desk.  She looked like she was working on homework so I didn’t really want to disturb her.  I stood in the entry way playing with my phone trying to not look like a complete creep.  Finally I realized that I was also doing homework and my question wouldn’t take very long.

I walked up to the desk and asked the girl if I could ask her a simple question.  She greeted me with a smile and said sure.  I’m sure she thought my question was going to be about something she could help me find in the building.  I explained that I was on a scavenger hunt for my journalism class and I needed to acquire an object.  I then explained that my object was information and I needed a piece of good advice.  She had a confused look on her face and asked me what class if was for again.  I told her and she thought for awhile and awkwardly laughed.  She then said “study hard” and made it seem more like a question than a statement.  She asked me if I wanted her to explain and I simply said sure.  She said that studying hard meant to look over your notes every night and highlight, read the chapters, ask people in class for help, ask the professor, and make practice quizzes or test questions.  She then asked if I needed anything else and that’s when I asked for her name.  She told me her name was Maria Bohling.  I said thank you and make my way back to the library to write my story.

The process for getting into college can seem very stressful for many high school students.  Six students, two high school and four college, paid up to 2,500 dollars for somebody else to take the SAT for them.  The person they had take the SAT was a sophomore in college that used to go to the same high school as they did.  The young man used fake IDs to take the tests and even used one for a female.  The administration figured it out when the scores the students got did not match up with their grades in school.  Also, the tests all had the same handwriting.  The young man that took the tests is pleading not guilty and his lawyer says that this is something that the court should not interfere with.  He says that the school should deal with it.  However, this is indeed cheating and since the SAT is a test that many students across America take, it is definitely not fair.  If they would have gotten away with it, they could have been taking the chances away from another student.  This is news to me because I am in college and I had to take a test like the SAT.  Even if I didn’t get the grade I wanted to get on it, I still took it myself.  These tests are used to see if students will succeed in certain colleges, they have a purpose.

Presidential Candidate, Newt Gingrich, came to Morningside College on Tuesday to talk about his plans for presidency.  Presidential Candidate Newt is a Republican and former speaker of the House.  He started with an opener, talking about some things he has done previously, then moved to open questions.  During the entire speech he kept emphasizing making more jobs for the American people.  He wants to take people off of Welfare and Food stamps and help get them jobs, this way government debt would be reduced and it would increase government revenue.  He expanded on the jobs by saying that the main reason why people are on Food Stamps is because some people don’t know how to keep a job.  He wants to teach teenagers how to work and save money because, “America only works when America is working.”  Newt wants to work with China to make sure everybody makes more money from their job than what they would make on Food Stamps.  He asked everybody in the room “Don’t be for me, be with me.”  He said it would take as much as 8 years for the change to completely happen.

One of the things a lot of people in the room cheered for was the fact that Newt wants to control the boarders more.  This way America would have less drug trafficking and more jobs for the American people.  Newt also wants to make English the official language, which a lot of people liked.  As far as citizenship goes for illegal immigrants, he would not kick out those aliens that already have families and ties to Americans.  However, he would deport those who have only been here for a couple of years.  Also, immigrants that moved here at a significantly young age and immigrants with ties would receive worker cards.  The cards would have to be swiped by the immigrant’s employers.  Newt does not believe that illegal immigrants should be able to gain citizenship.

Newt went on to talk about how Obama is hurting America and how he is preventing jobs and costing money.  He gave the example of the “Canadian Buses” Obama uses.  He said that our tax dollars were spent on those buses and we pay for them to get air lifted from city to city.  He also went on to talk about how Obama was more concerned about Gibson Guitars than controlling our boarders.  He sent 26 armed agents from Homeland Security to raid places that had Gibson guitars because of their use of Indian Wood.  However, the Indian government gave Gibson permission to use their wood for Gibson’s guitars.  He said Obama is not using his resources well.  Newt talked about education saying he wants to make a Pell Grant for K-12 so parents can pick which schools their kids attend.